I drank the GUE Fundies Kool-Aid and survived!!

[nadwidny]

well, sam, 'don't dive with strokes' used to be a huge rule. and the definition of stroke at the time was 'non-gue diver'.

Since the term stroke predates GUE, this is not correct The definition of a stroke, has been and always will be an unsafe diver. Period.

 

[mwhities]

Michael - Thank you for sharing your story. If you're ever in the NY area, you can dive with my local group, Dive NY, they're not DIR either but they are safe divers amd are a hoot during surface interval.

ScubaSam,

No problem. Thanks for the offer, I'll take you up on it if I am ever in that area. I just hope it helps others to see that DIR divers aren't the bad mouthed/attitude people that people perceive them to be.

Hell, had I not lost my arm and was a diver, I'd be hesitant to dive with someone with only one-arm, no matter WHO I was certified through. hahah (Hate to dis on myself, but it's the truth. )

Michael

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

Congratulations Sam. I am proud of you.
And to chime in, my voice to all divers- I don't care path you take, as long as you never stop learning and training. Always seek to make yourself a better diver. There is always something to work on or learn.

I am not strictly anything. I teach my students to shamelessly pillage and take what works from any discipline. If DIR works for you, good job. If even a little is useful for you to make you a better diver, take it. GUE is not for everyone, nothing is for everyone. I just want divers to be safe, independent, considerate divers. Whatever you do to make you that, great!

I am glad you took this course, Sam. It is difficult and worth it. Well done, twin.

 

[Gombessa]

Some non-GUE trained buddies of mine either called or PMed to see if I'd still dive with them.

One PM me that he and I are fine as long as I do not proselytize

Sigh...

it's unfortunate but not surprising that some will have this kind of reaction. I think that I dive in an area with fairly high level of DIR penetration/awareness, and there are still plenty of folks here who have the entirely wrong message about the divers, training and philosophy. I like to think that this has very little to do with the actual DIR divers (at least the ones I've met), most of whom make a concerted effort to simply be good citizens, by putting their best foot forward and diving by example. Instead, it's easy to hear things second- or third-hand (especially on the internet) and buy into it without verifying the accuracy of the statements.

Still, I can see how some people may feel baffled or somehow threatened seeing a huge congratulatory thread such as this one (Hey, why didn't I get this kind of reception after finishing AOW?). While I've lost any claim to being on the outside looking in, I hope that people can see that taking Fundies and passing is a bit of an ordeal and certainly an accomplishment to be proud of, and that they'll judge the system based on interactions with real divers and not on stories and rumors from the internet.

 

[ScubaSteve]

I personally do not care how one chooses to live their life. As soon as they make the decision to criticize me for my choices, they will suffer. And this is anything.....I am proud to call many people my friends....I do not care if you are DIR, GUE, OW, AOW, PADI, Homosexual, Jewish, Catholic, Athiest......keep it to yourself unless asked. At that point if I ask, we can carry on a conversation about it but it is not an invitation preach. Do not criticize my choices in life and I will not criticize yours.

 

[BabyDuck]

hey, y'all, don't mug the messenger. just pointing out why she got those pms.

i'm sure george was talking about *other* other divers with the 'farm animal stupid' & 'body bag' thing.

 

[ScubaSam]

.
Still, I can see how some people may feel baffled or somehow threatened seeing a huge congratulatory thread such as this one (Hey, why didn't I get this kind of reception after finishing AOW?).

I started this thread not as a congratulatory thread but to let SBers know about my positive GUE. Regardless of whether I passed, failed or got a provisional I intended to post a thread. Just the fact that I did not tell many I was taking Fundies out of fear that I would get blasted highllights a strong misconception about GUE. Until I started this thread I did not hang out in the DIR forum but in all the other threads on SB you can sense the animosity toward GUE.

Btw, if you start a AOW thread I promise to post in it.

I personally do not care how one chooses to live their life. As soon as they make the decision to criticize me for my choices, they will suffer. And this is anything.....I am proud to call many people my friends....I do not care if you are DIR, GUE, OW, AOW, PADI, Homosexual, Jewish, Catholic, Athiest......keep it to yourself unless asked. At that point if I ask, we can carry on a conversation about it but it is not an invitation preach. Do not criticize my choices in life and I will not criticize yours.

Slow your roll there cowboy, no one is converting anyone. We are merely discussing our experiences, opinions and thoughts in a nonhostile thread.

hey, y'all, don't mug the messenger. just pointing out why she got those pms.

i'm sure george was talking about *other* other divers with the 'farm animal stupid' & 'body bag' thing.

No mugging allowed!!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I personally do not care how one chooses to live their life. As soon as they make the decision to criticize me for my choices, they will suffer. And this is anything.....I am proud to call many people my friends....I do not care if you are DIR, GUE, OW, AOW, PADI, Homosexual, Jewish, Catholic, Athiest......keep it to yourself unless asked. At that point if I ask, we can carry on a conversation about it but it is not an invitation preach. Do not criticize my choices in life and I will not criticize yours.

Dude, that's quite the pile of dogs ya got there ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[ScubaDocER]

Curious if some of you have experienced what I seem to be experiencing and it's only been short of a week since I did Fundies. I'm sure it stems from the large readership/lurkers in this thread and residual from past GUE chest thumpers. Some non-GUE trained buddies of mine either called or PMed to see if I'd still dive with them. I am shocked cause they are good divers and I have no qualms about diving with them even though they may not be GUE trained. With the exception of two buddies, all my pre-Fundies buddies are not GUE trained.

It struck me as odd as I do not believe I've changed other than being more comfortable in the water and more comfortable with my skills. I'm not perfect just much more comfortable than I was pre-Fundies. I had to reassure them that nothing has changed other than I'm more comfortable with my skills in the water.

One PM me that he and I are fine as long as I do not proselytize, so I had to Google proselytize to see what it meant.

1 : to induce someone to convert to one's faith
2 : to recruit someone to join one's party, institution, or cause

I told him that I had to Google the definition and that I have never done that and will not start to do that so he and I are good. Another told me that I'm the new poster child for the new improved friendlier GUE.... yeah, NOT!

So have any of you noticed a change in those around you post-Fundies?

Hello Sam. I am Anthony and wanted to include my congrats on passing Fundies . When I took Cave 2 Fundies was more of a lecture/seminar than an actual class so it was not an option for me. Your question however got me to thinking. When I did complete my Cave 2, there were people around me who changed their approach to dealing with me. I initially completed my Full Cave with NSS-CDS. Had a great time and learned alot, but did not feel as comfortable as I thought I should. A friend suggested that I take the Cave 2 course with him and I did. Wow what a difference. I felt very comfortable and prepared for the type of diving I wanted to enjoy. After the class, the people I originally dove with from my NSS CDS days looked at me differently. My original Caven/Intro Instructor would barely speak to me and never dove with me again after that. This was someone I knew from my OW days, did wreck diving with, taught my Nitrox class, etc. I think he felt that I "turned to the dark side". That I betrayed him or my NSS CDS Instructor by taking another cave class. After I finished my NSS CDS class I shared with him that I felt that I was missing something but could not put my finger on it. He said "dive more". He never offered to dive more with me, just suggested I dive more in general. I felt that the more diving I did, the more I was reinforcing more bad habits. And I was not sure what I was supposed to do while diving more. What was I supposed to be working on? When I met someone who seemed much more proficient and prepared in the water, I was intrigued to take the Cave 2 class with him and found what I was missing.

Now this is NOT a statement against my NSS-CDS Instructor or NSS-CDS as an organization. The divers I dove with who were trained via NSS-CDS were great!! I just felt there was something missing for me to feel comfortable in a cave. I loved the emphasis on team diving, consistency, and a team approach. We were great as a team. I felt unbelievably comfortable. I knew what every member of my team was going to do in every situation that we were put through in the class. I have to tell you, I have not had more fun cave diving than I did during that class. It was the comfort I was looking for. While this was not a Fundies experience per se, it was interesting to see how differently people reacted to me after I took the class. I never talked about the experience with my former dive buddies, never attempted to convert them, nor did I critique the manner in which they dove. Only one of them actually dove with me after the class but he and I were friends long before the Cave 2 class.

I guess it is personality dependent. The people who did not dive with me I think did so because of their image of the DIR approach and all of the talk that was occurring on the internet. From GI's posts and talks to the zealots who felt that everyone who did not dive in a DIR fashion was a stroke. I think I got painted with that same brush even though I felt that I was just me. The same person as I was before, just with an increased personal comfort in a cave, which is what I felt I needed to enjoy cave diving.

To echo what Bob said, I did find myself gravitating towards cave divers who had a similar approach to cave diving that I did. Agency was never an issue. Just their mental approach to diving. I liked the team approach. That everyone was on the same page. As long as you feel comfortable with the people you are diving with, then the rest will take care of itself. You may lose a few old divers in the process, but the new ones you meet will make the diving experience you do have that much more enjoyable. Congrats again!!

 

[Trace Malinowski]

I can attest to the fact that Sam was the only diver in class using foul language.

The GUE instructors were in shock and couldn't speak let alone swear.

I think student performance had something to do with it.

I couldn't watch myself when holding the camera.