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In any event, as I wrote, I like, and appreciate, how PADI has structured its program to allow for the flexibility for the student.

I appreciate your perspective. This is certainly a very consumer-friendly approach, but it would drive me nuts to teach this way.

I'm not a fan of the on-line or self-study methods of doing the classroom work either. My wife and son tried this when they were certified, and the in-water instructor basically ended up having to repeat all the classroom stuff anyway in a "review session". (Unpaid?)

Trying different instructors and getting second opinions are certainly essential to rounding out a diver's eduction in the long run. However, I think for the initial OW experience, the safety benefits that come with knowledge of and rapport with a student outweigh the benefits of the second opinion. I think that ensuring continuity between pool and OW work also has a safety benefit, as well as a learning benefit for the student.

That said, it should be clear to all of us by now that it's the instructor, not the agency, that determines the quality of the training. These are all minor issues that give instructors something to bitch about over beers.
 
I just had lunch today with a few guys discussing a new product. One actually supplies SEALs with a variation of it. But he also gets his share of posers. It is illegal to claim to be a SEAL under federal law I was informed. So when they get a call or email from someone claiming to be a SEAL, one who actually was one calls their HQ and verifies that he was. It's because if he was he gets the item at cost. They make no profit at all on it and are glad not to.

When they get a call/email and it turns put the guy was not, just regular military, he gets told they know he's BS'ing and gets 10% off and told to never make the claim again or they will notify the proper people that he is. Funny thing is their policy for just regular military is 20% off so he not only got the crap scared out of him, but had he just been honest he'd have saved money over what he did pay.

If it turns out that he never served he's not sold anything and is told that his name has been given to someone who may be calling on him. Maybe no one will but the threat is carried out and they pass the name on to the Feds.
 
I just had lunch today with a few guys discussing a new product. One actually supplies SEALs with a variation of it. But he also gets his share of posers. It is illegal to claim to be a SEAL under federal law I was informed. So when they get a call or email from someone claiming to be a SEAL, one who actually was one calls their HQ and verifies that he was. It's because if he was he gets the item at cost. They make no profit at all on it and are glad not to.

When they get a call/email and it turns put the guy was not, just regular military, he gets told they know he's BS'ing and gets 10% off and told to never make the claim again or they will notify the proper people that he is. Funny thing is their policy for just regular military is 20% off so he not only got the crap scared out of him, but had he just been honest he'd have saved money over what he did pay.

If it turns out that he never served he's not sold anything and is told that his name has been given to someone who may be calling on him. Maybe no one will but the threat is carried out and they pass the name on to the Feds.

And what product would this be?
 
The "disarming" and recovery of nukes underwater would be a Navy EOD mission not Seals...

That’s true… assuming it was our nuke and in friendly waters. I agree with your primary statements but I wouldn’t put it past these guys to get whatever job done they were asked, or die trying.
 
As far as dive education quality goes....I'd say GUE is on the top!
 
I'm not a fan of the on-line or self-study methods of doing the classroom work either. My wife and son tried this when they were certified, and the in-water instructor basically ended up having to repeat all the classroom stuff anyway in a "review session". (Unpaid?)

This depends heavily on the student. In all the classes I've taken to date, I've pretty much had the academics nailed down before I walked in to take any kind of test. Drop me in the water for skills and it's another story, but I repeatedly study the academics so that when I show up, I know the theory well. Application can be a work in progress...

My wife, on the other hand, doesn't like online instruction (though she has to take college courses in it for reasons not worth going into here), and strongly prefers a traditional classroom environment to self-study via reading and online presentations.

Richard.
 
I suppose getting an expensive dive knife at cost might be a motivation for someone to claim to be a SEAL when they're not.

However, why people claim to be these things when there is no financial incentive baffles me.

Back to the OP; I have qualifications from PADI, GUE, ANDI, ITDA and BSAC. The GUE one is the only one that approaches the standards of competence required of me to qualify as a BSAC Novice Diver back in 1985.

Sadly, BSAC standards have dropped considerably over the years so I'd have to say is my favourite GUE nowadays. However, GUE have simply preserved old-fashioned values in recreational diver training whilst almost everyone else has pursued a race to the bottom (:wink:) in order to preserve market share.
 

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