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“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.”

-Henry David Thoreau, Walden

My brother was able to use his trousers for personal flotation! This is a technique that my Daddy learned in the United States Marine Corps and he wanted to share it with us today.

The process takes some practice. First, take your trousers off and tie the legs together with an overhand knot near the cuffs. Put the legs around your neck with the knot behind your head. The waist of the trousers will be out in front of you with the zipper facing down. Facing the zipper down keeps air from escaping out of the seams. Open the waistline and hit the water extremely hard to force air into the waist of the pants and legs. If done right you have made a personal flotation device with your pants!

Over the years sailors, fisherman, military forces and others have used this technique to save their lives.

But wait, I missed the part about getting air inside of the pants!

I recently had a viewer ask for more detail on how to get inside of the pants when in the water.

When you tie the legs together and place the knot behind your neck you are left with the waist of the pants in front of you on your chest.

Open the waist of the pants so that the zipper is closest to your chest and the seat of the pants is furthest away. This orientation helps hold air in longer. When the zipper is above the surface of the water it rapidly allows air to escape and that's not what we want.

Picture this process as if you were to grab the bottom hem of your shirt and pull it away from your waist to let a good flow of air in on a hot summer day. To increase the air flow into the bottom of your shirt, rapidly fan your hand in a circular motion to force the air in.

Now, once you have the waist of the pants open, slap/splash the water so that your hand hits the water hard enough to splash and force air up into the waist of the pants. Do this rapidly so the pants inflate quickly, and when filled, close the waist of the pants by pinching your arm and pants against your chest, and, hold it tightly!

You'll need to add air ever so often, be sure to keep the pants wet. Practice this in a safe environment with someone near to help you if you get in trouble.

USMC Uniforms