By Amaani Lyle
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
NAVAL AIR STATION KEY WEST, Fla., July 20, 2015 – Two miles
down a lengthy oceanside road into an outwardly “Navy” air station, there sits
a compound where, just before sunrise, a class of rightfully exhausted yet
bright-eyed Army Special Forces soldiers have already begun their hellish day.
The Army Green Berets, Rangers, and even a few West Point
and ROTC students comprise the combat-dive certified hopefuls who volunteer for
the rigorous and selective six-week, 28-acre Special Forces Underwater
Operation School. They are trained to keep secrets -- albeit unofficially at
times.
“I don’t tell [my mother] much of what we do because of the
stress of the events and what could happen,” said Army 2nd Lt. William Ryerson,
who recently commissioned from the University of Central Florida’s ROTC
program. “It does not happen because of our training, but there’s potential
harm that I cannot tell her about.”
The courses have five iterations per year, each with about
35 soldiers per session, including open- and closed-circuit diving, pool
exercises, open-water and sub-surface training, and search and navigation.
Most students already have acquired specialized skills, such
as Special Forces or Army Ranger qualifications, and all have passed a
prerequisite maritime assessment course.
Rigid Training Style
Among the youngest students in the class, Ryerson, aspires
to be a dive team commander. He said he looks not only to the instructors for
mentoring, but also to his peers, who will also experience the cadre’s gradual
transition from micromanagement to coaching as they progress in the class.
Underwater, one mistake can snowball, which keeps the
instructors alert for even the smallest missteps.
“They put a lot of stress on you every day, but they do it
for a reason, because the water is unforgiving. It does not care what you do,”
Ryerson said. “The current will take you, the tide will take you, there’s
marine life out there, which is why they make us pay attention to detail.”
And those who keep their wits about them still face what
students describe as murky, low-visibility conditions with no margin for error
in prepping and cleaning their equipment and maintaining and using their oxygen
supplies.
“A problem with the equipment such as a retainer strap being
twisted or a weight belt not being fed through properly … can lead to a
catastrophic event out in the ocean,” Ryerson said.
He admitted to such a slip, a twisted strap that cost him
precious energy when instructors demanded he perform lunges while shoulder
carrying his 180-pound dive partner about 30 feet back and forth multiple
times.
One Challenge Tops Them All
Ryerson acknowledged his older classmates might have a
rougher go at the corrective tasks, but the strain remains on them all. “Being
the youngest guy here gives me an advantage because of the physical strain on
our bodies, but it still takes a toll -- the aches and pains in the morning.”
Most students seemed to agree that of the many crucibles
they faced, the one-man competence exam in which a student is paired with an
instructor in the deep end of the compound’s pool was particularly daunting.
“Each instructor takes the students’ … tank from their mouth
and ties a deficiency in that air source,” said Army Capt. Brandon Schwartz, a
dive team detachment commander at Fort Carson, Colorado. “So it’s up to the
student to remain calm and trace his air source in order to breathe and stay
conscious throughout the exam.”
Among the more experienced students, Schwartz said he
volunteered for the class because of and not in spite of its rigorous
reputation.
Depending on the day or hour, student divers could find themselves
aboard Zodiacs, also known as combat rubber raiding crafts, kayaks, or even
military aircraft, from which they jump to land on water targets.
That diversity of vessels and tactics is part of the
course's water infiltration techniques that ease movement with minimal
detection in varying water depths.
Evolving Training Techniques
Army Sgt. 1st Class Dennis Emmons, a Green Beret and class
instructor, said the staff members make every attempt to train, teach, coach
and mentor, especially in critical training aspects such as open- and
closed-circuit dive training, which requires a deliberate and meticulous
process.
“The training has evolved [and uses] a lot more pertinent
information,” Emmons said. “Now a lot of it’s geared toward what’s going to be asked
from the operational units.”
Expecting and embracing training stressors are a significant
part of the mental requirements for students, but it doesn’t hurt to be in
great shape, he said.
“He’s willing to sacrifice his body for a little bit of pain
-- for the greater good,” Emmons said of the ideal student. “To see them show
up timid and then to finish as a diver, fully qualified and proficient, to me,
it’s awesome.”
Army Sgt. 1st Class Brian Gosselin, head of the force
modernization program at the dive school, said maritime warfare is rapidly
advancing worldwide.
“It’s our job to make sure we’re training the students with
the most up-to-date equipment and techniques that are out there,” Gosselin
said.
As such, the school house seeks joint and coalition
situational awareness to exchange best practices and develop the equipment and
curriculum for its students.
The Value of Calm
Army Sgt. Blake Gorey, who's soon heading to the 10th
Special Forces Group at Fort Carson, Colorado, grew up on a sailboat and said
he aspired to join Army Special Forces and serve on a dive team early on,
despite coming from a long line of Naval operators. Still, he asserts, certain
skillsets apply to each of the services.
“The biggest goal for us here as students is to learn how to
remain calm under situations that you don’t think you’re going to make it out
of,” he said.
Gorey recounted a day of closed-circuit dive training where
he realized he was 1,500 meters off from a mark on the beach.
“You have to trust the skills that the instructors have
taught you,” Gorey said. “You have to trust your navigation board, your
compass, you have to trust your dive buddy to get through.”
But the divers and instructors at the school, about 166
miles southwest of Miami, share the vast Atlantic Ocean with much more than
just each other. During a night training mission, Gorey said he held the
compass to navigate for his dive buddy, when the two found out they had
company.
“About 20 minutes into the dive, we start getting a tug on
the buoy and the buddy line,” Gorey said.
He paused, noticed shadows around his dive buddy, and the
two realized that dolphins apparently wanted to join the training.
A Storied History
According to the Army’s web site, the military has a storied
connection to dive technology. In about 1943, an Army officer, along with
representatives from the Army, the Army Air Corps, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast
Guard, helped develop a recirculating oxygen rebreather -- the Lambertson
Amphibious Respiratory Unit, which gave divers the ability to travel underwater
farther and for extended periods of time.
This technology over years evolved into the Draeger underwater
breathing apparatus, which protects combat divers by recycling the CO2 the body
produces upon exhaling.
That history and evolution has culminated in a course that
several students lamented for its imposing demands and day-to-day grind. They
mentioned the relentless thirst and hunger as their bodies blaze through
calories, and the unyielding need to stay mentally sharp. But at every turn,
the instructor cadre is there to remind them why the pain is worth the gain.
“Someday when I go back to a team, the guy I’m teaching
today is going to be the guy next to me subsurface, so I want to make sure that
they’re safe, confident and smart,” Gosselin said.
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