Ask a Naval Aircrewman

[ADbait09]

Originally Posted by Haasino

You can no longer volunteer for Aircrew as an AD... that ended on October 1st, 2008. You must now be contracted with AIRC (Fixed-wing/MH-53) or AIRR (MH-60/Rescue Swimmer) in your contract from MEPS, to ultimately receive a rating of AWO, AWR, AWV, AWF, or AWS.

You can possibly volunteer for surface Rescue Swimmer duties, which would be a part-time tertiary duty while on a ship... but Aviation Rescue Swimmer is a skill held by full-time flyers in either the Naval Aircrewman (Tactical Helicopter) or Naval Aircrewman (Helicopter) ratings.

As a rescue swimmer what do you do when your not on a mission saving a life?

[Haasino]

Originally Posted by ADbait09

As a rescue swimmer what do you do when your not on a mission saving a life?

As an Aviation Rescue Swimmer, your primary duty is serving as a crewman on either an MH-60R or MH-60S helicopter, depending on rate... Romeo crewmen conduct Anti-Submarine Warfare, Counter-Narcotics and Counter-Piracy Operations, Search & Rescue, and limited Naval Special Warfare support operations... Sierra crewmen conduct Vertical Replenishment, Search & Rescue, and limited Naval Special Warfare support operations. Unless assigned to a SAR or CSAR squadron, most AWR's and AWS' spend 99.5% of their careers acting as helo crewmen... with that rare .5% spent doing actual rescues.

Surface Rescue Swimmers retain their normal rates and are called upon in the event someone goes overboard and needs to be rescued... it's an on-call duty similar to VBSS, Snoopy Teams, etc. You will spend your days as an AD... doing normal duties assigned as an AD... and will act as a rescue swimmer if needed. For Surface Rescue Swimmers, I'm not sure if it's a drop-of-the-hat duty, or if you are one of several assigned to occasional "shifts", similar to ASF duties on a shore command.

[ADbait09]

Originally Posted by Haasino

As an Aviation Rescue Swimmer, your primary duty is serving as a crewman on either an MH-60R or MH-60S helicopter, depending on rate... Romeo crewmen conduct Anti-Submarine Warfare, Counter-Narcotics and Counter-Piracy Operations, Search & Rescue, and limited Naval Special Warfare support operations... Sierra crewmen conduct Vertical Replenishment, Search & Rescue, and limited Naval Special Warfare support operations. Unless assigned to a SAR or CSAR squadron, most AWR's and AWS' spend 99.5% of their careers acting as helo crewmen... with that rare .5% spent doing actual rescues.

Surface Rescue Swimmers retain their normal rates and are called upon in the event someone goes overboard and needs to be rescued... it's an on-call duty similar to VBSS, Snoopy Teams, etc. You will spend your days as an AD... doing normal duties assigned as an AD... and will act as a rescue swimmer if needed. For Surface Rescue Swimmers, I'm not sure if it's a drop-of-the-hat duty, or if you are one of several assigned to occasional "shifts", similar to ASF duties on a shore command.

Sounds like I'll go the surface rescue swimmer route to begin with....how would I go about that. Is that something I start in boot or after I go to A school?

[kforbs126]

Originally Posted by ADbait09

Sounds like I'll go the surface rescue swimmer route to begin with....how would I go about that. Is that something I start in boot or after I go to A school?

Most ships already have their rescue swimmers in place. I've never seen anyone else other than the ships crew be a rescue swimmer. They are a part of the boat crew. But I've only been on small boys. This maybe different for larger decks.

[Haasino]

Originally Posted by ADbait09

Sounds like I'll go the surface rescue swimmer route to begin with....how would I go about that. Is that something I start in boot or after I go to A school?

Originally Posted by kforbs126

Most ships already have their rescue swimmers in place. I've never seen anyone else other than the ships crew be a rescue swimmer. They are a part of the boat crew. But I've only been on small boys. This maybe different for larger decks.

Yeah, I couldn't tell you what the process is for going surface swimmer... other than that the school you'd have to go through is here at NAS Jacksonville.

[kforbs126]

Originally Posted by Haasino

Yeah, I couldn't tell you what the process is for going surface swimmer... other than that the school you'd have to go through is here at NAS Jacksonville.

Surface wise it's just a week or so course. I know every base has one. You have to be a really really good swimmer.

[Haasino]

Originally Posted by kforbs126

Surface wise it's just a week or so course. I know every base has one. You have to be a really really good swimmer.

There's only two Rescue Swimmer Schools that I'm aware of... the 5-week Aviation RSS in Pensacola, and the 4-week Surface RSS here in Jacksonville. Sure you're not thinking of the Water Survival training centers that are located on multiple bases?