United States Air Force Combat Dive Course
military unit
The United States Air Force (USAF) Combat Dive Course is a military diving training course established in 2006; as of 17 October 2018 the course is taught by personnel of Detachment 1, 350th Special Warfare Training Squadron, Special Warfare Training Wing, Second Air Force, Air Education and Training Command. From 2 June 2016 to 16 October 2018, the course was taught by personnel of Detachment 1 of the 350th Battlefield Airmen Training Squadron, Battlefield Airman Training Group, 37th Training Wing. From 2006 to 1 June 2016, the course was taught by personnel of Detachment 2, 342nd Training Squadron. The course is held at the Navy Diving Salvage and Training Center, Naval Support Activity Panama City, Florida, and trains USAF Pararescuemen, Combat Rescue Officers, Combat Controllers, Special Reconnaissance (formerly SOWT) personnel, and Special Tactics Officers to conduct and participate in special operations diving missions.
During the course, students are trained to conduct personnel recovery and special operations diving missions. However, the primary focus of the USAF Combat Diver Course is to develop special operations Airmen into competent, capable, and safe combat divers/swimmers. This course provides diver training through classroom instruction, extensive physical training, surface and subsurface water confidence pool exercises, pool familiarization dives, day/night tactical open water surface/subsurface infiltration swims, open circuit/closed circuit diving procedures and underwater search and recovery procedures.
Graduates of the course are authorized by the USAF to wear the USAF Combat Dive Badge on their utility and dress uniforms. Prior to the 2022 introduction of the USAF Combat Dive Badge, Airmen were awarded the Navy's basic SCUBA badge upon graduation.
History of USAF diving
Pararescue
The earliest operations that required USAF personnel to conduct subsurface diving were those conducted by Pararescuemen (PJs) assigned to the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service (ARRS) mission.
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