Thoughts on Training, Panic, and Hazing

[SparticleBrane]

I'd love to learn this breath-holding thing...
I hate doing skin-diving skills, even though I know they're good for me. Kinda like vegetables and midwater ascents...

 

[Thalassamania]

Watch out, you could be come a two-fisted kool-aid drinker ... sometimes the flavors combine well, sometimes not. Next thing you know you maybe out spearing tunas.

No, seriously ... when I'm settled we'll set something up for a week or so here in Hawaii.

 

[SparticleBrane]

LOL not something you can shoot through PM, hey?

edit: My issues are mostly in my head, although I will admit that being completely out of shape isn't helping my aerobic capacity at all.

 

[Thalassamania]

It's kind of like the USB air fill.

 

[PugetSounder]

I believe true "hazing" has no place in basic scuba training, however I do believe that random problem solving practice/training makes stronger divers.

Take the OOA (though this applies to just about any issue)...

When I first was faced with an OOA drill, I was on my knees in a pool and I knew it was coming. What did I learn? Next time, I was on my knees in the open water and I knew it was coming... didn't, learn anything there either. At the end of that series of dives, I was a "certified scuba diver trained in safe diving practices including managing OOA emergencies." If I ever had someone kneeling in front of me while they experience an OOA emergency, I'd be ready... especially if I knew it was coming. Sure, this is a good base, but typically this is where the OOA training ends.

This experience of not feeling truly prepared is what caused me to firmly place myself under the wings of some great mentors... I didn't know what I didn't know, but what I DID know was that there WERE people who knew what I didn't know. (hope you could follow that)

As I progressed in my diving, my wonderful mentors and different instructors started actually teaching me to be a strong diver... not just a "good enough, I guess" diver. Part of my growth included being given "issues," including OOAs or lost-mask or whatever, that I had to solve on the fly. As I became better at solving them, they came in greater complexity... and that still continues today.

A perfectly logical example of how things can go bad in an instant - I could be in Bonaire diving Angel City, reaching for my camera to take a picture of something when my buddy goes OOA and turns quickly to get help, accidently kicking my mask off. Perhaps a bit panicked, he grabs my reg from my mouth while I'm dealing with my mask issue following me not seeing him asking for it (because my mask was kicked off)... now I need a reg, and I can't see yet. I switch to my back-up reg, get a mask on and cleared, and am finally finished dealing with the acute issues that all came out of nowhere. This could happen to anyone, and while everyone (hopefully) who would be diving in Bonaire is "certified," I bet you'd find a whole range of situational outcomes based on the diver's experience.

From my training and mentor's help, I now have the expectation that an OOA, or other emergency/issue, or combination of issues, can come at me anytime, anywhere, under any circumstances, etc. With this expectation, if a buddy "throws an OOA at me," be it real or a drill, I react the same way. My thought process is simply "oh, it's an OOA drill" and I react properly to fix it with little to no stress. "What? It's not a drill this time? Well, it's taken care of so let's start the ascent."

Instead of thinking "OMG!! HE'S OOA!!," I react with little to no stress which makes my reaction much safer, faster, and more effective (it's muscle memory). I do this only because it's something I'm used to having happen so when it comes at me I don't get all excited and stressed. This allows me to manage the situation with a clear head.

In sum, I don't think it's necessary for an instructor to throw as much as they possibly can at a student "just because (hazing)," but I do believe that giving your students an opportunity to learn how to "think on their feet," and teaching them to continue maintaining those skills (to build and keep muscle memory), will make stronger divers at every level.

 

[fisherdvm]

I remember my instructor noted how he did an ooa drill with the local firemen. He said he shut off the pony first, and then shut off the main tank. The man panicked and complained lowdly later. But in real life, you would have to be prepared for the worst case scenario.

Just imagine how many OW certified diver would panic if they suffered a free flow regulator event at depth, simply because the agency they were certified under did not require such a simple training exercise? In the same way, I am a little disappointed that the ability to open and close your tank valve in and under water is not a requirement of OW training. One should be able to turn the valve on or off, even if the tank is positioned too low for you to touch the valve. One should be able to jump into the deep in of the pool with the valve shut, and BC deflated, and should be able to manage it without complications.

In the same way, I was severely flammed by multiple instructors last year, when I suggested that one should practice CESA without a dry regulator in the mouth? Why not... if it is just for the comfort of knowing you can do it.

When I did my equipment exchange while buddy breathing, it is essentially doing a cesa without a reg... as my instructor was floating toward the surface, and I was dragged along while trying to clear his mask....

 

[TSandM]

So, it kind of seems to me, after all this discussion, that we really have two pieces of the same whole. Thal's approach is focused on teaching the diver to recognize and control the physiologic symptoms of stress and impending panic. Walter has talked about this elsewhere, too. Simply recognizing that anxiety is spiraling and having coping skills to squelch it is a powerful piece of the diver's arsenal of weapons against mishap.

The "hazing" type of training, on the other hand, addresses the other side of the issue, which is making the diver comfortable enough with handling various types of problems underwater, that the physiologic stress response really isn't invoked. You stretch and increase the diver's capacities, so that you have to be much further down the incident pit before you can't get back out.

It does not seem to me that the two approaches are incompatible, but rather than they are rather inextricably intertwined. At each level of diving, the degree of either which is demanded from the student is different, but at all levels, recognizing and controlling stress, and acquiring skills to deal with issues in a minimum-stress fashion, are important factors.

 

[Thalassamania]

I remember my instructor noted how he did an ooa drill with the local firemen. He said he shut off the pony first, and then shut off the main tank. The man panicked and complained lowdly later. But in real life, you would have to be prepared for the worst case scenario.

Just imagine how many OW certified diver would panic if they suffered a free flow regulator event at depth, simply because the agency they were certified under did not require such a simple training exercise? In the same way, I am a little disappointed that the ability to open and close your tank valve in and under water is not a requirement of OW training. One should be able to turn the valve on or off, even if the tank is positioned too low for you to touch the valve. One should be able to jump into the deep in of the pool with the valve shut, and BC deflated, and should be able to manage it without complications.

It is impossible to anticipate every conceivable failure and emergency, I find it more productive, rather than try and drill a million different things, to drill those that are inherently time critical (e.g., something draining your gas supply) but to leave those that can be solved with thirty seconds or so of calm effort to the assurance that the diver has those thirty seconds or so of calm effort available:

By the time we are done, the student is in an entirely different “head space.” He or she knows that they can comfortably hold their breath for two minutes, that they can comfortably hold their breath for a minute, even on exhalation. This make concerns over things like emergency swimming ascents or sharing air (regardless of technique) rather irrelevant to them.

In the same way, I was severely flammed by multiple instructors last year, when I suggested that one should practice CESA without a dry regulator in the mouth? Why not... if it is just for the comfort of knowing you can do it.

When I did my equipment exchange while buddy breathing, it is essentially doing a cesa without a reg... as my instructor was floating toward the surface, and I was dragged along while trying to clear his mask....

I agree with you wholeheartedly.

 

[chickdiver]

So, it kind of seems to me, after all this discussion, that we really have two pieces of the same whole. Thal's approach is focused on teaching the diver to recognize and control the physiologic symptoms of stress and impending panic. Walter has talked about this elsewhere, too. Simply recognizing that anxiety is spiraling and having coping skills to squelch it is a powerful piece of the diver's arsenal of weapons against mishap.

The "hazing" type of training, on the other hand, addresses the other side of the issue, which is making the diver comfortable enough with handling various types of problems underwater, that the physiologic stress response really isn't invoked. You stretch and increase the diver's capacities, so that you have to be much further down the incident pit before you can't get back out.

It does not seem to me that the two approaches are incompatible, but rather than they are rather inextricably intertwined. At each level of diving, the degree of either which is demanded from the student is different, but at all levels, recognizing and controlling stress, and acquiring skills to deal with issues in a minimum-stress fashion, are important factors.

Lynne,

I agree with you. I do, however, find it interesting that no one in this conversation has brought up the idea of setting up drills/ experiences that closely mimic real world scenarios. I am not talking about "hazing" or harassment drills, but rather the types of drills we employ in technical training- which tend to be dynamic rather than the static drills used in most OW instruction. It seems to me that dynamic drills which escalate in difficulty are a nice balance between the two practices. Additionally, this type of training builds the student's confidence in thier own abilities.

 

[Teamcasa]

Lynne,

I agree with you. I do, however, find it interesting that no one in this conversation has brought up the idea of setting up drills/ experiences that closely mimic real world scenarios. I am not talking about "hazing" or harassment drills, but rather the types of drills we employ in technical training- which tend to be dynamic rather than the static drills used in most OW instruction. It seems to me that dynamic drills which escalate in difficulty are a nice balance between the two practices. Additionally, this type of training builds the student's confidence in thier own abilities.

Good Point.

What drills do you think appropriate for non-technical, recreational divers? When my lovely bride and I drill we practice air sharing, swimming while air sharing, OOA both mechanical (failed or free flows) and actual (shut off air). We also practice shooting bags and SMB’s, self and buddy entanglement recovery.

Since a large percentage of our diving is here in SoCal, we don’t really have silt out conditions or dive in any caves or wrecks. (unless you consider the Valiant or Sue-Jac a real wreck dive.)