Please don't take this wrong, but realistically with the time needed for a call to be made to dispatch, the response time required to get to (usually) remote aquatic locations and the need for 2-3 people on scene before anyone gets wet, are there ever any rescues, or are PSD's almost always going to be doing recoveries? It seems to be that aside from the occasional cold water drowning scenario, it's almost by default going to be too late to effect a rescue.
My reason for asking is a comment made by one of our local divers who is also a deputy sheriff in a wide ranging county who is more or less resigned to having to do certain life threatening activities without timely backup or support. His thoughts are that he is not sure if he arrived a few minutes after some one went down that he could wait 20, 30 or more minutes for other team members to arrive. He sees the need to potentially risk his life as going along with the job and is not real sure he could live with himself for essentially condmening the victim to die while sitting around and waiting.
The opposing view seems to be that attempting a solo rescue a few minutes after the accident would be a "cowboy" thing to do and would be very unprofessional in addition to being contrary to protocol and by implication dangerous.
What are other teams thoughts on this...other than being grateful after the fact that a vehicle was unoccupied?