Becoming a female navy diver?

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chandy

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so I'm just finishing up an associates in welding, and really want become a diver -- was on the swim team in high school, love the water even though I've never done any diving and always knew I was going to somehow end up in the military. I guess I'm just looking for general advice and information about what actually goes into the training. The PST I can pass, though probably not with what would be considered a particularly competitive score.

Also, I seem to only find conflicting information about whether or not how binding the contract you sign is.

If any of you guys have gone through the training, do you think I would be at an insurmountable disadvantage for the physical aspect?
 
I'm not a navy diver.

However I think you should just totally do it. Just trying is going to be a great story to tell your grand kids, and there's a lot to say for that.
 
I was a US Navy diver and left the service a few years before the first female was certified as a second class diver in the mid-1970s. Diving was a secondary rating in those days.

My advice is the same as for anyone interested in Navy or commercial diving. Make sure you understand that is all about working on a heavy construction site that happens to be underwater. Salvage and ship's husbandry are especially unglamorous types of diving and bears no resemblance to recreational diving. The Navy does almost no underwater welding, but do a lot of burning (oxygen-fed electrodes). Topside welding skills are useful to fabricate special job requirements and repair the endless stuff that breaks. Any certifications you have will not be recognized so critical welds will be done by ship-fitters or equal.

Expect the majority of your underwater time to be in very low to zero visibility doing repetitive and boring work. These days the vast majority of Navy work is shallow, on air, and long hours. For the most part, shipboard assignments for divers are on small auxiliary vessels. The really exciting days of deep saturation and loads of high-tech gear are virtually over.


... Also, I seem to only find conflicting information about whether or not how binding the contract you sign is...

I have not seen an enlistment contract in decades but there is almost always an overriding caveat that the "needs of the Navy" come first. Regardless of gender, it is not difficult was wash candidates out of a program like diving if the instructors don't feel you have the "right stuff". Gender may actually be an advantage to you because there are so few female divers and instructors "may" be sensitive to charges of gender bias.

Also, diving is voluntary and you may learn that Navy diving is not what you expected. In either case, you should investigate what your options would be if you left diver training under any conditions.
 
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The bad news is your PST scores are the same as your male counter parts. The good news, the PST scores are not that of the SEAL's or SWCC's. Keep in mind that the PST is bare mininmum (IAW AR 40-501). The Seabees UCT has women in thier units. My son did the Navy dive school (he isnt Navy though) while I went to Key West for my school (I wasnt Navy either). You WILL have different branches in the classes and there is no slack in the training due to gender or service branch. If you dont pass the physical or PST you will be shipped off based on the needs of the service (more than likely FS rate). However, if you have dive school in your contract, you will be given a chance, so you DONT want to be bare mininmum on your PST scores.

I always thought women looks sexy in thier UDT trunks.
 
As far as the contract goes, be sure that the Diver 'A' school is in your enlistment contract. If that is the case, you will be given the opportunity to take the physical test to get into the school. If you are unable to pass or fail out of the school, then you are at the needs of the Navy. You are still obligated to finish your Naval contract. Good luck.
USN 1997-2011
 
My son enlisted in the Navy as a diver last year. It is now its own rating and managed within the Navy Special Ops community. He had to pass the PST and medical before they offered him a contract; it is six years for divers. He then had to be placed into a lottery to get a basic training class. He waited for almost six months before he got a reporting date for basic at Great Lakes Naval Traiing Center. During his wait he was required to repeat the PST every month to retain his place in the lottery. The special ops community have their own ship division (unit) during basic; consequenlty, they only have so many vacancies every training cycle. As you might imagine, the empahsis is on fitness in basic. After basic he had to wait with his shipmates until they had enough dive candidates for pre-dive, again at Great Lakes. The emphasis in pre-dive is on underwater water fitness and confidence. Pool week is the discriminator. If you can successfully pass pool week you move on to A-school at Panama City. If not, you have to re-classify into another specialty. I recommend you search YouTube for pool week videos. Good luck
 
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