Stan The Polish Aqua God.

Triathlon..  Need help with Swimming?

Today, for some reason, Cheryl was talking about Triathlons and Iron man Competitions.   She said she could never do one of those until she learned how to swim better.    And  that reminded me of Stan,  Our  Drown Proofing Instructor  back when I was in the Army in Alaska.   ( That was over 20 years ago, now.)    He was a Navy SEAL...  Retired.  And with that tid bid of Information, came all the Glamor, Mystery and Mystique that follows someone who holds one of those elite titles.

Stan ( Not pictured)  did this for us in the Army. 

Stan was not an intimidating guy.   In fact, he looked down right friendly.    He wasn't even one of those "ripped" athletic guys you might see on muscle beach or doing a triathlon.   Nope!   Stan was shaped like a barrel with two toothpick-like legs dangling down from that odd, Mr. Potato body.  You would hardly believe that he could even make it into the Navy SEALS let alone be retired from them.

He swims with Bricks...  For Fun! 

But he was.    And after a session of drown proofing,  And seeing him several times at the pool during our off time,   you could understand how he might be more than initial first impressions would give.

For instance:  He would swim with bricks.   For fun...    For hours!    Just "sitting" in the deep end of the pool;  only his head above water in a stationary position.   It looked like he was standing on something.   But he was not.    He would tread water by forming a figure 8 with his feet... and just stand there motionless... with a brick in his hands.

And with Rubber Ducks!  

He would also swim with Full BDU's    ( That is Battle Dress Uniform,  or Dungarees, or OD Fatigues... Or for those outside Military circles:   Camouflage Army Hunting Clothes.)   With a rubber duck. 

Not one of those rubber ducks.


In the Army,  They gave you a rubber M16 rifle to practice Drill and Ceremony with.   It was an accurate replication and heavy.   So...  it was not uncommon to  come to the pool filled with kids and parents...  and see a guy in full BDU's in the deep end with an M16 on his shoulder...  just "sitting there"  for hours;   Aiming at nothing....

Not those rubber ducks.  One of    THESE!  

He also liked to run during the coldest days of winter in some fruity, purple sweat suit.   He looked more like a clown rather than a former soldier.

Crazy Special Forces Invention...  It probably works too.

While in the Army,  I met all kinds of strange.   Many of them were Rangers.   Those are fairly common.    More rare were the Special Forces.   Those guys...   I could write an entirely new blog post about them.   Similarly to Stan,  They seemed "normal"  right up until they did something Non-Normal.   All of these guys had stories.  And while being in the Army,  It did not take long to view each story with a bit of skepticism.   Basically,  you take a story... Embellish it slightly to add flavor,  and entertain the troops with them.    As the telling gathers a life,  the story gets bigger and bigger.   Until it is "Epic".
Stan told no stories.   (Well, Not to me anyway)   But there were plenty of stories About him.  I'm sure several of the Armies "Best Storytellers"   just decided to make a few up for him.   And maybe some tiny bit of them was true.   But all I remember was seeing that guy... swimming in the deep end of the pool....  with a brick in his hands.

Was he Polish?   Maybe. 

Oh!  And the Name?    On his BDU's where the Name would be,   he had "Polish Aqua God"  embroidered.  ( See?    Weird, right?)  I can only assume he was Polish somewhere in his linage.  And "Aqua God" was a given.   But maybe it was his nickname or something back when he was in the teams.    Who knows.    He never bothered to explain...  adding to that Mystique.

He's the Guy swimming in a
public pool with a rifle. 

Legends and heroes only survive with the telling of their stories,   And I doubt many people would even think of this guy as something larger than life.   But he entered my world briefly when I was stationed at Ft Wainwright in Fairbanks Alaska.   And I thought it would be cool to remember that strange guy the Army hired to teach us how to not drown in Alaska.  And who swam with bricks...  For Fun!  For hours.....