Marine Combat Vet Who’s Found Peace in Diving

[apedai]

Nice name! both bullet shell and regulator made by brass.

 

[Hotbrass]

Welcome to the hobby, glad to hear it's bringing you long-sought serenity. "No troubles, just bubbles" is the phrase I like to use.

With 25 dives down, have you thought about your next certification goal? Nitrox can extend your bottom time, dry suit can enable you to go in colder waters you otherwise wouldn't think were divable.

Nitrox and rescue diving courses are high on my list. I’m also looking into a course that’ll take me all the way to divemaster one day. I just found out I can use my GI bill. Probably a better use for it than starting at three different colleges

 

[Hotbrass]

I got the nickname from being a left handed machine gunner and the brass burning my forearm. One went down my shirt and left the perfect imprint of a 5.56 casing burned into my chest. It’s not the worst nickname to end up with lol.

Nice name! both bullet shell and regulator made by brass.

 

[Hotbrass]

Albuquerque. It is truly the land of entrapment... I left for the army and came back. I left to work at the Pentagon and came back.

I’m up in Santa Fe. I’ll admit I had trouble with my decision not to buy gloves and a mask when I dove Blue Hole

 

[apedai]

I got the nickname from being a left handed machine gunner and the brass burning my forearm. One went down my shirt and left the perfect imprint of a 5.56 casing burned into my chest. It’s not the worst nickname to end up with lol.

Cool, It's your tattoo.

 

[AnnoyedSpelunker]

Thank you for your service. My brother is an Iraq vet so I can somewhat understand the mental toll it takes on you and I forced him to take his OW certification after he returned to put his mind at ease. Glad that you too were able to find inner peace with scuba diving.

 

[David_NAUI]

I’m a former Marine infantryman with two tours in Afghanistan and the documentary filmmaker behind Once a Marine, a film about coming home from war available on Amazon Prime.

How can you tell if someone is a Marine in less than two seconds of meeting them? They’ll tell you lol.

I’m a new scuba diver who’s just discovered the hobby/sport/way of life in the last year. My girlfriend convinced me to try scuba diving despite the ocean and the ocean depths being on the short list of my biggest fears. After the millions of years of evolution as a land mammal stopped screaming in my ear that I couldn’t breathe underwater and had no business there I found something I’d been looking for for a decade…peace.

This may sound weird to some of y’all but there’s something about the parallels between scuba diving and going on patrol in Afghanistan that really drew me in. Checking and triple-checking your gear. Making a plan and sticking to it. Adapting if something chsnges. Staying calm and focused when things go wrong. The inherent risk and danger. I learned in country that life felt the most vibrant when the opposite was so close.

After years of trying to find some sort of outlet after the war and discovering mostly the unhealthy ones I stumbled into diving. It’s changed my life.

So far I’ve only done my PADI open water course and 25 dives over three trips to Cozumel, the Blue Hole at Santa Rosa New Mexico, and Rainbow River in Florida.

I’m here to learn from you pioneers, veteran divers, dive masters, and anyone with anyone to teach me, even if it’s just where to eat at on an island or what mistakes to avoid.

Since I’ve become interested in diving I’ve noticed time and time again that ScubaBoard has survived the Facebookifivation, Redditifixation, and search engine optimization, that plagues the rest of the internet. I’m here to learn from the best resource on the internet about diving.

Glad to be here.

Stephen

My Film- Once a Marine

Hello brother in arms. Looking forward to watching the documentary! Diving is my great solitude, I'm hoping to retire very near the ocean, soon.

 

[Litefoot]

I got the nickname from being a left handed machine gunner and the brass burning my forearm. One went down my shirt and left the perfect imprint of a 5.56 casing burned into my chest. It’s not the worst nickname to end up with lol.

I’m an Army vet and a leftie too. Yep, that hot brass always “finds a way”. Welcome and thanks for your to courage to be who you are.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

Nitrox and rescue diving courses are high on my list. I’m also looking into a course that’ll take me all the way to divemaster one day. I just found out I can use my GI bill. Probably a better use for it than starting at three different colleges

If you’re planning on working as a DM that might be a good route, but if not you can use your GI bill through SDI/TDI and do all the way through tech courses.

Veterans - Use your GI Bill to earn scuba certifications and licenses - International Training - SDI | TDI | ERDI | PFI

Are you a veteran or active service member who would like to learn to dive, build new skills, or become a dive industry professional? Now you can, using GI Bill® benefits!

www.tdisdi.com

 

[ChampUSMC]

Semper Fi Devil Dog!