With an attrition rate of 80%, few training processes are as punishing as that endured by the US Coast Guard’s elite rescue swimmers. To find out what it takes to battle the raging seas, MH met the men keeping others afloat in the eye of the storm
After two years of intense training, in 2004 Jonathan Disalle, 32, graduated as one of the US Coast Guard’s Aviation Survival Technicians (AST) – or elite rescue swimmers. It was the accumulation of three vigorous training programmes, focusing on everything from in water rescue drills to emergency medical procedures and intricate helicopter operating systems. Stationed in Oregon on America’s west coast, Disalle’s first day at work was, in his own words, “pretty intense”. A 25ft skiff had overturned in the 18ft swell at Basendorff Beach. By the time Disalle and his team of three helicopter crew reached the scene from their base 10 miles away, all three of the skiff’s crew were dead.
“We were too late. All we could do was pull the deceased up onto the beach,” Disalle recalls, his voice heavy with emotion. Now a lead instructor at North Carolina’s Aviation Survival Technician Academy – the school where all prospective rescue swimmers begin their training – Disalle is speaking to MH while preparing for a new intake of students. For a first day, he says, the crash was an eye-opener. But, as he soon learned, such stories are commonplace. He recalls one told by a colleague, of delivering CPR to a patient on a crowded beach when a helicopter crashed beside them.
The fact that Disalle and his teammates are able to continue in the face of such trauma is testament to their dedication and focus. The training programme required to produce such elite personnel is unparalleled outside of military circles, as is their mental and physical resilience. This is no mere lifeguard role, with just 300 AST rescue swimmers active in the entire US. “We don’t make rescue swimmers, we find them,” says Disalle. “Not everyone is cut out for it, and that’s fine. But there’s a reason there are so few of us.”
TREADING WATER
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 2017 من Men's Health UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 2017 من Men's Health UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Every Question You Ever Had About Really Eating Well
Nutrition is a maddening business. Foods are in one day, compost the next; vitamins that cured ills last week are promptly debunked. We all want to eat better, but who has the time to sift fact from fad? Rest easy because this is your easily digestible, bite-sized guide to doing precisely that
The False Prophets Of Wellness
Muscle, fat loss, wisdom… Whatever you seek, there is now an entrepreneurial guru armed with hashtags who claims to have the answer. But is it gospel?
The Brexit Diet
Whether you voted Leave or Remain, the EU has transformed the way we eat – and crashing out threatens to deal a mighty blow to both our palates and our nutritional health. MH spoke to the experts worried that the true impact of Brexit will leave a very bad taste in our mouths.
Stamina? It's As Easy As Pie
Don’t flake on post-workout pastry. Pie and mash is your new performance enhancer
The Trip Treatment
Once the poison of the counterculture, psychedelic drugs are gaining credibility as a powerful, viable mental health tool that could transform the way we understand ourselves. Are you ready to turn on, tune in and dose up?
The Gastropub Nutrition Plan
New research suggests you don’t need to cut back on flavour either to satisfy your cravings or to cook off kilos. Better pass that piccalilli
Your Detox Doner Card
The vilified sat fat in your kebab is actually the antidote to offset booze’s impact on your liver. How convenient
Reach For The Stars
He has crossed the Atlantic, from Peckham to Hollywood, carrying multiple blockbusters on his newly broad shoulders. But while John Boyega’s star is in the ascendant, his feet remain firmly on the ground – thanks to a few fundamental life lessons learned along the way. Take note and look up.
One Word Answer #43
As tedious as they might have seemed at the time, most of the lessons our parents taught us as kids were worthy of adherence. Sit up straight at the table; look people in the eye when you thank them; try not to spit at strangers – even as an adult, these are values to live by.
Son Of A Gun
For most men, joining the family business is the easier option. Not so for Scott Eastwood, a man whose father might just be the most iconic Hollywood hard man ever. But while he is, in many ways, a chip off the old block, the firebrand’s son has his own life well figured out
