With all respect, and not being a racist, swimming is not a childhood learned skill in certain cultures.
In the 60s, the Army had to have a special “learn to swim” class so certain otherwise very qualified men who wanted to go to Ranger school could learn to be comfortable in the water. It was very hard for some of them to overcome decades of conditioning.
In my experience, they had been taught to fear the water, so they never learned to enjoy it.
I never made it to Ranger School, but at Jungle School in Panama, even though they were given a life jacket, we had to “tow” an otherwise outstanding, but very frightened, E-6 across the Chagras River.
He later went Line One in a dry rice patty in III Corps.
Line One?