[travlnmn41]

There's a great book written by the first diver to go down on the USS Arizona after the Dec. 7 attack and his description of the horrors he came across will give you chills. I think it's called "Descent Into Darkness."
All of these guys, both military and civilian, have balls of steel.

[Who dat?]

My uncle worked with the corps of engineers (civil side) as a diver that inspected dams and stuff.

Later on they also used him from time to time to recover bodies. At the time (early 80’s) “cave diving” was all the rage in northern FL.

People found out that there were networks of little underwater caves feeding the ponds… they lost quite a few recreational divers farting around in the caves.

He said you just cruise along looking for a personal item lying on the floor of the cave – then you look up. That’s where he’ll be floating, right up against the ceiling. He helped recover at least three or four people like that.

He’s also considered to be legally deaf due, according to him, from ear infections that resulted from diving in “nasty water.”

I can do without all that - that's all I know.

[Tallguy]

I do this kind of diving in Pennsylvania. I have to agree with everthing said in this article save one -- your primary focus is not really to save lives. Even an on-call dive team takes too long to assemble at the accident scene to have any chance of preventing a fatality. Anybody who has ever donned dive gear knows this.

The Ohio dive team that they are profiling might be part of a broader water rescue organization, in which case "saving lives" would be the overall mission -- just not appropriate for the SCUBA division. We are much more likely to be working with police detectives & coroners than paramedics.

[RonF]

One day in Willow Springs, IL (south-west Chicago suburb with a river and canal running through it) it was suspected that a car with a murder victim in the trunk was in the canal. So a dive team was sent down with instructions to find the car. Down goes the diver. Up comes the diver. "You say she's in a ?" Yeah. "Which one? There's a bunch down here." Turns out one or two of the Willow Springs police had a business going. You buy a new car. You dump your old junker in the canal. You make arrangements. According to the paperwork, it's now your new car in the canal, and the insurance company pays off accordingly. Some boys in blue went to jail over that, I expect. Maybe even right next to the Willow Springs Police Chief who got convicted of arson-for-hire. They did eventually find the right car ....

[AmandaMuncy]

I hope I spelled your name correctly....I am the sister of David the 21 year old boy you found this day.....I juss want to thank you for finding my brother for us...I dont know if my family could have handled his death without being able to lay his body to rest....I can never thank you enough for the pieces of yourself that you sacrifice to bring peopke home to their love ones....and I truely believe there is a special place in heaven for angels like you