Army Diving Program

[Mudhiker]

Well if you were an old fart, like me, you could have received your "Alive in 65" ribbon...

Is that something like the National Defense Ribbon and others like it that they keep handing out to EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US who just happen to be serving during a certain period of time? I'm getting tired of buying new ribbon bars for medals I don't even know the name of.

But, to put things back on topic, more or less, I didn't know that Navy Divers now have their own rate. Things sure change in just a couple years. Them Navy folks are even getting a new work uniform! We Coasties transitioned to a "BDU" style kit about two years ago. I like them bellows pockets. Good for sandwiches.

~Isaac

 

[mmadiver]

Ugh the new uniforms...looks like something the Air Force would wear...

 

[AaronR103]

Ugh the new uniforms...looks like something the Air Force would wear...

The army's new uniforms aren't much better. Velcro everywhere, no branch insignia for officers, PIN ON badges. Gonna be a pain for the 82nd to take those on and off everytime they jump, not to menton the dog-and-pony-show officers and CSMs griping whenever the black starts to rub off and making some poor private shell out for a new CIB and jump wings every couple weeks. At least we won't have to shine boots or press the damn things anymore. Gotta love pomp and circumstance.

As for ribbons, I was given 2, the gay-pride (army service ribbon) and the NDM simply for going to basic training, then no less than 3 for simply setting foot in Iraq. Then, some LTC decided that the only real award we deserved was not for combat, not for guarding the green-zone during the first Iraqi elections and the first Democratic National Convention ever held in an islamic country, but for the swell way we packed to get ready to deploy. All us combat vets got was an AAM (the lowest medal the army can give) and a "good job packing" speech. They even downgraded the medal for a true hero (a private) who took shrapnel for a civilian from a bronze star to an ArCom so that the BS (I mean that in every way possible) could be given to an officer. I'd almost rather wear the ROTC ribbons at this point.

Now, if I can ever convince them to send me to dive school, that's a badge I'll wear with pride.

A

 

[rmediver2002]

1) The Navy has recently switched, diving is again a rate in the Navy for enlisted men. In the recent past diving was considered an additional duty rating although almost all Navy divers served in a diving position thier promotions and testing was conducted on whatever rate they were assigned (many were bosuns mate or engineman but they were at a disadvantage for testing because they did not normally work in the field) .The Navy has many different kinds of divers all with different missions, a decent book to check out is Navy Diver if your interested in that route.

2) The Army is currently undermanned in MOS 21D (diver) so positions for training are not all that hard to come by, on the downside there is still a fairly high attrition rate.

3) There are only a handful of dive oficer positions in the Army, if selected for one of these (8-10 positions for LT, only three positions for CPT) go into it knowing that after making captain (unless selected for one of the three command positions) you will have to leave the field, if you do get a command position you will have to leave the field after that tour.

4) Enlisted Army divers stay in the field for the duration of thier career (unless they elect to leave OCS, pilot, warrant officer, SF) and many at some point do take advantage of these other opportunities.

5) You can find more information on Army diving here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/armydiver/


I was an Army diver for 10.5 years and loved every minute of it. I was trained by the US Navy and have worked as an instructor in the Navy dive school, great bunch of guys to work with for the most part. I have also worked with Coast Guard, NOAA, Customs, US EPA, and Navy Sea-Bee divers and had great experiences with them all. Currently training is still held at the Navy dive school but it is a separate Army run course now.

In the Army you are going to be working in ports, inland waterways, and rivers. The diving is normally shallow 30-60 FSW and most often there is no visibility, the tasks are mostly construction or demolition oriented. You do get to do alot of diving in the Army and it does translate well to civilian work, especially inland diving (construction and demo)

I have some articles you can view on some missions the Army has done here:

http://www.rmediver.com/id26.html

If you have any questions or would like some POC's let me know, jlane@rmediver.com