Never certain what skills they will need to protect a president, the Secret Service trains in water rescue. Jeff Hampton, writing for the Virginian Pilot, followed a day of training on a Kitty Hawk beach.
“Cole Yeatts shouted instructions to 10 Secret Service agents gathered on the beach under the afternoon sun – nine men, one woman, all lean. They were learning another way to save the president of the United States.
“Who are we looking for and what are we looking at?” Yeatts asked. “Victim and …?”
“Waves,” answered an agent.
“Correct: waves,” Yeatts echoed.”
Five of the agents lined up behind five 2-foot-long orange rescue buoys and pairs of swim fins propped in the sand.
Yeatts, director of Kitty Hawk Ocean Rescue, counted down: “One, two, three, go!”
The agents grabbed their gear and sprinted into the surf. One tripped and fell but quickly recovered. All struggled to slip on the fins as waves broke across their backs. Instructors representing victims stood in chest-deep water about 100 yards offshore.
[box type=”bio”] Read the rest of this story in the Virginian Pilot.[/box]