This is a picture of a Coast Guard rescue diver jumping from a helicopter into the bay during a training exercise. These brave men and women are a very elite group of individuals who will sacrifice their lives in order to save others who are in peril in the ocean waters. There was a movie released last year called "The Guardian" which starred Ashton Kuscher and Kevin Costner which chronicled the training and bravery of these Coast Guard divers. They are a very elite group of individuals. There is a great page about these divers which can be found here. The page describes the requirements to become a diver and goes into detail about the qualifications needed to become one of these elite divers.
The Coast Guard conducts regular training exercises in the bay at least once a month, and using my marine scanner I can listen to the helicopter pilots talking to the divers and others helping during these training exercises. Sadly, many fishermen and boaters are lost each year in the very frigid waters off of the Oregon coast. There is a memorial monument in Charleston dedicated to those lost at sea, and the list continues to grow each year. There is no doubt the list would be much longer if it was not for these brave divers willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice to save those in peril.
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