Staff Sgt. Adam Jacks Gunnery Sergeant Amputee Finishes Water Survival Training

Marine staff sergeant becomes first amputee to graduate from grueling swim school
DVIDS
Major Eve Baker
December 5, 2014

Maj. Eve Baker
On Nov. 25, Staff Sgt. Adam Jacks became the first amputee to graduate from the Marine Combat Instructor of Water Survival course. Over the three-week course the students swim 59 miles, complete timed drills and swims, and learn rescue techniques. They are now certified as MCIWS instructors and Red Cross lifeguards.

QUANTICO, Va. - The Marine Combat Instructor of Water Survival course is a grueling training evolution that requires Marines to swim a total of 59 miles over three weeks. The course that graduated on Nov. 25 started with nine participants, but only six were able to complete the challenge. One of those six had the deck stacked against him from the beginning but overcame adversity and graduated with his classmates.

Staff Sgt. Adam Jacks, company gunnery sergeant for Headquarters and Service Company at The Basic School, is a motivated, extremely fit, infantry Marine who said he quickly volunteered to attend the course when approached by the chief instructor trainer, Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Marshall. The fact that Jacks’s right leg was amputated at the mid-thigh in 2011 did not faze either Marine.

Jacks, a native of Newark, Ohio, was serving in Afghanistan with 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, located in Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, when he stepped on a pressure plate on April 3, 2011, and was hit by an improvised explosive device blast. Among other injuries, Jacks suffered a traumatic brain injury and lost 2/3 of his right leg.
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