Who disagrees with DIR and why?

[beeger]

It's not about "Cadillac" dive gear, or about Halcyon, or about Aqua Lung. What it is about is thinking about your buddy. You mentioned "… giving up control …" which I'm not sure I understand: you donate from your mouth because you know it is working and you know that the most urgent need is to get your buddy gas. You give control back to the person who has likely lost (or is losing) control. You are able to survive just fine without a reg to inhale from for the 5 seconds it takes to get a backup into your mouth (your average exhalation cycle probably takes longer than that when you are breathing off a reg). I also don't understand about not being able to locate your backup underneath your chin ... if your hand can find your head you can find your backup. (FWIW I have, on occasion, been able to get my backup into my mouth without using my hands.) Regarding fighting buoyancy this is another benefit of the long hose. It gives more play between the divers for each diver to get situated for the ascent up. You say, "It's everybodys goal to help out their buddy but you gotta make sure your always in a position to rescue them." I agree. That's why what I've said above is so important. In a OOG/OOA situation you are RESCUING them. Diving a long hose/donating what your breathing made me much more confident that an OOG/OOA situation could be handled than I ever felt using an octopus.

And I can’t let this one go without a little good-natured ribbing: I know the LPO (if that is indeed what you have). I've serviced the LPO. I used one for years as an octopus for my pool reg set when teaching. I’ll just say this: I sold the LPO a couple years ago and now use an impeccably maintained 1965 Aqua Lung metal box second in the pool which is a better breather and a heck of a lot more durable (darn near exact copy of the current Conshelf). Like I said, it’s not about “Cadillac” dive gear.