I am very curious as to who you are. You are talking a pretty good game but I am not aware of anyone that was on the phone with you during the recovery operation. I am also not sure where you are getting your information about cave certifications because you are 100% wrong.
You don't know who I am, so how would you know who spoke to me and about what? Certainly I wasn't on the phone with the recovery team during the recovery operation, but I doubt you were running around at the scene all evening checking to see who every single person was talking to. Just because I got one part of my info incorrect, doesn't mean I don't know a great deal about this event.
I'm with Walter on this one. I was with someone who "was on the phone" with the recovery team, who also knows the specifics of one of the divers' certification levels, and bpd's information is inaccurate. I'm not saying that bpd is trying to spread misinformation. It is possible bpd was speaking to someone from the sherrif's dept or some medical first responder, but not the actual cave diving recovery team.
....
.... This can take quite some time, due to the need for law enforcement to also complete their investigation, etc. Until that time, much of the information released can be hearsay, speculation, etc. ....
Don- Thank you for bringing a lot more clarity into the process. I did not mean to provide misinformation, I have formally apologized (see below) and have retracted the posts about their certifications. Most of the information I received came first hand to either me or my spouse or both of us. The certification information did not and I thought I could trust that source. It does not negate that I do have knowledge of this event and have been agonizing with others since they first went missing. What I said was not intended to be hearsay, and a lot of us, even those close to these two, are running on what little information we have. Unless anyone was in the water with Joe and Yessic (which obviously they weren't) or on the recovery team (which I acknowledge had the hardest job in all of this and understand they cannot release much of any information), we are
all dealing with second hand information. Can ANYONE cut me some slack? I was doing the best I could with what I had.
Let me first apologize. I wrote this late at night and was apparently not completely clear in my post as to how some of the information came about. The certification levels of these divers were given to me by others NOT on scene and those I trusted to have facts. I will not provide any more "information". I am irritated at the misinformation I was given, irritated that I trusted the sources to find out they were wrong, irritated that I posted misinformation without knowledge, but am trying to be understanding that things were crazy last night. I was not the direct person on the phone, my spouse was and with a couple of different people. Perhaps one or both of us misunderstood, perhaps the information he received was not accurate, but it was all from trusted contacts, so we believed them. Whatever - it is what it is, and ultimately two friends are gone.
Haven't I said enough to try to fix this?
It appears you yourself are a bit emotional as well right now. I'm sure you were not monitoring and okaying all phone calls and subsequent calls. People talk, share, grieve with one another, come to grips, etc. Essentially it is a chain reaction and I am guessing no one checked with you first before calling others?
Please rather than attack, as always ends up beneficial to none, let's keep within the spirit of the forums intent and discuss what went went wrong and the preventative measures.
Thank you for trying, Missdirected, but apparently some people just need to attack as a way to deal with grief. Apparently, I'm the target now. See below -
Easy Chief...
Your buddy even said it himself - "I was not the direct person on the phone"
I am only emotional with the people that feel like they have to be part of something they were not nor know nothing about.
If you're going to quote, get it all: "I was not the direct person on the phone, my spouse was and with a couple of different people. Perhaps one or both of us misunderstood, perhaps the information he received was not accurate, but it was all from trusted contacts, so we believed them." No, I was NOT a part of the recovery, but YES I do know about this event. You don't know me. You don't know my spouse. You also don't know every single person who called these two men friends, so how do you presume to know what I do and do not know? In fact, several of us on this end of matters are "very curious as to who you are"? If you'll notice, I apologized for my misinformation and even went through all previous posts and retracted what I NOW know to be incorrect. Of course it appears that your intention is to attack me, not give me credit for trying to do anything right, so why would you notice my apology or corrections/retractions? Your assumption that I do not know anything about this is "100% wrong" and does not change the fact that I lost friends too.
In a forum such as this, it is better if the people who succomb to emotions easy refrain from participating. The value added ends up being less than those who are genuinely trying to work backwards from the terrible outcome to try and help others who may someday find themselves in a similar situation. Eveyone is always welcome but we need to check our emotional involvement at the door.
And this is why I am leaving. I came here as one of "those who are genuinely trying to work backwards from the terrible outcome to try and help others who may someday find themselves in a similar situation". I came here to talk facts, and have apologized for and retracted those statements I've made that were not facts. This was the place I chose to sort through the details and along with the help of others with far more knowledge than I have on the cave diving process come to some deeper understanding as part of the grieving process. I did not expect to be attacked and accused of being a liar. I have tried to remain open and objective in this mess and it doesn't matter, so why bother? I never came here to fight, certainly not to "win" as it appears is Walter's intent, so fine.
Walter, you need to be right so bad and win this? You got it. You win. You want to be the guy who has to be right on everything? Go ahead. I am willing to and have already admitted my mistakes and tried to make good of it. Too bad you can't see that, but it really doesn't matter anymore, does it? The biggest mistake I made was assuming this was a safe place to deal with this tragedy.
