Groundhog246:Was that 3 days including the OW dives? The LDS we trained at have a minimum of five classroom sessions, each followed by a pool session. I've seen some do 8 or more pool session and/or resit a couple of classromm sessions, with lots of assigned reading in between, After that and your written tests, then a weekend of diving (minimum 5 dives, starting at 15 feet, working your way down to 55 feet) and demonstrating skills. Some students also end up with extra OW dives required.
If you search you'll find lots of threads on the quality of divers (or lack thereof) being turned out and it's not knowing items such as how to read tank markings, the need for hydro/VIP, or even gas laws, that are of concern. Not all of us responding have been diving all that long. And many that don't learn it in class, never learn it at all. The "lucky" ones find there way here or end up mentored by a more experienced diver who does know.
As the program director stated when he passed out our OW certificates, it's not a license to dive and it's not the end of your diving education. It's a license to learn and completion of the first step
I was on deployment on a carrier and we pulled in to a warm water port and a bunch of us did it all in 3 days total, for 8 hours a day. It seemed to be the standard there as all of the dive shops in the area were teaching that way. All dives were done in the ocean. The closed water stuff was just done in a bay. Thank god I have a friend that has been diving for about 4 or 5 years and I got in touch with him when I got back. He has provided me with quite a bit of guidance. (Training as well as gear selection.) I now realize that I have quite a bit more training to do, not that I ever intended to stop. Let's just say now I have DIR inclinations.