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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Did you think we drowned?!

Sorry to disappoint, but we did not. So all y'all out there are stuck reading this blog...all 3 and a half of you.

So what's been up?! Big things I tell you! As you probably noticed, the Blog name has been changed to CETi Diving Blog. I was told by my website consultant that this was a great branding move, so we shall see. We also updated the website. It's pretty cool. You should go check it. Click here.

Another thing that I am personally excited about is what the NAPD is gonna be rolling out over the next couple of months. They will be doing some online commercials as well as interviews with the President of the NAPD, Mr. Michael Gast himself! There will also be a video blog series that they will be doing, and we will be featuring some of those on this blog! Sweet, I know!

In addition to all of the awesomeness mentioned above, I'm also pumped about the multiple Special Response Diver classes we will be teaching around the country this year. There are some departments and organizations that will be hosting their first class and becoming training hubs for their communities and surrounding areas.
That's really what we are trying to accomplish here at CETi Diving: Develop places that want to be a host

location for this training, and build up that region's ability to handle the Underwater Search and Recovery needs that arise. We know it's very important for everyone who gets involved with these kinds of investigations and/or recoveries to be on the same page. When a fire department is called to the scene of a drowning and then the sheriff's department has to get involved because it could be a homicide, it makes things so much better when all divers and surface support are on the same page. And what better way for that to happen than for them to train together!

Well my friends, we are back. And we will be bringing you some cool stuff on here in the coming weeks! Gear tips, more great stories from the Pro's, interviews, and other stuff that I think is cool!

So stay tuned, and search negatively my friends!

Jordan and the missing dead.

I had been a Special Response Diver for only 4 weeks. I was about to move into my 3rd phase of training at the International Alert Academy. I had chosen to go into Aquatic Operations as my specialty and it was the Friday before we were to start. We had just finished our end-of-ERT training ceremony and promotions and were ready to kick it back for the weekend, when the training officer over Aquatics, came up to those of us that would be going into his unit and said, "Pack your bags boys, we leave in the morning. We're getting deployed to help with a body search that's part of a murder investigation."

After myself and the other guys had a mild heart attack from excitement, we tried to act cool and put on faces that said whatever, it's just another day in the office. But who were we kidding?! This was the ultimate call out! We would be putting all that training to the test!

All through our training in Miami, we had found cars that were either stolen or insurance fraud. But this was huge! We were heading to Lubbock, Texas to assist the local Sheriff there. The whole trip out there, we thought about what our Instructor had taught us about searching for a drowned person or murder victim. "You never find a body. Bodies find you." Cool as cucumbers. Ok, maybe cucumbers in a microwave.


We showed up to a very warm welcome from the requesting agency, who was just happy to have body's there for this work. As we pulled up to the marina that was the staging area, we noticed a few other divers that would be coming out with us. We were told that these were Public Safety Divers who had been diving for many years. Great. Our first public performance, and now we have to deal with the pressure of impressing these veterans with all the stuff we think we know.

Our team of greenhorns quickly learned a valuable lesson. Don't be intimidated because of titles. Let me explain what gave us this revelation.
First let me explain these two men that were gearing up with us. One guy was 6'2" and probably weighed about 350 pounds. You may think I'm exaggerating, but I'm not. While putting on his wetsuit, through his grunts and groans, and winded banter, was telling us about how his wetsuit was custom made because he was so big. It cost him over $600 for this thing, and was a wonderfully bright yellow and red with purple accents. He was so proud! He needed almost 40 pounds on his weight belt!
His partner was next to him putting on the most complicated looking harness I've ever seen. One of my teammates asked him why he had so many knives and shears. He proudly answered that they never get in the water without a minimum of 5 cutting tools. You know...in case you drop the first 4 trying to cut your way out of the giant fishing line factory you plan on swimming into down there.
So as these two gentlemen were putting on their rescue helmets (again, not joking) we boarded the boat and set off to search.

The lake we were searching was not really deep in the search areas. Sometimes it was only 2-4 feet deep, but it still had to be searched. Where this lake lacked in depth, it made up for in vegetative growth. A lot of saw grass and decomposing saw grass root balls were along the bottom in our search areas.
You may be asking yourself right now why this is important. To most experienced Public Safety Divers it's not really important; however to a straight up newbie it is. You see, the visibility was about 8 inches, and every time my hand touched one of these decomposing root balls my thought process would go something
like this...

*Hand touches slimy root ball and inhales regulator down esophagus*
"Ahhh I found a body!"
*Realizes it's just a root ball*
"Woohoo! It's not a dead body!"
*While pulling out regulator from esophagus comes to realization*
"Crap. Now I have to keep searching."

And repeat.

So for two days this went on. We did not locate the victim, but we did recover a shotgun that was used in a different homicide. To say the least we learned a lot! Our first call out taught us some things that only the real world of public safety diving could teach us.

1st - We learned that just because they have a bunch of cool toys and expensive wetsuits, does not mean they are good divers. Their methods and equipment prevented them from searching effectively and efficiently. Don't feel like you have to impress anyone. Just do your job and let others decide by your actions if you're good enough.

2nd - Just because you did not locate a body or a gun does not mean you failed. Remember, there are only two answers... I located the object, or, the object was not in the search area. It takes a team to cover the area we covered in those two days. And as a team we accomplished our mission.

3rd - You can still breathe out of your regulator even if it's down your esophagus! I would not have believed it unless I had experienced it so many times. I wonder if there is a specialty card for that...



Search negatively my friends!

It started with a Z. (Guest Writer Edition)

 If you have ever wondered where and when police diving began, you are in luck. Because I know the who, what, where, when, why and how. WOW! That sounds like an investigative technique. But before you can arrive at the correct answer you must first have a proper question. You must define police diving and establish the criterion for that definition.

There are many individuals and agencies that could lay claim to police diving beginnings but there is only one individual and agency in which the claim is valid. Before we go there however a brief history overview is necessary.

·         Hard hat (Helmeted) surface supply diving began in the 19^th century

·         SCUBA diving began in 1943 when J. Cousteau and E.Gagnan developed the regulator

·          Z served in the US Navy from 1948-1957 as a salvage diver/surface swimmer SCUBA diver

·         “The Silent World” by J. Cousteau published in 1953

·         Swimming pool owners associations offer skin diving training 1957

·         Sea Hunt aired on television in 1957

·         Z joined the Dade County Sheriff’s Office in 1958 and was assigned to the rescue squad

·         Z begins training other rescue squad members and establishes a police diver standard

·         Connecticut State Police Send volunteers to US Navy dive school in Groton Conn. 1959

·         YMCA begins skin diving instruction in 1960 with PADI and NAUI close in the running

·         Michigan State Police begin training for police divers in 1961

·         Z conducts graduation ceremony for first police divers in March 1961 (Police Diving Curriculum)

·         NYPD begins using police divers instead of commercial divers in 1967

·         Dive Rescue International coined the phrase Public Safety Diver in the 1970’s

Z who is Edwin Blaze Zehnder left the US Navy and joined the Dade County Sheriff’s Office in 1957, and because of his SCUBA diving knowledge, skills and abilities (attitude), when he graduated from the police academy in 1958 was assigned to the Rescue Squad. Z began the proper training of the other members of the rescue squad and it was soon apparent that his knowledge skills and abilities (attitude) aided in advancing the capabilities of the whole squad.

In 1959 Z and another deputy recovered a drowning victim and administered mouth to mouth resuscitation. Several days later both he and his partner were diagnosed with spinal meningitis. The other Deputy died, while Z was left more or less deaf with only 10% hearing in one ear. While recovering in the hospital Z was approached by his Bureau commander and asked to create a training standard and manual for underwater search & recovery. 

Writing a manual was a daunting task for Z, who had to leave school after 8^th grade to help in his family’s business. He later earned his GED in the US Navy.

Z took the challenge and was able to produce a first rate Police Diver training manual with hand drawn illustrations and a standard of training. Something to consider is the fact that there was no PADI, NAUI, YMCA or any recognized Diver training agencies at this point. He had to draw from his US Navy training and skills he developed as a police diver.

In March 1961 the Dade County Public Safety Department (formally Sheriff’s Office) graduated six police divers who were trained totally in house utilizing a Police diving curriculum and standards. One of those Police Divers was Joseph N Johnson, who remained on the Underwater Search & Recovery Squad as a full time Police Diver until he retired in 1992.

Z continued to serve as officer in charge and lead diver until he retired in 1989 when he passed the mantle to the National Academy of Police Diving. His dream was that one day all police divers would be trained to a common standard and methodology in underwater search and recovery. The NAPD which began in 1988 with Z as a founding member continues to share his vision.

Remember, it began with a Z.

Edwin Blaze Zehnder (Police Diver 1958-1989),

The Father of Police Diving

Today's post was written by Michael Gast.

Michael retired as an active police diver from the Miami-Dade County Police Dive Team in 2007. He has extensive experience, with over 25 years as a full-time police diver. He has personally been involved in more than 5,000 underwater recovery and investigation operations. Michael is the founder and president of the National Academy of Police Diving.