It seems incongruous with the setting, but more than 200 troops in Iraq have drowned since 2003 as a result of their vehicles overturning in bodies of water, according to the Army.

Some of those deaths have occurred in and around the steep-banked canals that crisscross the country. Narrow earthen roads atop canals can make for a knuckle-biting ride for wide wheelbase trucks and Humvees.

A similar problem exits for the riverside roads that wind through the mountains of Afghanistan.

To help prevent drownings, the Army is sending Shallow Water Egress Trainers to several installations so soldiers can practice getting out of a rolled vehicle that has filled with water. The stainless steel SWET frame has a seat that two instructors can turn over. The unit is placed at the shallow end of a pool in four feet of water, simulating the approximate depth of a river or canal.

Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and Fort Lewis, Wash. were the first installations to receive the SWET. Fort Shafter received two SWETs earlier this month, the Army said.

Bill Miller, the aquatics manager at Fort Lewis, Wash., developed the trainer. Over the past four years, he has trained thousands of deploying soldiers at Fort Lewis on the SWET prototypes that he designed, the Army said.

"It's not easy being blindfolded and strapped in by a three-point hitch and dunked in the water," Miller said. "You have to learn to relax and get your bearings."

"We teach them to orient themselves by feeling for the door handle, unhooking their seatbelt and then getting out. We do it the first time two times for each person. The first time you get to feel for the door handle and simply get out. The second time, you're blindfolded and one door is locked," Miller said.

In Hawai'i, National Guard soldiers have gone through Humvee rollover drills in a trainer at Kalaeloa, and the Marine Corps has a trainer at Kane'ohe Bay that simulates a helicopter rollover.

IN BRIEF

HERO'S GRANDDAUGHTER VISITS TOMB

Two days before Christmas, Mary Kidd-Plumer, her husband and their four daughters traveled from Atlanta to visit her grandfather, entombed in the battleship USS Arizona.

Kidd-Plumer is the granddaughter of Rear Adm. Isaac C. Kidd, who was aboard the Arizona as the commander of Battleship Division One and chief of staff to the commander of battleships for the battle force, according to the Navy.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Kidd was killed in action on the Arizona. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Pearl Harbor attack, the Navy said. He is one of the 1,177 sailors and Marines to die on the Arizona.

Their names and ranks are inscribed on the memorial, where Kidd-Plumer and her family paid their respects.

Kidd-Plumer, who was last at the memorial at age 2, was delighted to return and share the experience with her family.

"My mother's got a picture somewhere of the visit with Dad holding me, and all of us standing around on a plank looking at the Arizona," said Kidd-Plumer, now 50. "That was long before the Arizona Memorial was built."

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.