All Things Combat Diver (merged)

[Roko]

Hey,

I‘m a certified recreational diver right now, and am going to join the reserves.. I was just wondering, though, what do Combat divers do? and what are the chances of me taking a combat diver course in the reserves.. I‘m assuming that the chances are not very good, even if they offer it in the reserves...

:bullet: :bullet:

 

[Brad Sallows]

If the chances are slim in the army reserve, consider joining naval reserve.

 

[Cormorant101]

I would just like to thank the people who answered my question about JTF2...
Now I have another question... as I‘ve been checking out the JTF2 stuff, and there‘s also mention of another special force in Canada... called Combat Divers... just who are they and are they still active?
:sniper:

 

[SNoseworthy]

Combat divers, aren‘t these the guys who clear mines from ships or plant them onto enemy ships? Remember seeing a Forbidden Places episode on this once. And yes they‘re still active AFAIk

 

[McG]

Combat divers are not special forces (but avoid telling that to a combat diver). Combat divers are inland water divers and all are from the Engineers. Thier roles can range from recce of water crossing sights to laying underwater minefields. There are a few old threads in the Engineer forum about Combat Divers. One of these includes a link to the Combat Diver webpage.

SNoseworthy,
I belive you are thinking of Clearance Divers. They come from they Navy and do all the things the Navy wants from a diver.

 

[SNoseworthy]

Ah, yes, thanks. I always get the two confused for some reason.

 

[Duotone81]

To any Combat Engineers (Spr. Earl),

What exactly do Combat Divers do? I know it‘s a specialty course for Combat Engineers so I imagine you have to have time in and qualify but just out of curiosity what exactly do they do? Are they tasked with the same jobs as Navy Clearance Divers? The DND site has very little info on them.

Thanks

 

[McG]

They do the Engineer's job underwater:

• mine warfare,
• construction,
• demolitions,
• breaching underwater obstacles,
• munitions disposal,
• inspect underwater infastructure for sabatoge,
• recce of bridge piers & abutments,
• recce of ford sites,
• recce of water crossing sites, and
• any other Engineer job which may have to be done under water.

They are also used as safety personel to support parachute training into or near bodies of water and when swimming vehicles (and to recover lost kit in the same activities).

 

[Duotone81]

Thanks for response McG.


Cheers!

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

About how many are in each CER? Do they have a seperate section?

 

[Spr.Earl]

Here‘s the Combat Diver‘s Unofficial Web Site.
Will answer a lot of question‘s.
This link is for course 0201


http://www.donlowconcrete.com/CDAC/pages/trg1.htm#Combat%20Diver%20Course%200201

 

[nbk]

I have a dumb question, but I am going to ask it anyways because I know how people on this board love dumb questions...

In some of those pictures, the Combat Divers looked like US Navy SEALS. Is it possible for Combat Drivers to get deployed in an operation like the Navy SEALS would? EG. Getting deployed from a boat and swimming up to the shore, and conducting some sort of land operation, then returning to the sea to exit? Or are they strictly more of a rescue/construction role?

 

[McG]

They are not special forces and are not called on to act as special forces (if that is what you were getting at).  Thier tasks are listed here above.

It is important to remember that they are inland divers (lake, river, swamp, etc).  The Navy also has divers (ships divers & clearance divers) and the JTF has divers (as per thier publicity photos).

 

[logau]

All very true - but they are very adaptable as shown by their stealing every idea and technique they can get their hands on - often from the SEALS - when paired up with NAVY HEL or TAC HEL they are very capable. So buy them a fizzy pop when you see them. We should not forget they will likely be first in on a hairy mission. So whether they are or aren`t SPEC OPS - which can mean many things - they can be the first to land. Which is all that matters.

Prowl through http://www.donlowconcrete.com/CDAC

Originally posted by McG:
[QB] They are not special forces and are not called on to act as special forces.(if that is what you were getting at).

 

[nbk]

Thanks for the info. I am fairly sure I am heading to the Engineers and it is good to hear there is extra interesting options for specialized training.

 

[stukirkpatrick]

I can agree with the adaptability, as I watched a Combat Diver demo in Fredericton a few years ago, and they jumped out of a Griffon into the F. River and then proceeded to swim to the shore, charge out of the water providing covering fire with blanks + and deploying smoke before retreating back to the water. It was pretty cool.

 

[Diver409]

You don't have to join the Naval Reserve unless there's no chance of you joining the reg force as a Combat Engineer.   The only army personnel allowed to be a combat diver...for now...are reg force combat engineers.   As for what combat divers do...there are quite a few conversations on the board which will explain...although they do have a tendancy to downplay us.   To put it very plainly though...we are combat engineers under water.   What we do on land, we do under water.   We do get to do some top totch sneaky peaky tactics, and some inter agency training now and then...but mostly engineering tasks.

 

[Diver409]

The engineer tells the truth...we are not special forces and are not called on to act as special forces, but, there are times when inter-agency training has and does occur.  Every year there is an international combat diver exercise and the invite is sent to all NATO countries.  A team of 8 divers from each of the four Canadian teams is the standard request...and from the NATO guests, a pair is the usual.  Sometime we receive troops just like us, sometimes they are only construction divers and sometimes we are fortunate to have that country send us some comandos to train with.  The training we receive from that union is invaluable and every year it seems our recce capablity and knowledge base becomes that much stronger.  Tactics and tips are swapped and short of the Canadians being too crazy for their own good...most everyone walks away that much stronger for the meeting.  The exercise is three weeks long and will encompass everything from simple dive recovery tasks, to beach reconnaisance, to point target destruction and breach tasks...to the ultimate SF support tasks.  Sometimes we train withour own SF but most times we'll challenge ourselves enough to cover that angle.  Helo-casting, fast-casts (boats), stealth insertions for a night beach recce, securing shorlines for incoming amphibious assaults and quite a bit more.  Don't get me wrong, I love the job...but making it sound good is the easy part.  There is more pain than you'll think possible awaiting you before you pass the 2 week prelim...then the 10 week course.  It doesn't stop there either...the joy is in the team and the task...cause the rewards won't come from the regiments.  We're not well known and some say it will be our undoing.  It's hard to get more funding for an organization no one knows about...BUBBLES UP!!

 

[zerhash]

ive seen some reserve divers so there may be a mix up here... could be something i foresaw like previouse time in regs

if there are cbt dive courses there ill most likely be the problem of units not being able to keep the divers current. which means 1 dive every 3 months or so

dont quote me

Spr. Richmond

 

[banko]

What are the prerequisits to be a combat diver? what do they look for when selecting candidates for the dive course? I have been accepted into the reg force combat engineers and this is one area that I would certainly be interested in... as long as I can pass the physical part of the course! The physical requirements seem pretty hard core... Any advice / tips?