naval diver trainees who have already sport dived

Anthony Appleyard

In 1973 I had a commercial diving course at Eye near Peterborough, run by an ex-naval diving instructor called Ginger Snell. He said that "sport diving experience is not necessarily an advantage in a frogman trainee, because sport diving encourages a casual tourist-type attitude to being underwater, and it can be difficult for the frogman-trainer to overwrite this with a disciplined attitude of doing the job and not getting distracted by such things as pretty fish or a desire to explore any shipwreck found.". Is there anywhere else a current source of information that would prove that statement? Are there any naval divers in this group, who could comment on this?

jradomski

As a non navy trained diver, but as an experienced diver, I found some of the worse divers I have every tried to train are those from the military..most have been taught not to think for themselves and only do what they are told..

From a purely recreational diver the above statement would probably be true, since rec divers tend not to plan ahead and do as they wish, from a tech diver, I don't think the disipline issue or planning issue would be a problem, the issue now is to try and stop the divers from thinking on their own and blindly following orders..

__________________
Joe Radomski
CCR Trimix Instructor Trainer
ANDI Instructor Trainer Director #10

All posts are personal opinions and DO NOT reflect any affiliated agency unless specifically stated.

Deep Thought

I experienced a similar experience at the Divers Institute of Technology (commercial dive school) in Seattle Washington 1985, where the instructors were almost exclusively ex-navy divers. They had several interesting training techniques and axioms such as; "there is the right way, the wrong way, and the navy way...

First weeks of school were spent in Mk v deep sea gear, then we graduated to more modern light helmets, and 3 months into the course we were taught to SCUBA dive. Several of the classmates as myself had over ten years of o.c. experience and raised complaints but we were taught to scuba dive the "Navy" way?

All I can comment on Navy experience is that in my dive years I have met more Navy Seals than seals that exist in nature, and that working with ex-military is very structured. Yes in many cases structure, routine, and discipline is very important to safety, but you also have to be able to think outside of the box.

No disrespect intended to any current or former military personnel, and much respect & thanks for serving so we may enjoy safe environments to play with our rebreathers!

Ken

You're asking to a large degree about conditioning*. I don't have specifics with regards to divers, but this is pretty old stuff in the world of education. If you are seeking papers or data on this stuff PM me.

* see Pavlov