How do you get involve in Public Safety Diving?

[grumpie]

Good Evening, good for you Scott, I'm glad that you made the team.For awhile it will be very different type of diving then your use too and the then it will start to make sense. don't ever let pier pressure  make  you do a dive that you don't  feel good about, because then you can get in to trouble. PM me as to what county your with.
grumpie.......

[scott1611]

Thanks Grumpie,

I'm very happy to have made the team.  It is different, we've been in the water and have hit zero viz (most of the time)...just how the water is here.  I totally agree about not going in if you don't feel good about it.  Even though we are there to do a job (rescue/recover/whatever)...the safety of the team is #1.  Not a good thing to go out and add to the reason you responded in the first place.

[grumpie]

Good afternoon Scott, I have just started a new class at Ramsey Co. Last Tue night was second nite on scuba and they are having a great time, eight went  down and nine came up. We have been doing a lot of skills and they are  great so far, so we took off all are gear and left it in the deep end and swam to the shallow end.
We talked a bit and then swam back under water and put it all on. with out coming up. next month we will start on dry suits.
grumpie........

[wtdrm]

I guess I dont know how to respond to this, however I shall try.


PSD diving is a very different sort of diving. As I look through my logs and remember the dives, zero vis is a relative thing. I am a Divemaster and when I know where my students are that is a good thing, however when I have a-hold of one and cant see another that is a bad thing.


The other side of the coin is a PSD diver. They enter the water expecting to not see a thing. If they do, it is a GREAT thing.

I know personnally alot of the divers on this board, and they know me.

The respect that I hold for these PSD people is beyond words. I have had tons of experiences that were bad, however they went bad after I went into the water. These folks enter, knowing it will be bad. My hat is off to you. ( I have had many more that make it all worthwhile.)

There are other sides of the coin. I have also been on training dives with prospective PSD divers. Most of them I would not want to dive with in a rec. point of view, however all of them possesed the trait that made them a rescuer, the fact that they wanted to save a person mad them that.

A Case in point.
Sometime in the past I was on training dive with some prospective PSD divers.
I was the Dm assigned to bringing up the rear. This was the 1st dive of a deep specialty. we were to go to 100' swim and acsend from there, at 60' one of the divers swam up to me and gave me  the LOA "low on air" signal.
We ascended and every thning was fine. I discussed the situation with the Inst. and we decided that I would be his "buddy" from there on out. This person had not completed the 1st dive. Even though he they they had reached the prescribed depth. This was an advanced specialty class, so we had more training dives to do.
The next dive we wanted to go "deep". At 80 ' the same diver came to me and gave me the "LOA" signal. I looked at his gauge and indeed he was, by our pre dive briefing, low on air. Also by a preconceived plan, at 30' I became a distressed diver. This person WAS low on air, however he forgot about his problem and helped me and did everything right  There is lots of discussion to be gained by this thread.
However, I believe this.


PSD people are a breed unto themselves.
The Training that Grumpie gives them is a plus.


For those of you that havent done, this I will start.
Thanks Grumpie!!!!!!!
and thanks to all of your students.
CJ








Thanks
CJ

[hcho3528]

For those who are slightly intrested in get on a public saftey dive team but want to be compensated well for it, this is not a career for your personality type. Like Smithdiving said, public saftey members do not do the job for money. With that being said, to be on a dive team is extremely challenging, and their is a lot of dedication and training involved. If you were a victim in a large body of water would you want a person w/o the dedication to saving your life saving you, or someone who likes to tell people they are apart of a dive team. I can tell the person with the ego will only put more people in danger. If you want the title w/o the responsibility or dedication I suggest you start your own private dive team, and tell people you are apart of one then. You can make your own cool logo with a skull and crossbones. For those of you have achieved becoming one, my thanks for your dedication and bravery. I am not on a dive team, however I am a police officer, and a rescue diver and friends with many on public safety dive teams.