Pararescue forces provided support to NASA and the space and missil programs for recovery of astronaut personnel and space hardware. The beginning of manned space flight, with Project MERCURY, in the late 1950s brought forward the new problem of assisting the open sea recovery of astronauts should they land in areas other than planned. The need had arisen for a skill and ability to parachute into open seas, secure the capsule from sinking, and provide a stable environment for the astronaut crew until recovery via surface vessels could be accomplished.
Sergeant Earl Casto had submitted a study to ARS headquarters on the feasibility of pararescuemen parchuting while wearing SCUBA equipment. He and other pararescuemen stationed with the 76th Air Rescue Squadron i Hickam AFB, Hawaii, had been testing the idea. Authorization was given, and the first SCUBA equipment was purchased in Honolulu at a store called "Toys For Men." SCUBA training began at the U.S. Navy Underwater Swimmers School at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. At the same time, training and evaluation began ot the 48th ARS at Eglin AFB, Florida. Sergeant Nick Klimis, Pararescue Section NCOIC, and his fellow pararescuemen began attending an identical school at Key West, Florida, and were instrumental in the addition of SCUBA to pararescue skills. Naturally, they were good-natured differences of opinion as to which was the most difficult school.
Beocause of the physical rigors involved, operational SCUBA duties had the effect of making the pararescue career field very much a job for the "young." Some of the older, more experienced pararescuemen elected not to attend SCUBA school while others were eliminated for medical reasons. Further, the USN had a thirty-year age limit on SCUBA training, but ARS had managed to obtain waivers for that requirement. Udo Fischer was thirty-eight years old when making it through KEy West, graduating as number two out of forty classmates between the ages of eighteen and mid-twenties. It was not until the death of one of the over-thirty PJs, Tom Rowe, who died in training at Key West, that this age limit was fully appreciated and reinstated. Due to the SCUBA-qualified requirement in those early ye.ars, much parrescue career field expertise and experience was lost when some personnel failed to qualify or want anything to do with the new skill.
By late 1974, it became apparent that the Navy Diving School, which moved from Key West, Florida, to San Diego, California, had cut back on its curriculum. After recieving an updated course syllabus from the USN, HQ ARS was surprised to find that the 1,500-yard night swim, the night SCUBA navigation swim, and some of the physical fitness routines had been deleted. Much concern was expressed that young Pararescue students were graduating from the course in worse physical condition than when they began. It was also felt that they needed tehse key training evolutions in order to be better prepared for the demands of the pararescue career field. For example, night swims installed confidence in individuals as to their capabilities.to perform night SCUBA jumps or other night-related operational requirements. A letter from HQ ARRS/Director of Operations (DO) was sent to USN voicing these concerns. Navwy replied that it was in the business of "training divers to go off a boat, go down and complete their assigned task and return to the boat. We're not out to train a bunch of gorillas."
Upon receiving their response, Senior Master Sergeant John Toby was given approval to approach officials at U.S. Army TRADOC at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and to propose that all pararescue "pipeline" students attend the Army's Special Forces SCUBA School. TRADOC readily agreed to take any and all pararescue students as there was movement afoot to consolidate all SCUBA training under the USN. TRADOC had concerns that the Navy course would not satisfy its needs either. The officials felt that if pararescue students could attend the Special Forces SCUBA School, the perception of a "multi-service" school would be established and thereby stand a better chace of its remaining operational. The first formal PJ student pipeline class attending the Special Forces coures at KEy West, Florida, early in t1975, and the course has since remained the primary source of SCUBA training for pararescuemen.
PARARESCUE, 50 YEARS, 1943-1993, A Commemorative History, Tayler Publishing Company, Dallas, Texas, Copyright 1996, The Pararescue Association, pages 92-93
