Firstly, my thanks to all who passed on their prayers and condolences. The drowning victim was my son. He was 23 years of age and had served 18 months in the Canadian Army. He was diving with the Barracuda Club which is considered under the aegis of the CFB Petawawa physical education programme. From another posting I read from a former director or trainer at the club he assures there have been many successful dives in the same area my son drowned in.
There are many unanswered questions. The Ontario Provincial Police are in charge of the investigation. There may or may no be a coroners inquest.
However, you have to understand, even though the media has choosen to call this a "recreational" dive, this was a group of young soldiers under the direction of a superior (a master sargeant) and master diver. These young men have undergone months of training so they will not disobey orders, no matter what the circumstance. That's what soldiers are suppose to do. Not question, is the water too cold, is the water to rough, is the visibility too limited.
Some of you suggest they could have just not trusted the master diver and not gone in the water. That is a civilians way of looking and thinking of things. That's not the army way. My questions are directed more to the necessity of the dive at this time of year, the quality of their equipment, the safety and back-up for emergency and why I haven't heard one word of sympathy or condolence from any of the instructors or master divers who own and operate this club.
The OPP divers and military divers who searched for my son for three days were furious at his unnecessary loss and could not explain the rational behind the place and time of the dive. Asked if any of them would take rookie divers (on their third dive) into the river in it's present state, all replied to a man...NO.
I understand other divers have been in the same location and found no problem with their dive and that it can be an ideal area for training. However, I must reiterate, conditions are never exactly the same, no matter how often to dive the same water. Variables in the form of Mother Nature, change conditions sometimes instantly. So why take the risk in sub-zero water, ice still visible along the edge of most of the Ottawa river, the Petawawa river was five to six feet higher than normal and was dragging debris into the water as it swelled over the banks.
Questions, yes, there are many questions, but the whole accident will come down to human error and poor decisions making. My son has born the brunt of the critism as people say he could have just said no, he didn't "trust" the dive. Try doing that in the military sometime and see where it gets you!