Afghany divers

[jponder]

My son calls me and says , "Dad we want to go diving!" I am like cool go get certified and I'll go diving with ya!



He is silent and then says okay, I start calling dive shops from here to Texas trying to get 4 military guys from afghanistan certified, I call him back with all the prices and he is kinda wishy washy and I say whats the problem? He says< Dad you dont want to do it?" I say hell yes I want to go diving and tell him the wrecks I havent seen yet, he is still silent, it then dawns on me



I say John you told those guys i could bring them diving and certify them for free didnt you? He says, "YES"!



Now a little background, in 1993, I was an active Cave Diver and active Open Water Instructor, My son was 10 then and we had the most awesome trip a father could ever have with his son. We dove every spring from Chassahowitzka to Peackock. He never forgot it



I say son I havent taught in years and my I have no insurance to teach and no affilliation to a dive agency as I havent paid dues in years. I tell him I will bring him diving anywhere he wants to go but cant take on the liability of his friends, he is like okay Dad with a sad voice



I sit down and start brooding over it. I drink a couple of Coors lights and start to think, Hey these guy have been in Afghanistan, why cant I hook them up? I call my son and say hey all these guys went through army basic training right? He says yes they are his brothers and they have been in Afghanistan with him the whole time.



I drink a couple of more coors light and it dawns on me, SCREW the liability, I am going to teach these guys how to dive! I start diging through all my old instructor stuff. I still have all the temp cards and my instructor licence. YEEHAW. Screw the liability those boys done been in Afghanistan I'm going to get their ass on a boat and show them what the gulf of Mexico looks like



Whats yall say?

 

[ndurbin]

I see one hitch in the plan so far. Your drinking Coors Light.



Maybe you could get them to sign some sort of waiver doing away with the liability. Alot of places have the "if you get hurt it's not our fault" waiver.



Nathan



Just kidding ya, theres nothin wrong with Coors Light if ya like goat ****.

 

[jponder]

HAHAHAHAHAAAH



I just drink coors light becuase it was the last beer company to cave into the racist NAACP. Dont get me started



I wont be drinking when I get them in the pool/ocean. Heck my son had 20 dives before he was 13. If those boys can make it through basic training then they can make it through SCUBA training

 

[BarryG]

I want to go but a bit too far for me. I am certified (though I do not have a lot of dives logged) but living in Colorado it is a bit tough to go very often (at least in the ocean, which after having done a few doing lakes is just not the same, still fun but not the same). I actually took my cert dives at Turquoise lake up by Leadville at 10,000 feet. I would definitely make sure they understand the liability or lack there of on your part. Will they be able to get equip without a card?



Cave diving! You must have hair on your rear end that drags the ground. That and ice diving dont think it is for me.

 

[jponder]

I think I am going to go with a dive shop out of Gulf Shores, It sounds like too sweet a deal to pass up.



I'll see what my son says. Heck we can go rambling around after they get their card

 

[JohnE]

From what I read you're leaps ahead of the underqualified instructors I've seen diving with a group of rookies.

Yeah a waiver may protect your butt. If you can get them a c-card make sure they earn it. Nothing worse them a testoterone fueled diver. Can you say DCS?



Barry my hats off to you and instructor. Diving at altitude is a real challenge to extrapolate the tables well.



Want to start a trany/oil war over the better dive certification?



-John

OWI/II, Rescue. I can bend on a single 80

 

[rrausch]

Go to it! Have fun!



BTW, I always order Coors too---because they were the last ones to cave into the Homo lobby also. They played it smart, and got some gay spokes-hole to rant on a TV commercial how great Coors was, and the fiends from GLAD went away.

 

[jponder]

Yeah I called that dive shop in Gulf shores and they said with a minimum of 4 people that would certify them Padi Or Naui for 195 a head, That includes 2 boat dives! It includes all their gear for the pool work and the openwater dives. That is a good deal!



Then if they want we can go check out some of the springs. Do some more boat dives in PC and maybe the jetties.

 

[BarryG]

JohnE:

Yeah it was a bit much for cert at 10k but I did ok (though the other 2 students dropped out after the first dive to be completed later down in a Denver area lake). I live at 6k so fairly used to the altitude but 10k is still rough on the lungs, add the 7mil suit, gear, shore diving, add wind with 2 foot waves and the newbie fear/anxiousness and man oh man talk about huffing and puffing at least up on top but once underneath all was great. I decided that day I would get an advanced cert just to get more knowledge. The following year I did up there with high altitude being one of them. The local dive guy I used puts on a clean the lake day every year up there over labor day weekend so I go up there every year. It is about the only time I can go. I know a few people that dive but wont do lakes. A bit snobbish if you ask me but no buddy, no dive so I go when I can.



By the way my card is better than your card

 

[jponder]

Hey if you dont like the air at 10K just get in the pond and once you hit 10 feet or so your at sea level!!!!



Classic decompression thought was that if you didnt exceed double the partial pressure of gass in tissue than ambient you would not have to worry about decompression sickness. Thats not the thinking today but it lets you think about why it is so dangerous to dive at high altitude



Lets use 16,000 feet, I just use that because I know 16,000 feet is where you hit 1/2 an atmosphere



At sealevel I can go down to 33 FSW and pretty much stay as long as I want. PPN of Nitrogen is 2X. 8 = 1. 6 ATA okay well when I get to the surface My blood has 1. 6 ATA and the air has . 8 cool I am right at the danger line. My body has 2 times the Partial pressure of Nitrogen than ambient. Classical Decompression theory says I'll be alright



Now lets go Himilayan Diving. I am at 16,000 and dive down 34FFW total pressure = 1+. 5 Partial pressure of Nitrogen in my blood stream at saturation = 1. 5X. 8=1. 2 -Hey look I'm safer right I had 1. 6 ata at sealevel, NOPE cause at the surface the partial pressure of Nitrogen is . 5X. 8= . 4 Your body has 3 times as much nitrogen in it than ambient and YOU ARE IN BIG TROUBLE!



Do you dive tables, if so you must add like 20 feet to your depth or maybe you have special tables

 

[BarryG]

JP:

You are quite right. Once under all is fine the pressure solves the huffing/puffing problem like right away. Yes I do use tables and there are special/additional tables to use at altitude. The computers work fine as well but just never have got around to getting one at least yet.

 

[HOBrian]

I think it is great that you are helping out your son and his friends!! God knows they are helping us out over there.



ps. Tell your son and his friends thanks!!!!

 

[jponder]

Well, I am sorry guys. I have let yall down. I broke down and called Dad and reserved his beach house for 10 days in Ft Morgan, Alabama and the dive shop in Gulf Shores is going to certify them for $195 a head.



Man how are they ever going to be blood and guts divers staying in a beach house and getting sissified air conditioned training at a real dive shop! They going to be little candy ass divers. Thats okay cause now I can FUC* With them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



I tried to get that dive shop to comp me a boat dive for bringing them 4 divers and thoose dirty dogs wouldnt do it. Thats cool, wiat till I get on the boat! I am going to screw those guys heads up since I aint in charge, heheheheeheheh.



Oh well whats a Dad supposed to do



Anyone else want to jump in on the deal come on. Its a big 3 bedroom 2 story beach house. Man that is sissified , those boys should be on the beach digging foxholes and training navy seal style



John

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