Diving in the navy

[sandmanw]

Hi, just wondering if there were any current or former navy divers out there that I could talk to. Im in NROTC right now and am interested in getting into diving when I get commisioned. If there is anyone out there that could talk to me about being a junior officer diver in the navy or about being in one of the Mobile Diving and Salvage units, I would love to talk to you. Thanks!

 

[2Tours N Iraq`]

Even though I'm in the Army, I am working with a BMCM E9 who works at the Navy Dive School (when not deployed). I will check with him and see what advice he has. It may take a while to get back with you as we are VERY busy here in Iraq. Good luck and I'll see what I can do for you.

 

[sandmanw]

Thanks a lot, I'd really appreciate that.

 

[Deepseabob]

Sandmanw
I was a Navy Diver for 19 years. What can I tell you?

 

[sandmanw]

Hey, Bob. The questions I have a pretty general but it’s hard to find the answers unless you're speaking with someone that has experience, like yourself. I guess I'll just list the main questions that I have so you know what I'm talking about. For starters, as a junior officer, what are the opportunities that are available to me in the diving community (i.e. what types of certifications/billets can and would I get)? On a side note, you don't have to tell me about EOD, I know that's not what I'm looking for. What does a normal diving pipeline look like for a J/O (what schools would I attend, where would I be stationed etc.)? Would I get to dive a lot? What do you think is the most interesting kind of diving that is available to me? How useful would my skills be after I got out of the navy in terms of earning a living? I guess that’s the majority of the questions that I have. In general, I'm just curious what my life would be like as a navy diver and what opportunities I would have. Looking forward to your response. -Will

Sandmanw
I was a Navy Diver for 19 years. What can I tell you?

 

[Deepseabob]

Sandmanw
I hate to rain on your parade, but if you aren't interested in EOD there is little career path for you as a Diving Officer. There are very few billets for your run of the mill Diving Officer. Most of the Junior Officers go EOD after their first tour. Plus now many of the Fleet diving commands come under EOD chain of command.

What you can expect as a Diving Officer is to have a lot of colateral duties in addition to your diving duties. Don't expect to dive a whole lot, most of the work is going to be done by the enlisted divers but you will probably be put in every so often to at least gain a bit of expierence. That is if you end up at a Ships Husbandry command or one of the Mobile Diving and Salvage Units. If you end up some place like NAVSEA you can expect to ride a desk and struggle to get your qual dives in every six months.

If what you are looking for is to dive, and by dive I mean you can expect a lot of hard physical work in all weather and no vis underwater, then you want to be enlisted.

If you are looking for a career in the Navy, there really is little opportunity for a straight Diving Officer. Sorry to have to break the news to you

 

[sandmanw]

Thanks for the response. I guess being a diving officer wasn't exaclty what I thought it was. What kind of collateral duties would I be getting? Do you happen to know anything about diving with the Seabees, I know that they also do underwater construction. Would it be the same thing for me there too? The reason that I said I didn't want to do EOD is because it sounded to me like if I were in EOD, I would not necessarily be diving. They obviously do a lot of other things and diving would only be a side job. Are there EOD guys who just dive, or do are they all trained in every aspect of their community? -Will

 

[Deepseabob]

I don't know much about how SEABEE diving officers are used in the fleet. But it doesn't matter where you go as a junior officer, you are going to have collateral duties. I couldn't begin to list all of the piss ant little administrative chores that need to be done in the Navy but I can tell you you will get some of them whatever field you go into. EOD isn't a bad deal, you will be doing things other than diving (like jump school) but they still do a good bit of diving and they have some pretty cool toys to play with. For instance the MK-16 semi closed cicuit SCUBA rig certified to 300 feet. They also do a lot interesting stuff for the Secret Service for security details for those the SS protect anytime they are going to be around water. It has been twenty years since I worked with them early in my career but there are times I wished I had gone that route myself. It's not a bad deal.

 

[sandmanw]

I got a little taste of the extra duties that J/O's get when I did a sub cruise earlier this summer and I understand what you're talking about there. You mentioned earlier that most of the Junior Officers go EOD after their first tour. What did you mean by that? Did they go through dive school first and then elect to do EOD or would I have to say I was doing EOD right from the start?

 

[Deepseabob]

Usually what happens is they do a tour as a Divng Officer and by the time it is up, the see which way the wind is blowing and realize that EOD offers the most opportunity for advancement and put in for EOD school. It makes EOD school shorter becasue they have already gone through dive school.