nope, not essential.
i passed out of bmt and into a combat chiong sua vocation without
learning how to swim.
Even if you do not know how to swim,they will just send you for
some tekan session instead of any proper swimming lesson.
well still remember swimming lesson style push up.
Hehe do twenty only,easy right?
lol twenty as in Z E R O,ZERO,O,N,E,ONE.....one push up for each
alphabet until twenty.
In the end,only end up per swimming lesson,only 5-10 mins in the
water