Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Gaelen Lowers | Soldiers of the 7th Engineer Dive Detachment, 130th Engineer Brigade, listen to a...... read more read more
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FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii – Leaders of the 7th Engineer Dive Detachment trained their new master divers Oct. 1 aboard a logistics support vessel docked at a pier at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam during Deep Blue, an annual exercise designed to reinforce safety and tactical proficiency.
The 130th Engineer Brigade’s 25-man detachment performed the weeklong certification of its diving supervisors to prepare for evaluations in the upcoming year.
“We make sure all of our master divers and dive supervisors are sharp with their skills and protocols, so when they go out with a dive team, they're successful,” said 1st Sgt. David Chebahtah, the detachment senior master diver. “It's important that we keep all of our divers' proficiency at the highest levels. Lives depend on it.”
There are as many things that can go wrong when you are at a shallow depth, as there are while deep sea diving, said Spc. Samuel Schreier, second class diver who was a role player during the scenarios.
“It’s dangerous out there and this training helps mitigate the possible casualties,” he said. “It's an intense week of diver casualty scenarios dealing with what could go wrong in and out of the water, and they have to figure out a way to fix those situations. There are a lot of stressful scenarios for them but if they stay calm and think things through, then they should be able to work through the problems.”
One such scenario included the dive supervisor figuring out how to get two deep sea divers into the decompression chamber while another diver was occupying it.
Even though the training is designed specifically for the master divers and dive supervisors, all grades and ranks gain from it.
“Although the youngest soldier here may not be in charge of a dive, he is able to see these scenarios and how the supervisors react to the different situations,” said Chebahtah. “In the event of an actual casualty, he will be better trained and more able to react. This is not Army mandated training. [Our detachment] makes it mandatory of all of our divers. Being such a small detachment, we all rely on each other to get their part done and done right. I trust every soldier on my team.”
| Date Taken: | 10.01.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 10.02.2013 15:33 |
| Story ID: | 114617 |
| Location: | HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, HI, US |
| Hometown: | HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, HI, US |
| Web Views: | 96 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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