Combat Clearance Comes Home

The Special Tactics Training Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla., combined combat dive training with community service by clearing detritus from Soundside Marina near the base. “It’s very important for the STTS airmen to gain the essential skills of a combat scuba diver,” explained Mike Gray, STTS water skills instructor, in Hurlburt’s Nov. 6 release. Search and clearance of the marina’s docks and waterways on Nov. 4 gave the special tactics airmen the opportunity to execute tasks needed to qualify as combat divers. “A commercial diving team would easily have a charge of $200 to $300 per hour for this service, [so] the operators looked at this as a golden opportunity,” added Gray. In addition to routine qualifications, the airmen retrieved everything from litter to large metal rods and fiberglass panels that had polluted the marina, states the release. (Hurlburt report by A1C Christopher Williams)