Belmont Marine Takes to the Water

Gunnery Sgt. David D'Andrea with 2nd Marine Division is struggling a bit to keep a diving brick out of the water while passing it to another student during aquatic conditioning at the Marine Corps Instructor of Water Survival Course at Marine Corps Base Camp Johnson, NC

Belmont's D'Andrea is one of more than 20 students that endured the three-week MCIWS course that creates instructors who can train Marines to react and survive life-threatening situations in the water.

D'Andrea was a platoon sergeant with an Incident Response Platoon attached to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing responsible for providing security in support of response and pre-planned missions throughout the Al Anbar Province in Iraq in 2006.