Thank you for inviting me to brief the committee on the procedures, programs, and processes the Navy has in place for the management and execution of our Diving Program.   I will also discuss the Navy’s initial Dive Training Pipeline.  As the next Deputy Commander, Naval Expeditionary Combat Command, among other responsibilities, I will be responsible for manning, training and equipping the Navy’s operational Diving force.  

 

The Navy Dive Program is robust and mature.  All aspects of the program are continuously reviewed and changes made based on current and future operational requirements.  Technical rigor and safe diving practices are a hallmark of the Navy’s role within the Department of Defense as the lead service for diving policy, technology and training.  Establishing and maintaining Navy technical standards for diving serves as the foundation for personnel training and for the procurement and maintenance of diving systems.  Rigorous adherence to these technical standards and procedures is what leads to safe diving practices and ensures mission accomplishment.  The Navy updates those standards through biomedical research that leads to continuous modifications of Navy diving policy which is incorporated into the U.S. Navy Diving Manual and associated publications.  The Navy has institutionalized a diving systems certification program that ensures the systems used for Navy diving operations are maintained properly and are not a source of risk to personnel.    For portable and personal diving equipment, the Navy publishes a list of acceptable equipment “authorized for Navy use” that has been tested at the Navy Experimental Diving Unit to ensure dependable and safe operation. 

 

The operational readiness of diving commands is monitored at the Fleet level by a formal assessment program called the Diving Operational Readiness Assessment (DORA) that has the advocacy of all levels of the chain of command.  These assessments are conducted periodically on all Navy Diving commands and ensure all commands comply with established policies and regulations in the areas of diving program administration, and operational readiness.  The diving assessments performed by Fleet Forces Command parallel the operational readiness assessments that are performed on afloat commands to ensure their readiness for deployment.  In addition to these command operational assessments, the Naval Safety Center provides periodic Diving Safety Survey (DSS) which assesses a diving command’s compliance with established naval safety programs including compliance with U.S. Navy Diving Manual safety provisions. Naval Safety Center assessment results are provided directly to the Commanding Officer of the diving command and serve as a non-punitive feedback mechanism for command self correction.

 

The Navy recently modified its diving personnel structure with the implementation of a single enlisted Navy Diver rating.  The rating change was approved by the Chief of Naval Operations in October 2005.  The enlisted rating aligned 19 enlisted source ratings into one and streamlines all aspects of force structure and training into a career continuum.  This now allows the Diver to concentrate on his or her primary responsibilities as a Diver and focus all energies on learning and honing diving skill sets thereby allowing for a more dedicated, safe, and effective force. 

 

Navy Divers are trained in all categories of diving, salvage, and underwater ships husbandry missions.  Navy Divers also conduct and support a variety of unique mission areas to include open ocean towing, command control and communications, fleet support operations, mobility, non-combat operations, anti-terrorism/force protection, submarine rescue and Naval Special Warfare and Explosive Ordnance Disposal support.  Navy Divers are also frequently tasked to participate in coalition support (Theater Engagement Strategy), Civil Disaster operations (post-Hurricane Katrina recovery), and Humanitarian Assistance (tsunami relief in Indonesia).   The Navy Diving force provides specially trained, combat ready, highly mobile Divers in support of Amphibious Task Forces, Special Forces, and contingency operations.  Contingency operations include emergent littoral, coastal, and blue water salvage, range/waterway clearance, aircraft recovery, Chief of Naval Operations priority projects, riverine operations, and other operations as directed by higher authority.  Navy Diving forces are trained to operate in high density, multi-threat environments. 

 

The enlisted Navy Diving community has a well defined career path.  The Navy has an aggressive recruiting program for divers that is designed to draw in individuals with a high probability of success.  Potential accessions into our program are required to pass a rigorous screening process that includes a thorough dive medical evaluation, physical screening test and a higher than average score on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude (ASVAB) test.  Once accepted as a student, the enlisted Sailor begins training at the Center for Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Diving Detachment Great Lakes. This is a seven-week preparatory course that delivers knowledge, skills and abilities in fundamentals of diving, cardio pulmonary resuscitation, small arms qualifications, and basic shipboard engineering.  The course also stresses the physical preparation for dive training by focusing on aquatic adaptability, cardio vascular conditioning, and strength improvement.  Upon successful completion students are transferred to Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center, Panama City, Florida.   NDSTC, as we refer to it, delivers 17 different courses of instruction totaling 74 convenings per year.  Annual throughput averages 1450 students.  It trains all military Divers (with the exception of Army Special Forces and SEALs), foreign national students, and Department of Defense and other federal agency civilians.   While some of the training is similar regardless of service, for example Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus or SCUBA, each service is trained to its unique requirements.  However all procedures and policies at the school as well as at the operational commands are governed by the U. S. Navy Diving Manual.   

 

The initial course in the Navy fleet diver training continuum is ‘Second Class Diver’. The 15-week Second Class Diver course trains students in all diving rigs used by the Navy, underwater cutting and welding, underwater pneumatic tools, salvage, basic demolitions, and more advanced diving medicine and physics.  The attrition in this initial training pipeline historically runs 30%.  (This course touches briefly on cold water diving operations in the class room only.  Practical cold and extreme cold water diving training and certifications occur at the operational command level.)  Upon completion, the Sailor is classified as a Navy Diver and sent to an operational unit.  During his or her first two operational tours, normally six years, the Navy Diver is expected to complete demanding personal qualifications standards and earn the Diving and Salvage Warfare Specialist designation.  Navy Divers are required to re-qualify Diving and Salvage Warfare Specialist at each subsequent command throughout their career, ensuring all team members are fully qualified in the specific mission area of the command.  Those who qualify and complete the prerequisites are sent to formal advanced First Class Diving training at the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center.  This 13-week course stresses supervisory, mixed gas diving, and advance salvage skills.  A minimum of two operational tours and advanced qualifications follow and nominally take six more years.  At this stage in a Navy Diver’s career, and with the recommendation of the commanding officer, qualified Navy Divers who meet the demanding prerequisites have the opportunity to attain the Master Diver qualification through another rigorous formal school and performance evaluation at the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center.  Few Navy Divers become Master Divers.  This course is arguably the hardest diving course the Navy offers and has a failure rate of 50%.  The Navy Master Diver qualification is the pinnacle qualification for the enlisted Navy Diver and represents the community’s senior enlisted leadership.  Master Divers are operators.  But more than that, they are intimately involved in every facet of the Navy Diving mission.  They manage, supervise, conduct long range deliberate planning, assess, inspect, train, and participate in the requirements generations process.   Becoming a Navy Master Diver takes an average of 14 years.

 

The Underwater Construction Team, or UCT, Divers are another distinct Navy diving community.  The primary missions of the UCT is to provide inshore and deep ocean underwater construction and demolition capabilities to the Navy, Marine Corps, and other forces in joint military operations, provide battle-damage repair, inspection and engineering reconnaissance to ocean, waterfront, river and bridge facilities, provide hydrographic reconnaissance to support amphibious operations and subsequent combat support ashore, and provide ocean bottom surveys for site selection of underwater facilities.  These missions include conducting defensive operations as required by the deployment environment and operations in every extreme, from the desert to the Arctic Circle.  The secondary missions of a UCT are to conduct disaster recovery, humanitarian assistance and civic action operations.  Accessions into this community primarily come from the fleet Navy Mobile Construction Battalions.  Sailors/SEABEES who have completed at least one tour with the Naval Construction Force (SEABEEs) and have earned their SEABEE Combat Warfare (SCW) qualification become eligible for dive training.  Basic and advance Diver Training is delivered at the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center.  Like other diving students, they are trained in the Diving Fundamentals (physics, physiology) and SCUBA.  Their training also includes unique SEABEE tools, tactics, techniques, and procedures with an emphasis on underwater construction and demolition procedures.  SEABEE Divers can expect repeat tours in one of two Underwater Construction Teams as well as higher headquarter and training commands.  SEABEE Divers return for  24 weeks of advanced training after completing personal qualification standards and are recommended by the commanding officers.  They are also afforded the opportunity to qualify as a UCT Master Underwater Construction Diver through the formal Navy Master Diver qualification process followed by Fleet Divers.

 

The Navy delivers SCUBA only specific diving training to various customers at the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center in Panama City, FL and Pearl Harbor, HI.  The majority of the students come from the Coast Guard and the Navy’s submarine force.  The Navy’s submarine force maintains an organic SCUBA capability in its submarines.  The SCUBA diving mission is a collateral duty for the submarine divers.  Their primary dive missions are:  security hull inspections; emergency voyage assessments; and minor repairs.

 

As a result of overall manning of 76%, combined with the high risk nature of Navy Diving operations and the significant investment in training, the Navy Diving community offers significant monetary incentives for its Sailors.  New recruits who chose to be Navy Divers receive an enlistment bonus of $35,000 upon successful completion of the initial training.  Additionally, based on their qualification levels, Navy Divers receive diving pay up to $340 per month and demolition duty pay of $150 per month and special duty assignment pay up to $375 per month.  Selective reenlistment bonuses up to $45,000 are offered through 16 years of service if they chose to reenlist.    The enlisted Navy Diving program is very demanding and rewarding.  This coupled with monetary incentives results in a retention rate that exceeds the Navy’s overall averages.   Retention for the first term Navy Divers, years one through six, is 78%.  Second term, or years seven through twelve, retention is 88%.  After that 94% chose to remain until retirement eligible.

 

On the officer side, Navy Diving officers come from two primary sources, direct commissioning and from within the enlisted ranks.  Direct commission officers who desire to become Navy Divers must successfully complete a screening process similar to that of the enlisted person.  The only difference being there is no requirement to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude test I discussed earlier.  Several officer communities have qualified Divers and follow their own career paths and qualifications.  Their training mirrors enlisted training.  Experienced enlisted Navy Divers also have the opportunity to apply for the Chief Warrant or Limited Duty Diving Officer programs. 

 

In summary, the Navy Diving Program is robust, mature and operationally effective.  The Navy Diving Program follows a rigorous screening, training, and qualification regimen, with senior leadership support, which has led to exceptional operational readiness and an enduring safety record.