Navy Diver helped save partner, but investigation finds officers made errors

Navy Times ^ | 2/28/03 | Maxwell

[pabianice]

It

[pabianice]

Rest in peace, shipmate.

[First_Salute]

In capital letters, Matthew writes:

"During my year and a half onboard, I have been qualified in various positions with little or no knowledge on that position. It is not because of a lack of motivation but a lack of organization . . . I believe more planning needs to go into assigning quals (qualifications) so it is possible to gain full knowledge of that position before that person is qualified. I have been told repeatedly that you can do it on your own time. I understand this and do work on qualifications during my free time, but to gain full knowledge of that field I need to be under instruction."

This problem is throughout the U.S. military, the Pentagon, and even in the industry where we produce the material required for our defense.

It is a major reason why we are not prepared for war.

It is the major reason why, President Bush had to have "fired up" our Arsenal of Democracy, way back in September of 2001, in order that the thousands of areas, of which Matthew describes just one, above, could be made known and started on the path of getting up to speed.

We are not up to speed.

[skeeter]

? Plummer failed to properly set up equipment and lost the ?big picture,? allowing Draughon and Gordon to stray off course. In July 2001, Mitchell, Block and Plummer were handed punative letters of reprimand for dereliction of duty.

What? No reprimand for the Command Dive Officer, who after all was responsible for overall dive safety?

I guess "but he intimidated me" is considered a valid defense in the navy.

[Servant of the Nine]

Lt. (j.g.) Rebecca Aten later reported that she wanted to hold off on the dive. As the command dive officer, she was responsible for the safe and successful conduct of all diving operations.

Aten told the executive officer, Lt. William Block, “The sea state is too bad to dive, I don’t want anyone to get hurt or killed.”

“What, this water?” replied Block, who is responsible for coordinating all departments involved in a dive operation. “No one is going to die from this. We dove in this sea state all the time during the TWA crash.”

An officer who doesn't understand the difference in bottom conditions between deep water and shalow water for a given sea state should never have been on a Salvage Ship in any capacity, much less as Exec.

So9

[dark_lord]

Officers in the military Navy are rarely punished for serious problems. Yes, if a ship or boat runs aground, the Navigation officer will get a reprimand in their file. Failing a weapons or nuke test might get a reprimand. But if anyone dies, it is coverup time, and at most the junior-most officers are blamed.

[anymouse]

A bump for real men of honor.

Carl Brashear, whose remarkable life the film is based on, and Cuba Gooding Jr., the man who portrays him in 20th Century Fox's Men of Honor - 2000

[snopercod]

Not being a diver myself, this is probably a stupid question: Shouldn't these guys have cut loose and surfaced as soon as they became fouled?

Meaning no disrespect, but it seems that they should have used some individual initiative instead of waiting two hours for someone to "help them".

[Servant of the Nine]

Not being a diver myself, this is probably a stupid question: Shouldn't these guys have cut loose and surfaced as soon as they became fouled?

They were already 400 meters from the boat. With the waves and a strong current carrying him further away once he cut lose, the crew would probably never have been able to find him.

Once a diver cuts lose he has only the air in the suit to lift him and to breathe until rescue. There is no practical way to get out of a suit in the water quickly enough not to drown. It can be done, but would be an absolute last resort.

A diver at 30 feet can effectively stay down till he starves to death, there is no decompression of narcosis at that depth. It makes more sense to sit quietly and wait for rescue divers to get you lose safely, than to try a very risky escape.

So9

[snopercod]

Thanks for explaining the facts to a landlubber.

[rabidralph]

I guess "but he intimidated me" is considered a valid defense in the navy

How about "he outranks me."

[skeeter]

How about "he outranks me."

That excuse didn't work for boatswain's mate Plummer.

[B4Ranch]

ping to the article and #2