Rescue swimmer
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Though the moniker rescue swimmer may be applied to any number of water rescue professionals, the term is most often applied to personnel in the Coast Guard, Navy, and Marine Corps. All three services have personnel that are designated as rescue swimmers.
The U.S. Coast Guard trains helicopter rescue swimmers and boat based rescue swimmers to enter the water to assist victims in distress. Navy and Marine Corps rescue swimmers, sometimes referred to as "SAR Wet Crewman", do most of their work from aircraft carriers.
U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers attracted attention most recently during the rescue operations following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Helicopter crews hoisted over 11,000 stranded victims to safety by lowering rescue swimmers to rooftops and flood water to assist those in distress. The release of the motion picture, The Guardian (2006 film), starring Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher, introduced still more people to this small group of elite rescue workers.
The rescue swimmer stories unfold in a new book, So Others May Live: Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers Saving Lives, Defying Death by Martha LaGuardia Kotite So Others May Live with Foreword by the First Secretary of Homeland Security, Governor Tom Ridge. The book contains twelve heroic stories which chronicle the greatest maritime rescues attempted since the inception of the program in 1985. These feats, told through the eyes of the Coast Guard rescue swimmer, reveal an understanding of how and why the rescuer risks his or her life to reach out to save a stranger. The events unfold in diverse geographic areas and environments: oceans, hurricanes, oil rigs, caves, sinking vessels, floods, Niagara Falls and along the gulf coast during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Working from official documents and period photographs and interviews with survivors, aircrew and rescue swimmers, the author, who served as an officer in the US Coast Guard tells their courageous stories. Some of the rescue swimmers featured in the book also appear in the Disney/Touchstone movie, The Guardian.
While Katrina brought national news coverage to Coast Guard rescue swimmers and their crews, their story was first shown on television in a series of specials produced by Tam Communications working in association with the Discovery Channel. Along with covering the history and the demanding training rescue swimmers must complete, the specials also feature dramatic on-scene footage of several heroic rescues.
Helicopter Rescue Swimmer Training
Navy and Marine Corps rescue swimmer candidates attend the five week long Aviation Rescue Swimmer School in Pensacola, Florida. The Coast Guard Aviation Survival Technician (AST) / Rescue Swimmer school in Elizabeth City, North Carolina is 18 weeks long.
