From free-fall jumps into stormy seas...to endless training exercises, Coast Guard rescue swimmers are an elite group. When trouble happens, they are always ready to go.
There are more than 200 stations throughout the country, and it's here where the Coast Guard maintains a state-of-the-art fleet of ships and helicopters.
Despite all of this high-tech equipment, sometimes, the only way to save lives is to put a swimmer in the water.
But to become a rescue swimmer...it's not as easy task. First, you have to make it through the Coast Guard's grueling 16-week rescue swimmer training program, known as "Aviation Survival Technician 'A' School" in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. This is a program that began about twenty years ago, and it began with a legendary and controversial tragedy at sea.
It was back on February 10, 1983, when the Marine Electric, a 605 foot coal freighter set sail for Norfolk, Virginia. Thirty-four crewmen were aboard. Just two days later, the Marine Electric was in trouble. Seawater started pouring in through holes in the hatches below deck. The ship's bow was partially submerged.
The captain of the Marine Electric called the Coast Guard for assistance, but two hours later the crew had to abandon the ship.
A Coast Guard helicopter made it to the scene, but it wasn't in time. Most of the crewmen had already been in the 37 degree water for more than an hour.
Rescue baskets were dropped to them, but many were too weakened by hypothermia to get in.
The Coast Guard had no rescue swimmers, so they had to call on the Navy. Well, the Navy helicopter did show up. But the Navy swimmer was only able to save three crewmen. Everyone else was dead.
Congress investigated the tragedy and found the Coast Guard's response inadequate. The rescue swimmer program was then developed. It's a rigorous training course which rivals even that of the Navy SEALs.
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