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Post by nemrod on Sept 30, 2006 22:40:21 GMT -8
Movie is out now. It is not a diving movie but may be of interest to several members like SeaRat. It is about CG Rescue Swimmers. It had some good scenes and the story line, while well used was not entirely lame and certainly paid tribute to these unsung heros. Interestingly they seemed to be using those new AquaLung Rocket fins, a corrugated simple snorkel and some type of frameless bug eye mask and some of the filming was in my home state of Louisiana.
James
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Post by SeaRat on Oct 1, 2006 12:18:32 GMT -8
It is definately of interest to me. I may get a chance to see it next weekend, and if I do, I'll let you know what I think.
I was very happy when the Coast Guard finally went to rescue swimmers. For many years, their helicopter rescue did not have them, and I knew how effective we were in the USAF Pararescue out of helicopters.
John
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Post by ltstanfo on Oct 2, 2006 7:31:23 GMT -8
It is definately of interest to me. I may get a chance to see it next weekend, and if I do, I'll let you know what I think. I was very happy when the Coast Guard finally went to rescue swimmers. For many years, their helicopter rescue did not have them, and I knew how effective we were in the USAF Pararescue out of helicopters. John John, Which STS / STG where you a member of? I worked with several units back in the 90's (contractor). Regards, Ltstanfo |
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Post by SeaRat on Oct 2, 2006 8:00:20 GMT -8
It is definately of interest to me. I may get a chance to see it next weekend, and if I do, I'll let you know what I think. I was very happy when the Coast Guard finally went to rescue swimmers. For many years, their helicopter rescue did not have them, and I knew how effective we were in the USAF Pararescue out of helicopters. John John, Which STS / STG where you a member of? I worked with several units back in the 90's (contractor). Regards, Ltstanfo Ltstanfo, Actually, I go back a lot further than the space shuttle. My main mission was with Apollo, when I was based in the 55th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron (ARRSq) at McCoy AFB in Orlando, Florida in 1970. That was Apollo 13, which by some miracle the NASA people managed to bring down within two miles of the intended Aircraft Carrier. We were the primary rescue force for the first 30 seconds of the flight, at which time The Azores took over. As you know, this flight did not have problems until it was out of earth orbit, and headed toward the moon. If anyone has not seen the movie, Apollo 13, I would highly recommend it. Saving those astronauts was quite a feat of engineering, of innovation, and collaboration. See this Wikipedia entry for an interesting description of the accident, along with many good links. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13John |
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Post by ltstanfo on Oct 3, 2006 5:11:13 GMT -8
Ltstanfo, Actually, I go back a lot further than the space shuttle. My main mission was with Apollo, when I was based in the 55th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron (ARRSq) at McCoy AFB in Orlando, Florida in 1970. That was Apollo 13, which by some miracle the NASA people managed to bring down within two miles of the intended Aircraft Carrier. We were the primary rescue force for the first 30 seconds of the flight, at which time The Azores took over. As you know, this flight did not have problems until it was out of earth orbit, and headed toward the moon. If anyone has not seen the movie, Apollo 13, I would highly recommend it. Saving those astronauts was quite a feat of engineering, of innovation, and collaboration. See this Wikipedia entry for an interesting description of the accident, along with many good links. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13John Thanks for the clarification but this is a clear case of acronym confusion. STS / STG in my case refers to the USAF Special Tactics Squadron / Special Tactics Group. I spent time in Mildenhall England, Kadina AFB in Okinawa, Louisville KY, Pope AFB in North Carolina and Hurlburt Field in Florida where the STS and STG were located. Each unit has as part of its makeup "PJ's" (Paramedic Jumpers) whose role can include rescue swimming. The STS ad STG are the USAF version of Green Berets, etc... Regards, Ltstanfo |
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Post by JES on Oct 3, 2006 8:46:42 GMT -8
... "PJ's" (Paramedic Jumpers) whose role can include rescue swimming... The Airforce Pararescuemen are known as "PJs" (a nickname pronounced 'pee jays' that refers to their earlier title 'para jumpers'). They are the only members of the DoD specifically organized, trained and equipped to conduct personnel recovery operations in hostile or denied areas as a primary mission. Their motto is "That others may live" Here is a link from Wilkipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_Pararescue |
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Post by SeaRat on Oct 3, 2006 16:16:56 GMT -8
Jes, Thanks, that was a great summary of Pararescue. I got out in 1977, when I got married. The two lifestyles were incompatible (PJs and being married and committed to the marriage). At that time, we were just ramping up to the Space Shuttle program, and my reserve unit (the 304th Aeorspace Rescue and Recovery Squadron, Portland, Oregon) did sent some PJs to the STS flights. Here's how we knew about STS: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.htmlHere's the NASA archieves: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/list_main.htmlSTS is an acronym in NASA for: STS Shuttle Transportation System Here's a list of NASA acronyms: liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/help/acronym.htmlI was completely out of the program by the time the USAF Special Tactics Squadron / Special Tactics Groups came into being. In my time, we flew either fixed wing (HC-130s) or helicopter (HH-53C Super Jolly Green Giants, HH-1H and HH-1N hueys, and some others). In this capasity, we were a rescue group, and that is not what it is today. Today, it is a combat group, with a PJ there as the medic. So there are not so many humanitarian missions today as there were in the past, I think, due to the fact that there is no group with a single mission of rescue now. With the combined force, it makes sense from a combat perspective, but not from a rescue perspective, as the personnel reporting structure is now a combat organization and not a rescue organization. At least, that is my perception now, but I am away from it and only hearing third-hand from some of the PJs who are still there occasionally. Ltstanfo, I forgot to mention above that I was stationed at Naha AFB, Okinawa in 1968, just before the Pueblo Incident, which sent me to Korea. I had some very good diving there, some of the best I've ever had under the coral reefs on the other side of the island, and snorkeling off the beach at Naha too. John |
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Post by SeaRat on Oct 29, 2006 13:42:12 GMT -8
I finally got the opportunity yesterday to go see The Guardian[/B], as my wife was having friends over for a wedding shower. I found the movie very realistic, and well-made. I have hesitated to see it, as I have not been a fan of Hollywood's depiction of the services before, and have stayed away from the Vietnam-era movies because the took a lot of liberties with how they depicted the service members. But this one was "right on," with only a few minor things. One was what Nemrod discusses, and that is the mask on the forehead--in the movie they show rescue swimmers deploying in this manner, and I don't think anyone would want to have the mask on their forhead for a 25-20 foot jump into wild seas. The other was the fact that the cabin inside the helicopters is much, much loader than depicted; you cannot carry on normal conversations there. But for a film, this was much better than most of these kinds of pictures. Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers were not formed until relatively late; Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers did not come into existance until 1984, whereas USAF Pararescue dates back to WWII. Here's a link about the formation of the rescue swimmer program in the US Coast Guard: www.uscg.mil/history/USCG_Rescue_Swimmer_History.htmlOn the whole, this is a very good movie to watch. While there are deaths in the movie, they are not the focus. The focus is on becoming a rescue swimmer, and what it takes to do so. The scenes of the CG helicopters are very realistically done, and brought that old familiar knot to my stomach at times. I would recommend it to others, and may be going to see it again myself. One of the subplots is one I talked about above--the problems married team members have. I mentioned that I got out of Pararescue when I became married; the two lifestyles are incompatible. That is one of the subplots here. The main character, Ben Randall, had to deal with a divorce from his wife, and he finally signed the document when he realized what had happened. He told her that he had made a rescue where the man he was rescueing had been trying to climb to the surface by pushing down his wife into the water--it was sheer survival that took over. Ben Randall then told his wife that it was years before he realized that this also described his own marriage to her. My wife and I will celebrate 30 years together in February, and I told her of this scene today on our Sunday morning walk. From the diving standpoint, the rescue swimmers only operate on the surface. They cannot dive, and indeed that has been a problem. Here is a story about the situation which occured off the Oregon coast: I wrote the Coast Guard at that time about getting the swimmers the training  and equipment (a weight belt) to be able to go underwater on missions, but never heard back from them. Because of their suit's buoyancy, they really cannot go down much underwater, and in the above case, USAF Pararescue was called to finally get this airman. (Pararescue has more training, including parachuting, scuba school, medical training, survival schools, rock climbing, mountaineering, and Pararescue Transition School, where it all is put together). Now, while Portland still has PJs, they have no aircraft as the helicopter unit here was disbanded in favor of a tanker unit, and than that unit was sent elsewhere by the Defense Department. But if you go to see the movie, stay for the action shots of helicopters in Alaska shown during the credits, and also the rap music that describes the types of missions that they fly. It is very well done here too. John |
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Post by BLT on Oct 30, 2006 8:30:34 GMT -8
While I haven't seen the movie yet, I HAVE seen the Coast Guard rescue swimmers training around the Kodiak Coast Guard base and I was impressed by what they go through on a regular basis, trainingwise. I used to work in Alaska on a NOAA fisheries ship (the Miller Freeman) and we would be in and out of the USCG base there all the time.
One time we did some med-evac drills with some of the choppers from there. They flew in over our stern and practiced lowering their litters down to us (no rescue swimmers this time). It was great training opportunity for them and for us. This fact was reinforced for us less than a month later when one of our deckhands tangled with a table saw on board and needed a real med-evac. They pulled the helo crew out of a dinner (that was in their honor no less) and they came out to our ship, picked up our guy and were even able to make it back to the dinner. Thanks to the training and their professionalism, people thought the mission had been cancelled since they made it back so fast!
Anybody that puts themselves on the line like that deserves a whole lotta respect in my book!
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and equipment (a weight belt) to be able to go underwater on missions, but never heard back from them. Because of their suit's buoyancy, they really cannot go down much underwater, and in the above case, USAF Pararescue was called to finally get this airman. (Pararescue has more training, including parachuting, scuba school, medical training, survival schools, rock climbing, mountaineering, and Pararescue Transition School, where it all is put together). 