Amanda Burrill

It was this begrudged, don't make us look stupid,

So 56 of us started rescue swimmer school shortly thereafter.

And five weeks later, five grueling weeks, I'm not gonna sell myself short, weeks later, eight of us graduated.

So I was one of these Navy rescue swimmers and

A lot of times, I'd spoken to a lot of rescue swimmers who hadn't even done a rescue yet.

But my first one came in short order.

A guy was drowning and I swam up to him and I gave him the spiel.

There's actually a spiel.

You say, I'm a rescue swimmer.

I am here to help you.

And so I said it, and I saw his eyes like get big and wide, and I saw his panic increase twofold, and I knew what was happening.

This guy is fighting for his life.

He thinks he's gonna die, and who's there to help him but some skinny woman?

And in his panic, he starts flailing, and you know, people who are drowning try to climb on top of things, and he's pushing me underwater, and the good news is I'm trained for this.

So I'm able to break myself free and get a hold of him and say, look, this is protocol.

I am allowed to knock you out if I have to, to drag you to safety.

We can do this the easy way and you can just relax.

And he hears me through all of this madness and he relents, he relaxes and I'm able to get my arm around him and drag him to safety.

And later that day, I was thinking, I'm a rescue swimmer.

I was trained to rescue people.