Chris_A
Registered
I just wanted to stop in and introduce myself. I have been a certified Open Water diver since 2001 but being in the army and always being stationed inland I ran into a lot of places that didn't have anywhere for me to dive or no one that was certified close to me back in the day to go diving with. I have snorkeled here and there in some rivers and ponds but never got to put a tank on my back. It has been quite a while since I have been down but I am going to change that.
I have since retired after serving 24 years and being 100% disabled through VA as some of my injures from Iraq and Afghanistan didn't better and some got a little worse. I figured I would get back into diving since I have the time and nothing else to do. I am going to try and use my VA rehabilitation or my post 9/11 bill to get back into some classes as I would like to get some more certifications.
The certifications I am going for would be rescue diver, search and recovery, wreck diver and work my way up to become a dive instructor. We used to have a dive shop here in my home town as I had seen it when ever I was able to come on leave but when I retired and moved back home I saw that it had closed down. I found one dive shop about an hour from me that teaches all of the classes I want to take to get all of my cert's as the one that is 20 minutes from me are not and will not be setting up for folks to use their education benefits.
I know I have some questions on things as like I said it has been awhile since I had purchased any equipment and I have been looking at some stuff that some folks have for sale but some of the stuff is older and I am just not sure if the items can still be serviced or not.
Anyways any information and help you folks can give me and share with me would be very much appreciated on my end and trust me I can't wait to start these classes and get back out there back to something I miss doing and had fun doing.
I have since retired after serving 24 years and being 100% disabled through VA as some of my injures from Iraq and Afghanistan didn't better and some got a little worse. I figured I would get back into diving since I have the time and nothing else to do. I am going to try and use my VA rehabilitation or my post 9/11 bill to get back into some classes as I would like to get some more certifications.
The certifications I am going for would be rescue diver, search and recovery, wreck diver and work my way up to become a dive instructor. We used to have a dive shop here in my home town as I had seen it when ever I was able to come on leave but when I retired and moved back home I saw that it had closed down. I found one dive shop about an hour from me that teaches all of the classes I want to take to get all of my cert's as the one that is 20 minutes from me are not and will not be setting up for folks to use their education benefits.
I know I have some questions on things as like I said it has been awhile since I had purchased any equipment and I have been looking at some stuff that some folks have for sale but some of the stuff is older and I am just not sure if the items can still be serviced or not.
Anyways any information and help you folks can give me and share with me would be very much appreciated on my end and trust me I can't wait to start these classes and get back out there back to something I miss doing and had fun doing.