Ok there is a lot of info here 0_0
The reason I wanted to go the specialty route and not the "40 dives" route was because I wanted to build a strong foundation. Buoyancy, deep diving, and night/wreck felt like good foundations to stand on.
As for Rescue, I don't like "not knowing what to do." I hate, and I mean HATE not being in a position where I can help. My local shop only certified me on how to deal with my own emergencies and buddy breathing, they roll on the mentality of "get your ducks in a row before you start worrying about other people's ducks". This is why they don't let people learn Rescue until they are comfortable, 25 dives or Advanced diver.
I fully agree with the premise in your reply, someday I want to be the diver people are asking to dive with, not just tagging along. I want to be managing multiple rows of ducks semiconsciously, the way I drive managing all the cars around me. I'm easily 6 months away from being Rescue, but I want to make sure I can run my show first. I don't know if I ever will be doing any form of search and rescue, but again I want to know everything I can about being a safe diver.
I used to do Boy Scouts, and I've been CPR certified before. I was meaning to recertify someday, so this is a great reason to push me back to it
Also the police asked all people at a cleanup dive at the BHB to leave their contact info and experience on a paper for them. Why did they want that, just curious... they had their dive team and some detectives there doing drills in the low vis waters.