Dunker!!!

Recently at Ft. Rucker, Alabama I completed the 'Dunker' course which is two days of fun in the classroom and the pool in Helicopter Overwater Survival Training (HOST). The course is taught by a bunch of old(er) retired Navy rescue swimmers- so as you can imagine, they have a lot of fun but also take the training very seriously!
Check out the video here on YouTube!
The large contraption being lowered into the water is designed to replicate the cockpit and crew cabins of various Army helicopters. Each door and window is designed to simulate those of the Blackhawk, Chinook, or Apache aircrafts. After a series of initial training, we strap in to the crew seats of the dunker and prepare for the ride! At the 15 second mark on the video, you see the Dunker complete its rollover- this is when the escape sequence begins. During the first stage of training we used bottled air, so the sequence goes 1)insert and clear regulator 2) find reference point 3) unbuckle seatbelt 4) jettison doorway 5)escape. This all takes about 10-15 seconds on a good day. Remember, all of this is after flipping upside down in 15 feet of water! After becoming comfortable with bottled air we go lights out! The fun really begins when you are six feet below water, upside down, and wearing blacked out goggles- a true test of anybodies ability to stay cool, calm, and collected. Eventually we progress to 'nighttime/no air' and finally some exercises in dround proofing and use of life rafts. Not a bad day at the office, eh. It's hard to call this "work" somedays.