Build Better Habits. Save
the Reef. Save Lives.

If you’ve watched the Discovery Channel, you probably know just how grueling “BUD/S” (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) training is. What you may not realize, however, is that if a sailor manages to make it through BUD/S and become a Navy SEAL, his training is by no means over.

The fact is, unless the SEALs and their counterparts in Army Special Forces, Air Force Special Ops and Marine Force Recon are on deployment, they are training almost as hard as they did when they first earned their elite status.

Why?

Because the military knows that such highly specialized skills cannot be maintained unless they are practiced constantly.

How does this apply to recreational diver training?

Many dive instructors are under the mistaken belief that, because we cover emergency skills such as ESAs and alternate-air-source ascents a limited number of times during entry-level diver training, these skills will somehow magically stick with students — even though they are never practiced again.

In reality, the best we can hope to achieve is an awareness that such emergency procedures are theoretically possible. However, unless recreational divers practice these skills on a regular basis (which, face it, they simply don’t), it’s unrealistic to expect that divers will be able to use these abilities when the need arises.

The bottom line is, the only skills divers have a realistic chance of mastering and maintaining are those which are an integral part of everyday diving. That’s why it’s more important to have students master the everyday diving habits that will help prevent diving emergencies than it is for them to obtain limited (and soon forgotten) exposure to skills designed to deal with those emergencies.

In this article, we’ll identify the habits that it’s most important you develop in students and the steps you can take to do so.

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