I'm a lousy swimmer, but when I was an active duty Marine I had to swim qual every year. One year during swim qual I was doing the last bit, basically get from

I'm a lousy swimmer, but when I was an active duty Marine I had to swim qual every year. One year during swim qual I was doing the last bit, basically get from point A to point B in helmet, camies, and boots. Since it didn't matter how we got from point A to point B, I always did a sad approximation of a backstroke. This particular year, as I was approaching point B, a safety swimmer started yelling at me to hurry. As I crossed point B, I felt his arms go under my armpits and he rapidly pulled me toward the side of the pool, where he and a corpsman (e.g. Navy nurse) pulled me up on the side of the pool, such that I was sitting with my feet in the pool. At which point the corpsman started giving me the Heimlich maneuver, and a rather significant amount of water started coming out of me. I had been struggling slightly more than normal, and to a point, I knew I was gradually sinking, but I was so focused on finishing that I genuinely didn't even realize I was taking in water. It was only as I was on the side of the pool and watched as water came out, with each of the corpsman's compressions that I realized what had happened. Thankfully the safety swimmer and corpsman realized!