Rescue Swimmers Jump into Ocean to Save Lives

CAPE MAY — Who would want a relatively low-paying job that demanded applicants be in top physical condition, desired to save lives, have no fear of jumping into the ocean from a hovering helicopter, and be willing to relocate to remote regions of the globe?
Answer: Coast Guard Aviation Survival Technicians, also known as Helicopter Rescue Swimmers.
Those gallant rescuers are few among the Coast Guard’s enlisted personnel. The great majority of about 350 are male, but there are two females.
For rescue swimmers, what transpired last week about 75 miles off the coast here when a crewman aboard the fishing vessel Debbie Sue, or on Jan. 13 200 miles off the North Carolina coast aboard a 516-foot motor vessel in 26-foot seas (utility poles are about 35-feet tall as a comparison), when a 55-year-old crewmember needed medical treatment, was all in a day’s work.
To casual observers, those who dangled from a thin wire dropping from a helicopter to a rolling deck to help those in distress, could routinely be described as heroes. The service prefers the term “quiet professionals.”
To veteran Coast Guard top enlisted, such as Aviation Survival Technician Master Chief Lewis Hart who oversees training of aspiring rescue swimmers in Elizabeth City, N.C., success is attained only by a rugged few.
“Maximum through put is 108 students a year. Attrition is 70 percent washing out of the project,” said Hart in a telephone interview.
As do all Coast Guard enlisted, rescue swimmers begin their careers when they enter the gates of Training Center Cape May. There, at boot camp, the recruits undergo rigorous training that prepares each for assignment to the fleet.
It took a maritime tragedy, the Feb. 12, 1983 sinking of the freighter M/V Marine Electric off the Virginia coast in 20-40-feet seas that claimed the lives of 31 of 34 crewmen, to jolt Congress into action.
After hearings before the Congressional Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, Congress mandated the Coast Guard, in its Authorization Act of 1984, “…to establish a helicopter rescue swimmer program for the purpose of training selected Coast Guard personnel in rescue swimming skills.”
After recruits graduate from the training center here, some report directly to a ship, others to a school.
Those chosen to become rescue swimmers must pass a flight physical four months prior to their class convening date.
They will get orders to an air station that is nearest their unit or vessel.
For the next four months, they will become indoctrinated in aviation parlance and the workings of helicopters. They will, after all, be crewmembers of those aircraft, and must know everything possible, since they will be vital parts of a three-member unit that will venture into earth’s most rugged elements to save lives and property.
When they attend Aviation Survival Technical school for four months, they still have a way to go before earning the right to leave the helicopter and drop into the abyss to bring what aid they can to suffering individuals.
According to Hart, the physical buildup to the rescue swimmer program is intense.
Aspiring rescue swimmers entering the program are expected to perform 40 pushups and situps in two minutes, 60 by the time they graduate.
They must do three chinups on entry, eight when they leave.
They must run two miles in 15 minutes, swim 500 yards (that’s five football fields) in 12 minutes.
Once deemed qualified in those areas, Emergency Medical Training, a month-long additional session, is equivalent to a six-month college course jammed into four weeks. A course description of that school notes it is “A very difficult school. Required before an RS (rescue swimmer) is allowed to become operational.”
Hart noted that aspiring rescue swimmers undergo “pool training” which teaches every scenario they might use in rescue situations.
For those whose muscles and mind are seemingly tougher than steel, who don’t mind being sent to duty stations like Sitka, Alaska, Mobile, Ala., Clearwater, Fla. or Atlantic City, the pay, on a monthly basis is based upon one’s grade and time in service.
An E-4 (third class petty officer) with four years service earns $2,157 monthly base pay, hazardous duty pay, flight pay and special duty assignment pay of from $200 to $250 a month.
A normal assignment to a duty station is four years, said Hart. Some units have shorter limits, overseas units, have three year assignments.
Those who are pay grade E-6 (first class petty officer) and below are required to “stand duty.” That means be ready to fly on duty days, and perform to the utmost of one’s ability.
Some smaller units also require that E-7 personnel (chief petty officers) stand duty. Manpower at the station is the key as to whether or not a chief will be called to duty.
“When I was in Sitka two years, I had to stand duty while I was there,” said Hart. “They have high ops,” he added, noting that air crews there fly “to the limit all the time.”
Hart said in such remote locations as Sitka, rescue swimmers are required to have a higher EMT qualification than basic EMT, since they are often required to run IV-tubes and to administer drugs during longer transport times than in other areas.