Sports Diver trainees at the Azure Window
BRNC ’ s impressive pool
What is their work schedule like ?
In the 30 weeks they are here , we can ’ t touch them for the first three to four weeks , then they are away for another two separate weeks during militarisation , learning how not to get lost on Dartmoor and at sea , attending a sea survival course . Then they are away at sea for six weeks during marinization , and they have two weeks of assessments . So there really is very little time to try to get any dive training done .
That didn ’ t put you off ?
No , I took on the role of Diving Officer with much enthusiasm and within a year we had trained 10 willing cadets up to Ocean Diver and readied them for an expedition to Malta to complete their Sports Diver training . The Commander was already a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver , so the first thing I did was to cross him up to Sports Diver and put him through an Instructor Foundation Course .
In addition , an officer cadet called Callum Clarke was already a BSAC Open water Instructor , so I got him straight onto the books and he was fantastic in helping me achieve the training goal-set .
What happened on the exped ?
Expeds are a fantastic way to get people trained . When organising training , military clubs can either take with them the requisite
number of instructors and Sub Aqua Diving Supervisors ( SADS ) and do all the training themselves , or they can go to an approved dive centre where they essentially pay for the services of the school to carry out the training . We decided on the latter , as I was essentially the only supervisor and instructor going , and we needed to follow the military code of diving .
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