Hi Ozskipper,
I think your friends are both right.
Many moons ago when I was a newbie at QF we had to do a swim with clothes on for our initial training then later each year we would swim with life jackets on to reboard the life raft from the water.
Even further back with Ansett they used to throw us in fully clothed with an uninflated lifejacket and then we had to blow it up whilst treading water!
Procedures have probably changed a lot since then but it still brings a smile to my face just thinking about it. Ah the gool old days!
