Office of External Affairs
U.S. Coast Guard

Date: April 13, 2007

Contact: PA1 NyxoLyno Cangemi
(504) 671-2021

STUDENTS MEET CHALLENGES TO BECOME MILITARY SCUBA DIVERS

Six students at the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center in Panama City, Fla., surface after participating in a training exercise Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006, in the center's 12-foot pool. Personnel at the training center offer several underwater diving courses to all branches of the military, with the exception of the Navy Seals and the Green Berets.

(Story and Photographs by Petty Officer 1st Class NyxoLyno Cangemi)

The surface of the 12-foot pool bubbles like a hot tub while instructors below signal to a group of dive students using a series of hand signals on how to inflate their vest.  One by one, each student slowly starts floating to the surface.  The instructor signals the students to deflate the vest and again, one by one, they return to the bottom.  Lined up along the bottom of the pool each student takes his turn floating up, then sinking down.  The entire exercise from start to finish looks more like a wave at a football game set at super slow motion than a dive class.

Instructors at the Naval Diving and Salvage Center in Panama City, Fla., maintain a serious attitude about they training they conduct in turning military men and women, into certified scuba divers.  Physical dive exercises can be physically demanding, and classroom instruction often mirrors that of a college-level chemistry course.

"Coming here is like getting your masters degree in diving," said Coast Guard Lt. Alan Fitzgerald, a student enrolled in the Marine Engineering Dive Officer Course at the dive center.  "The academics alone are pretty tough, because you get into all aspects of diving including physics and medicine.  As far as physical fitness, they train you to be strong so you can handle yourself under the surface."

Scuba Students await instructions on how to inflate their vest at the bottom of a 12-foot pool.

Prior to 9-11, Coast Guard divers took to the water to perform such functions as hull-integrity inspections, buoy repair and ice research.  With the formation of the Maritime Safety and Security Teams located throughout the country, the Coast Guard has increased its efforts to train and certify more of its own members to perform homeland security missions.

"Today, the Coast Guard has 112 billets as certified divers, and we train 40-50 Coast Guard members each year to sustain that number," said Chief Petty Officer Philip Roy of the Coast Guard Liaison Office at the training center.  As a volunteer program for the Coast Guard, any member who meets the center's eligibility requirements can enroll; however, attendance is not a guarantee of success.  Enrollment into the dive program can be a physically and mentally challenging endeavor, requiring a large commitment from the students.

Students prepare to dive in a 12-foot pool for scuba training.

"On average, about a third of the people who enroll in the course don't make it through," Roy said.  "We lose students primarily because of academics and inability to perform.  We purposely take people out of their comfort zone while they're here and push them to their limit, so when they're in the field, if something was to happen, they won't quit."

The training is tough, and everyone is held to the same standard.  Enlisted, officer, male, female, Navy, Coast Guard - it doesn't matter.  Everyone here is an equal and is expected to live up to the same physical fitness standards set forth by the training center.

Prior to the start of class, candidates must be able to successfully complete the minimum fitness standards, including a timed fitness course.

All aspects of training are taken very seriously.  When underwater, if an emergency occurs, a diver must go through the proper decompression before reaching the surface or he could suffer grave consequences, yet despite the inherent dangers associated with underwater diving, the atmosphere remains positive.

Coast Guard Ensign Mark Unpingco adjusts a strap on an oxygen tank while Petty Officer 3rd Class Shawn Price assists.

"Being a volunteer program, the students who are here, want to be here," said Roy.  "They want to get through this program, and being surrounded by that level of energy is inspiring."

As with any type of military training, the Coast Guard trains its divers from ground zero.  Regardless if students arrive at the school with a recreational dive certification, they must still complete the course.  Previous dive experience is not a requirement for school, nor will it ensure a student's success.

"The level of training the students receive is comparable to what a recreational diver would," said Roy.  "But because our student's are training to become military divers, they have much more dive time and exposure to the water than one would receive recreationally.  You really can't draw too many parallels between civilian and military training."

Lt. j.g. Rachel Beckmann recently completed the basic scuba course and is now enrolled in the Marine Engineering Dive Officer Course.  "The goal of the five-week scuba course is to basically take someone with no diving experience and train them to be a certified diver.  The whole course was really intense, but it felt very rewarding to complete it," she said.

Two scuba students swim to the surface of a 12-foot dive pool after performing an emergency-preparedness exercise.

Upon completion of the course, students move on to perform certain job functions most people only read about - diving under polar ice in the artic, sweeping for explosives in our nations ports and locating sunken buoys in a field of coral off the coast of Hawaii.

Assignments to dive units are rate specific, and a certified diver can be assigned to any of the Coast Guard's MSSTs, any of the service's polar-class icebreakers and fourteenth district buoy tenders.

While stationed aboard buoy tenders, dive teams can work independently from the ship, reducing response time and cost, Roy said.  The teams can perform all of the same functions as the tender crew can and are often flown to remote Pacific island locations to repair and replace navigational aids damaged by typhoons or listed in discrepancy reports.

Certification as a Coast Guard scuba diver also carries with it the added benefit of a pay increase.  Because of the nature of the job, divers receive an incentive pay ranging anywhere from $150 to $240 each month while stationed at an operational dive unit.

The challenge for anyone wishing to become a military certified scuba diver is great, but with successful completion, a career as a Coast Guard diver can be a rewarding one.

Those strong enough to complete the course walk away with a sense of pride and accomplishment and will forever be known as a member of the elite corps of Coast Guard divers.

###