![]() ![]() Granted, a portion of the course is dedicated to familiarizing students with open-circuit equipment. Those bubbles are easily detected," Minnick explained. "When you exhale underwater, the air, the bubbles come up to the surface. Shane Minnick, assistant operations sergeant at SF Underwater Operations School, explained that self-contained underwater breathing apparatus or scuba diving is an open-circuit system. Of course, there are several types of equipment available now, but the school utilizes the Draeger LAR-V, which is a design based on the original LARU apparatus from the 1940s. ![]() Known for using cutting-edge technology, the school served as field tester in the 1970s for a rebreather unit that used mixed gas in a closed-circuit system. This infiltration method grew to become another platform for Special Forces to get to work. In 1943, an Army officer, along with other 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, or LARU, which gave divers the ability to travel underwater farther and for longer periods of time.ĭevelopments such as the LARU set the stage for underwater and airborne tactical maneuvering. They selected Fleming Key, and during the next 20 years, the site grew from a collection of tents to an advanced maritime special operations training facility.Įarly dive technology can also be attributed to military contributions. Three Soldiers were sent to Florida from the JFK Special Warfare Center Scuba Detachment, Fort Bragg, N.C., in the summer of 1964 with the objective to locate a site for a new underwater operations school. In true Special Forces tradition, the school was birthed in an autonomous fashion, and today is a self-sufficient organization with an administrative and training facility, barracks, dining facility, classrooms, parachute-drying tower, hyperbaric chamber, boat maintenance shop, docks, the largest pool in Key West, and a dive tower equipped with a nuclear submarine lockout trunk. The SF Underwater Operations School administers two other courses between its combat diver sessions: the Combat Diving Supervisor Course and the Diving Medical Technician Course. Students learn surface and sub-surface waterborne infiltration methods. CDQC is open to Special Forces and Ranger noncommissioned officers. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. Regarded by many Soldiers as the toughest military school to endure, CDQC is run by C Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Warfare Training Group, U.S. ![]() For those who do make it into the course, one out of every three will never finish. So, getting there is only half the battle. In order to be accepted to the course, candidates are required to pass as intense physical fitness and swim test at their home units, which must be documented by their command. It is as intense mentally as it is physically, with an attrition rate that truly begins before each class cycle does. The grueling seven-week Combat Diver Qualification Course, or CDQC, at the Special Forces Underwater Operations School in Key West, Fla., is neither for the weak of heart, or the idle of mind. Those who dare navigate under the waves, not just on top of them, to do what the Army needs them to do are among the Special Forces' elite: combat divers. Working under the water can be even more unforgiving. Living and working on the sea can be difficult and dangerous. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL 7 / 7 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL 6 / 7 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL 5 / 7 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL 4 / 7 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL 3 / 7 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL 2 / 7 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. 1 / 7 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |