I feel like I need to chime in and get us back to the original question:
Are divers that are trained by the military in the use of scuba given any kind of documents showing that they have been trained to dive? If so can they use these documents to board dive boats etc?
What we're being asked is whether or not we (instructors, dive shop owners, and dive boat owners) can and will accept military training records in lieu of recreational dive certificates.
It makes no difference if we respect the armed services or not. It makes no difference if we respect the men that go through these programs.
What does matter is whether our agencies, our insurance policies, and our consciences can accept their training as being equal to or greater than the training done in the recreational dive industry (and here's the important part) for the purpose of conducting recreational dives.
I don't know a darned thing about planting explosives, transporting firearms underwater, or killing a man with a knife. If you attack me underwater, put a chain around my neck, or whatever other hideous things they do to these young men in their classes I probably wont do well. This is not the skill set of a recreational diver.
I don't know if the SEAL training prepares them for the dive environment that I issue certification cards for, rent equipment for, and take people on trips in. This is the question gentlemen - how can I, a recreational dive instructor, know that a SEAL's training prepares them for this environment? I'm not saying it doesn't, but before I accept it I need to *know* that it does.
I am certain that there are military divers with much more diving experience than I have. There are probably some with much less. How can I tell the difference short of taking them into the water and observing/grading their skills?
What would be beneficial to me is if a military diver or better yet instructor could post information about the certification levels, what they mean, what skills were required, what the performance requirements were, and what paperwork we should ask for.
What would be even better is if they would work with RSTC (
http://www.wrstc.com/main.php) to get those certifications officially recognized to reduce the legal liability that instructors take on when working with these divers.