Training combat divers on Gulf Coast

TYNDALL AFB, Fla. – Air Force combat controllers, pararescue, and combat rescue officers undergo combat dive training at the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center in Panama City, Fla., to strengthen its future special operations’ forces. Trainees go to the school for 30 days of in in-pool and Gulf of Mexico dive training with combat-dive instructors. Upon completion, they earn the recognition of Special Operations Command combat divers, and able to deploy with any team in the U.S. military to assist in combat diving missions. The dive center trains and qualifies personnel from all branches of the military to be either Navy deep-sea divers, Seabee underwater construction divers, joint service diving officers, explosive ordnance disposal officers, diving medical technicians, diving medical officers, Army Corps of Engineers divers, Marine combatant divers, Coast Guard divers, and AF pararescue operators and combat controllers. The school houses 23 certified diver life support systems, which include six hyperbaric recompression chambers and two diving simulation facilities capable to 300 feet. The schoolhouse is located aboard Naval Support Activity Panama City, Fla. Dive school airmen are administratively supported by Tyndall AFB. (Source: 325th Fighter Wing 08/25/17)