US Navy Diver

Currently I am training both physically and psychologically to join the US Navy Divers. I have been diving recreationally now for a long time and decided to make this sport a career and figured no better way to start than with the elite of elite divers out there.
Any thoughts, guidance, whatever from anyone with experience in this field or military in general?

 

Get ready to get the shit beat out of you. Everything you think you know, forget about it, let the Navy train you.

 

dont know too much about them. we had them onboard our ship. they would check out the hulls of the subs before they went on patrol. I think to make sure that no tracking devices were attached. seemed like they had it pretty good.looked more like scuba divers,while they were doing this.

 

a) Be extremely comfortable in the water. Good things to practice are breathing through a snorkel without a mask in the water.
b) Be very physically fit.
c) Have a strong, positive mental attitude
d) Know basic algebra
e) Don't pre-train yourself for shit. Everything that you need to know/learn will be taught to you.

 

"The Navy Diver is not a fighting man, he is a salvage expert. If it is lost underwater, he finds it. If it's sunk, he brings it up. If it's in the way, he moves it. If he's lucky, he will die young, 200 feet beneath the waves, for that is the closest he'll ever get to being a hero." Billy Sunday

Good career choice I'm sure that they rake in the dough. Good luck!

 

Awesome movie...

 

Yup. It's the only thing I can contribute tho, at least it's based off of something that was real and not made up by a producer.
Edit: I did however find a nice website that seems to be useful to someone like to op when looking to see how much they made. http://www.navy.com/careers/special-operations/diver.html

 

OP, are you colorblind? Make sure you're not. Being colorblind is a big disqualifier for candidates. You may be colorblind and not even know it i.e Red/Green Blue/Yellow colorblindness. Take this test.
http://colorvisiontesting.com/ishihara.htm

 

Try and get a hold of the navy dive manual. I was thinking about doing it before i joined and decided to go down a different path. Its a good read either way.

 

definitely not color blind and i'll be sure to get a hold of that manual. anyone know about the logistics of how the program might go? i am married and plan on having children and i understand that being in the service will take away a good bit of family time. just wondering.

 

Uh, yeah.

Figure 6-month cruises at sea, followed by shore duty. Occasionally longer. Repeat.

On top of everything the others have said, make sure you are comfortable in the water at night, and are not claustrophobic. Basic SCUBA knowledge is good to have, but don't bother with advanced training. You'll just have to re-learn it the Navy way.

Post-service careers can be very lucrative depending on your skillset. Oil rigs, research and underwater photography can all pay extremely well. I have a friend who travels the world shooting dive video for corporations and research endeavors and he makes bank. If you can weld underwater, you're freakin' golden.

It can also be really hazardous. You can't hear anyone yell at you if they drop a beam or slab from above.

 

If it is anything like when the seals do scuba training get ready to have the shit beat out of you while underwater and you can't see. Oh ya and while that is going on they are taking all your gear moving it around and breaking it.

 

After boot camp, you have a prep course in Great Lakes called CEODD (Center for EOD and Diving). It's about 2 months long. Then Dive School is in Panama City, FL and it's a little over 5 months. If you're in a Sea Command, you'll be gone a lot.

Underwater Welding is a skill learned in Dive School, but it's extremely competitive to be sent to an Underwater Welding command. You usually have to know someone to get into one. But once you become experienced, you'll have companies lining up for you once you get out. After about 4 years of civi diving the salary breaks 6 figures.

Same SCUBA training as Second Phase of BUD/s. It's called pool week.