Journey of 540 Dives

This post goes out to the dedicated and hard working men of ALERT's Unit 51. 

I have been on the road for most of April in the great state of Texas, teaching at the International ALERT Academy.

This is one of the twice-a-year moments that I get to teach there, and it is hands down my favorite group to teach.

We cover a LOT in a very short amount of time! In just 14 days, these young men are taken from not being very confident in the water to open water, advanced open water, and then through the special response diving course. Like I said, a LOT!

There are a few reasons why I enjoy this.

1. These guys are beast. Like Nike, they just do it. No reservations or holding back when they are told to do something- they just get it done.
2. Big, giant, human shaped sponges. All of them are eager to learn and grow. 
3. Competent. It's not like they just learned to dive in the ocean and now they won't dive for another year. No.. in just these two weeks they put 20 dives under their weight belts. Most people learning to dive won't even do that many dives in a year!
4. Let's not leave out comical. It's not perfection all the time, and there are a lot of screw ups, but we have fun doing it! The difference is that these guys are willing to learn from their mistakes.

These are only a few of the many reasons I enjoy working with ALERT men. I'm also an Alumni of the Academy, so there's that...

There is one thing that stands out the most, however, among these young men. It's their desire to go out and do. They have a fire lit inside to take the skills that they learn and go and serve their communities and public safety departments. And that's exactly what we need. We need the next generation of public safety divers to get excited to take on the job that is there.

An interesting shift is going on in the public safety diving world right now. It's the shift from the experienced old salts to the young bucks. Those that have been in the world of Underwater Search & Recovery and have been successful in their craft are either moving up their respective ladders, or they are retiring. The massive amounts of knowledge and wisdom that comes only from experience also leaves with them. This is leaving a learning gap in many departments. The old is out and the new is lost and left to find help and training on their own; which often means poor training.

But it's this fresh batch, the newbies, the rookies, the ones with that drive to get it done, that make my job a joy to do. I look forward to the future of these ALERT men and the impact they will have on their communities. Keep up the good work guys!

If you want to find out more about ALERT click HERE!
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That water is deep...almost as deep as those misconceptions.

One of my favorite times on scene during a recovery is when people start asking questions. It's not always from bystanders either. It can be from police officers or firefighters, or sometimes the poor kid who "just forgot to put it in park before I got out to tie down the jet ski, and that's why my truck, trailer, and jet ski are underwater." Whoever it is, their questions tend to be the same.

Most people don't grow up around the beautiful waters of the Caribbean. They grow up swimming in the nearby lake or mud hole like I did. There was no way you were going to see the bottom until your face hit it. And if you can't see the bottom, it must be bottomless! This reasoning alone is why we will always need Police and Public Safety Divers. People believe that water somehow swallows whatever gets thrown in. Gun, car, body, favorite pair of glasses, it don't matter. It's lost and gone forever. They believe a lot of things that are not true when it comes to water. You think I'm kidding?

These are the top five questions I get while on scene during a recovery, and how I usually answer them.

1. Question Asker: You're gonna go dive in that water?
    Me: Yes.
    Question Asker: But it's disgusting!
    Me: It helps build your immune system.

2. QA: How deep is it?
    Me: How deep do you think?
    QA: Like...*wrong number* feet. (It's never close. They will always go 10-20 feet deeper than what it is).
    Me: No it's only *correct depth* feet.

3. QA: Are you afraid of gators? (I live in South Florida)
    Me: No.
    QA: Why not? You know I've seen one in here!
    Me: Oh yeah? Well maybe we will get lucky and get to pet him!
    QA: No way man! You're crazy!
 
4. QA: How can you see?
    Me: With my eyes.
    QA: But that water is nasty!
    Me: I have magic eyes.

5. QA: What are you looking for?
    Me: Pirate gold!
    QA: No, really?
    Me: No, really. Pirate gold.

You can probably tell I like to have fun with it. Some questions you can do that with and some you can't. But you will always have the opportunity to teach them something. I have been on recoveries where I spend more time explaining how we do what we do to the police or fire personnel than actually doing the recovery. They just don't know what's really in that murky abyss. That's a great time to build relationships and trust. Some department dive teams want to be this secretive group that does their thing and clears scene. Don't be that group. You can do more for your team's reputation by teaching others about what you do than you realize.

Part of the training for my team is how to deal with questions. We go over scenarios on questions that might get asked and how to properly handle them. They know what can be answered and what needs to get kicked up the chain of command. This is something that I would encourage you to do with your team. Because there is nothing more embarrassing than your divers not even knowing how deep the water is.