Marines Conduct Helicopter Underwater Egress 

Today I did my Helo Dunker for the first time. At this exact location. I have to say if you have never done it word of advice listen to exactly what the instructors say. They will work with you. A HUGE shoutout to them for helping me understand how to stay calm and open my airway so I could breath with the respirator. The instructors are totally awesome and will work with you if you need them too. Great training.

I went thru the helo dunker in the early 80s as part of Deep Water Environment Survival Training (Dwest) which was part of Aircrew Training so I could become a door gunner. The training was done at MCAS Cherry Point. The dunker was inside a building and the dunker was a CH46 Mockup that had a cockpit for pilots and seats in the back for six. We ran four dunks and you had to pass all four to pass the dunker. The first dunk you could use the Crew Door or any of the windows. The "Ramp Hatch" area was closed off. On the second dunk everyone had to exit thru the Crew Door. On Dunk three and four you repeated rules for one and two, however their was a catch. You were wearing goggles that had been blacked out to simulate operating at sea in pitch black. Oh... one other difference from this video, which I understand is training for the folks that will ride as passengers. This was before the pony bottles of 02 were issued and you had to hold your breath from the time you dunked until you reached the surface. :-) Yup, it sucked. On the first three dunks I did fine. As a scuba diver I was fine in the water and I would unbuckle my belt and sit on the floor until the chaos around me quieted, then exit. On number three I did the same, waited until I felt the chaos settle and moved along the seats to the door and exited. (There were divers in Masks and Tanks watching every move.) On dunk four, ALL the sudden someone grabbed me and yanked me thru a window and towed me to the surface, and gave the throat cutting signal that I had failed. WTF? I had to take the fifth "Ride of Shame" for my failure. I passed, no problem. In the showers afterward, one of my squadron members laughed and asked, "What happened to you on number four man?" I told him I had no idea, "I was waiting for things to clear and got dragged out the window backwards." One of the divers, who happened to be in the shower as well, laughed and said, "That was you? Sorry brother, but you did nothing wrong. YOU were in my way. The guy behind you was trying to dig a hole in the ceiling to get out, and I had to get to HIM... I let the Captain know." I look back and laugh now. DWEST was fun, they dropped us out in the ocean from the helo, with a raft and left us for a few hours, came back and lifted us with the hoist, taught us about the flight vest and all it's contents, and a lot of other things we needed to know. I loved flying, still miss it.

Patriots all! Semper fi. 🇺🇸❤🇺🇸

CONGRATULATION AND RESPECTEFUL TO YOUR TRAINING EXERCISE BEST WISHES TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY 🙋👍👍💝💝⚘⚘⚘☕☕💃💃🙋🙋

I went through it in 1987 and it is now really pussified compared to then! Part of the "wimps" that Arnold Swarzeeneger has mentioned!

Hernandez Brenda Hall Melissa Johnson Ronald

Rodriguez Brenda Lee Amy Jackson Laura