Army Combat Diver course question

My son is in ROTC and looks like he’s going to attend the Combat Diver course in Key West this summer. Quick question; he wears glasses, does he need to get inserts made for a dive mask or do they use something different?

Best bet would be to get inserts made. I have several friends who dive recreationally who wear glasses and they use inserts in their goggles until they can get Lasik surgery.

I'm the S1 NCO at the dive school.

All this will be covered during the physical he gets prior to coming here.

If he is fit for military service he should be g2g to come here.

Does he have trouble seeing regularly through a mask underwater?

If he has inserts he can wear them while in the course but they won't be required.

Only time this would be an issue is if he needed a waiver for vision. His docs will know if this is the case, and honestly it shouldn't come as a surprise to him either.

He should already have his physical working, as for the cadets it has to go from their ROTC command to FT Bragg to the USAJFKSWCS DMO and then down to us for our DMO to review.

We've been doing a cadet class a few years now, there is a procedure in place, just advise him to follow it.

Never understood why cadets can take up slots in schools.

Ok I have a question

I work at the Ranger Camp here in Florida and have passed our pre scuba here but they won't send me as it cost too much and i PCS in 8 months

I can do all the events
50m swim
2 min tread
ditch and don
weight belt swim(can fin 30 mins with 16lb weight belt0
naval drownproofing
knots
3k fin in 1:25hrs

2 mile run in 13:20 and 5 miles in 36:23

I have a current within one year Scuba physical

Any tricks to get a chance/ slot??

I have been in 21 yrs and a cadet can go, why cant I??

Hell I passed Ranger school at 38yrs old can a brother get a break??

Any chance i can get a PCS in route slot??


Thanks
Free


Only time this would be an issue is if he needed a waiver for vision. His docs will know if this is the case, and honestly it shouldn't come as a surprise to him either.

He should already have his physical working, as for the cadets it has to go from their ROTC command to FT Bragg to the USAJFKSWCS DMO and then down to us for our DMO to review.

We've been doing a cadet class a few years now, there is a procedure in place, just advise him to follow it.
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Only way I could see you getting an enroute slot is if you were going to an SF Group who needs divers in their GSB or possibly the Ranger Regiment (though they don't like NCOs who didn't grow up in the regiment). Are you 11 series or a support MOS? If you are a support guy, it is much easier for you to get into the SOF community and make it to off the wall schools like scuba and halo.

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Where are you PCSing to?

FT Bragg where else

been in 21 yrs with 15 or them being at Bragg

Its time to go home

Free


Where are you PCSing to?
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I was in 2/20th SFG (A) up to the mid 1990's or so. It was no easy task back then to get somebody into the CDC, and can imagine it is even more so today. That being said, I would think that if your slot in the unit you are going to or are assigned to is not on a SCUBA/Maritime ODA, chances are slim to none that you will ever see Key West. MFF is about the same from what I can remember as well. What hurts, is sometimes we would have school applications in and the guys physical or chamber ride would expire while waiting word on being able to go, and he has to go back and get all that crap updated, which is no easy task. But, you still see guys with the bubblehead and the wings and get to talking with them, not letting them know that I am familiar with the background, and they come out and say they transferred from that unit or ODA shortly after completing said course. Some still fall thru the cracks unfortunately, and I can't understand where a ROTC cadet, who is not even in the military yet, is getting a slot to go to the school, where others, like some here, would give just about anything to get a chance to go, and they are assigned to those respective ODA's or para/line #'s. Makes you wonder sometimes......

They use it as an incentive for some reason, as if Airborne and Air Assault weren't enough. In 2006, we had a cadet from my school go to CDC and he actually got honor grad believe it or not. I don't even know how he got the slot, I never thought of him as a good leader. It's probably all about who you know (or who your daddy knows). Normal dudes like me who don't know any brass are happy enough just getting a chance to go to Ranger School.

I can assure you my son getting a slot isn’t about who I know since I’m a simple broke down retiree that doesn’t rate a reserved parking spot at the PX.

You are mistaken.

We did not have any cadets come in 2006. We had 2 West Point cadets scheduled but they were no-shows. If he came, it was not as a cadet but as a reservist or guardsman through his unit.

I can track all courses through ATRRS back to 1987. It includes a lot of info, including where their slot came from.

The majority of the classes that come through make plaques that are displayed in the HQ building, DFAC, and barracks. Some are simple framed class photos, some are elaborate collages or paintings. I also checked the plaques from 06. Not a single cadet on any of them.

Also, we do not take slots from the force to train cadets. We get guest instructors from all the groups to come in to help us handle the extra students. A normal class is around 30. We are staffed to train 50. The cadet class last year was over 80. I almost ran out of barracks space.
I do not know how ROTC selects it's candidates, but I do know the West Point cadets go through a selection process to get the slots.

Last year we got 15 from West Point and 25 from ROTC. We graduated 12 West Pointers and 4 ROTC cadets. The year before WP was 10/10 and ROTC was 10/15.

One of the WP cadets that did not finish is now a civilian due to the circumstances that led to his being dropped from the course. Most of the ROTC cadets quit.

I apologize, it was 2004:

http://www.tradoc.army.mil/pao/people_portraits/October%202004/102404.htm

Straight from TRADOC's website:

Well, you don't just show up here and get a bubble. As SFC Holm said in the article, we have a very high attrition rate. 30-50% is still a valid number. More than half of those that don't finish choose to go home rather than continue.

CDQC is not a leadership course by any stretch, it's an individual effort, so whatever you thought about his leadership abilities in ROTC, he accomplished something significant here on his own.

I'd be interested to know what he did after ROTC, if he is still in, did he make it back to SOF/SF, etc...

Very few cadets ever make it back to SF after attending. As I said previously, our current CO attended CDQC as a West Point cadet.

Interesting also that TRADOC reported on it. We have nothing whatsoever to do with TRADOC, other than our written examinations are conducted IAW TRADOC guidelines. We fall completely under USAJFKSWCS and USASOC. We have actually looked at getting some sort of TRADOC accreditation since it opens up some funding possibilities, as well as a more robust instructor recognition program.

Oh, I know it's a damn hard school. Every 18 series guy I know has avoided that one like the plague. I believe the cadet in question became a UH-60 pilot post ROTC. Not sure where he is now, but I would imagine he has his eyes on the 160th if he isn't already there. Only reason I commented on the peculiarity of his situation is that I also graduated at the top of my class in the same program at USF, was a DMG, and was a competitive swimmer and I was told time and time again the cadets could not go to that school, even after we sent one a year prior . It's just another one of those things that solidifies the fact that it's who you know, not what you know.

I work within USASOC but in a medical role, no long tab or anything special, just the standard airborne and SERE C. Only one guy in our unit has been to CDC and he did it through 75th Ranger when he was there. He's a great SGM and one tough SOB. Schools now-a-days are nearly impossible to get it seems due to units cracking down on TDY costs. Only cool school I have ever been offered is Ranger and I go there next month, I plan to kick it in the ass.

I had a chance to try and get a CDQC slot through ROTC this year. I thought about it for two seconds and decided against it. I can swim, but I have zero experience with SCUBA, and I would hate to get a high speed school and fail because I was't 100% ready.

I have no real input other than as a recreational scuba diver. Mask inserts that stick on with static cling will not work. When he has to remove his mask under water they will "rinse out" of the mask and will be lost. I've seen it happen, so I know it's a possibility.

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