The AAV accident on July 30th that claimed the lives of nine servicemembers and the recent helo crash that killed two — both off the California coast near Coronado — are tragic reminders of the dangers of high-risk training.
During my tenure with the Green Berets, I was assigned to a Combat Dive team. We all had already gone by basic entry-level into the Green Berets, where paratroops qualified at low-level parachute operations. Combat Diving was a high-risk environment. But of all the work we did underwater, none was more dangerous than submarine operations; that is, going out to sea on a submarine and working on the various techniques for getting into and out of the submarine both on and under the ocean’s surface.
There were only two locations where it was possible for us to train on ingress and egress of a subsurface submarine: Key West, Florida, and Coronado Naval Air Station, California. Both locations boast submarine trunk mockup facilities attached to substantial water tanks that quite deftly replicated ingress (lock-in) and egress (lock-out) from a submerged submarine escape trunk.
The Army Special Forces Combat Diver Academy is located in Key West. They have an actual escape trunk from a nuclear submarine that was removed and connected to a 5,000-gallon freshwater tank at a depth of 33 feet (one atmosphere). In earlier days, when I was stationed there, the submarine escape trunk training facility was an older model trunk from a diesel submarine; it was cylindrical in shape. The modern nuclear submarine trunks are spherically shaped, though the principles of operation are the same in both.
In Coronado, they also have a nuclear trunk attached to a 50-foot-deep tank of many thousands of gallons of water. Their trunk is also at a one-atmosphere depth (33 feet), the tactical depth for submarine lock-in/lock-out operations. That training facility belongs to the U.S. Naval Special Warfare BUD/S training complex.
Our work at the BUD/S submarine trunk training facility always began with a basic training course in trunk operational procedures. We were trained on the essential function of controls in the trunk and given a review of all safety precautions ad rigor by one of the SEAL training cadre brothers. After the introductory briefing, the SEAL turned over control of the trunk to us, remaining on station to observe and assist as needed.
Our typical rotation for lock-in/lock-out (LI/LO) training was to choose a man to be the trunk operator for several cycles, then rotate the operator out with another man until all of the brothers had a chance to be the operator. Subject to an operator’s tenure were the dreaded trunk emergencies — yikes!
Outside the trunk was a man with access to all the controls inside the trunk and the ability to override them, thus creating one of several emergencies. Among those was the loss of light in the trunk — I hated it. There was also a loss of communication with the ship’s crew, which I did not stress over too much. Then there was the loss of the drain valve, flood valve, vent valve, and blow valve, all of which created their own set of really aggravating problems to work through.
A thing that we took on ourselves to do in order to raise the risk and tension in the trunk was to attempt to lock out an F470 CRRC Zodiac rubber boat. The SEAL overseeing us cautioned that the smaller IBS (Inflatable Boat Small or Itty-bitty-small) was the largest boat that would fit in the trunk. With much-spirited preparation on the ground, we managed first to get the Zodiac in the trunk. And with an even more spirited struggle, we managed to lock out and float the Zodiac to the surface of the water tank, much to the amazement of the SEAL.
Aggressive, dangerous, spirited, creative, and risky training is what prepares soldiers for the unspeakable horror of combat. If you can train a man to the extent that he will not be petrified with fear and lock up in the fight, you have given him and his unit a chance to survive and to be proactive in achieving success in their mission.
During my first combat experience, rather than being strapped by intense fear, I was afflicted with deep concern and nervousness over my ability to perform and fight effectively with the brothers in my unit. That was a very good recipe for survival and mission success. I achieved that composition through high-risk combat training of all kinds. Even the massive amount of submarine trunk training — though not directly combat training — helped greatly forge my character and audacity to take on extreme danger with a heightened level of intrepidity.
By Almighty God and with honor,
geo sends
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Editor’s Note: Geo’s latest work: “Delta Force Cartoon Book,” is now available for purchase. You can get your copy here.
**This fine article penned by Geo Hand first appeared at an earlier date on SOFREP
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