Before he started recruit training to become an Air Force combat controller last June, Jake Tolias could barely swim.

"I looked like I was drowning. I hadn't learned how to freestyle yet," said Tolias, a 19-year-old recruit from Hazelwood.

Eight months later, Tolias was churning through the blue water at the St. Peters Rec-Plex like a fish wearing full battle dress uniform. The water-logged BDU's didn't seem to bother Tolias, who is scheduled to leave on April 17 for basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.

Several other Air Force recruits were at the Rec-Plex Friday to either train or pass two 20-meter underwater swim tests and a timed 500-meter swim test. They all want to be part of an Air Force special tactics unit after they complete 8 1/2 weeks of basic training. The training at the Rec-Plex helps prepare them for the rigors of the intense advanced training at Lackland.

The Air Force has used the Rec-Plex to train recruits for more than two years. The training regimen Tolias and dozens of other recruits have gone through was the brainchild of Air Force Staff Sgt. Jeff Dobrow, a recruiter from Columbia, Mo., who said he took the skills from his time as a combat controller and applied them to the recruit training program.

"The program is intended to accomplish success for the different special operations jobs," Dobrow said. "The main three we're looking for is combat control, pararescue and special operations weather. (Trainees) need to be efficient in the water as well as on the ground. Water is the most foreign thing for most (trainees), so that's where we spend the bulk of our time training these guys."

Lt. Col. Christopher Byrom, commander of the 345th Recruiting Squadron at Scott Air Force Base in St. Clair County, Ill., dropped by the Rec-Plex for Friday's training and qualification session. Byrom said the training in St. Peters has become a model for Air Force recruiters nationwide.

"The program (recruits) are entering into is very demanding physically and mentally," Byrom said. "To get them to the physical preparation, that's what these facilities are for, and to have the specialized training we can provide will get them ready for some of the mental challenges that they will face in the training and operating environment. That all starts here."

Most Fridays, the recruits meet early enough in the morning to avoid the rush of after-school programs that use the Rec-Plex pool. The Rec-Plex hosts the Missouri State High School Activities Association swimming and diving championships every year, and most of the high schools in St. Charles county have practice and meets there. The Rec-Plex also hosted the 1994 U.S. Olympic Festival's aquatic competitions and the 2004 U.S. Olympic diving trials.

Jeff Hutsler, St. Peters parks and recreation director, said the city's long-term arrangement with the Air Force allows use of the pool during off-peak times. Hutsler said the city is glad to help the Air Force.

"We want to work with our armed forces and want to have them here," Hutsler said.

Byrom said his recruiters told him they've received a lot of support from St. Peters. When the recruits get out of the pool for ground training, they go next door to Lutheran High School and use its track.

"We cannot run a program like this without facilities that are provided by the community," Byrom said. "Everything we need is right here. This is an investment a community makes to take care of members of the community and build up their health. This is a national asset, and this is a community giving back to the nation."

Like Tolias, Arnold resident Todd Hall, 21, joined the Air Force's delayed entry program and wants to serve as a combat controller. Hall also had to overcome his lack of swimming prowess, but did so quickly once he started training at the Rec-Plex.

"I've come to learn it's a mind over matter thing," Hall said. "I consider myself to be in pretty good shape, but once you get here your body's in good shape but it's a matter of pushing through the pain."

Becoming qualified to be a combat controller is as arduous as any training in the U.S. military. Combat controllers in the Air Force are often embedded with Army Green Berets or Navy SEALs to call in air assets on targets. Combat controllers can parachute into forward areas to establish assault zones or provide air traffic control.

Staff Sgt. Lewis Tartt, an Air Force recruiter in Wentzville, was putting the recruits through their paces in the pool Friday morning. Tartt said the washout rate for combat control and pararescue trainees is typically 80 percent.

During covert missions, a combat controller might be required to enter the water 1,500 meters out to sea with scuba gear and get to land to hit a target. That's what makes the training at the Rec-Plex so valuable. It doesn't guarantee recruits will pass the advanced training, but it does instill confidence to try.

"We're preparing these young men for what they're going to accomplish later on," Tartt said. "This training program ensures that they're going to be successful. Most of all, it teaches them how to swim properly, because if you can't control yourself or are comfortable in the water when you have that additional pressure of the selection course, most people quit because they can't handle the mental and physical pressures of that course."

Dobrow said he often gives the recruits unrealistic time lines to accomplish tasks when they meet for training, not to apply discipline like pushups when those time limits aren't met, but to instill teamwork in each person.

"We know they're not going to make the time, but it's how they respond to an unrealistic time frame and how they work as a team to accomplish that goal, even though it seems impossible," Dobrow said.