Underwater Operations Training

Underwater operations

For forty-five days after the final test, the third-year naval cadets have to take a course in underwater operations at the Naval special Warfare Group (Seals Group), Koh Phra, Sattahip Naval Base.

In the training course we learn how to use equipment, diving in the underwater world, survival and life-saving. The main purpose of this course is to work with buddies and also in teams to complete the missions.

Before I talk about our activities, I want to talk about our surprise experience. When we arrived at the Seals Group, we had a great welcome and at night everybody slept comfortably. At 03:33 am, we were surprised with gunfire. We thought that the enemy had come. But actually, it was the Commander, who trained us until sunrise. Then, we were put in a landing craft to take us across the sea to Laem Tien Pier. We run up Prince Chumporn Hill to pay respect to the Prince's statue. It was a hard day to test our endurance.

Now, let's see the regular training activities that we must pass.

The first step was diving. We learnt how to use diving equipment in the swimming pool. When we had more experience, we practiced in the sea.

The second step was the physical tests we had to do every week. The test consisted of 4 miles running within 32 minutes, obstacle course and swimming 1 mile.

In the final week we had the same tests, but swam 2 miles. This step helped us to have a strong body, which helped us pass the training course. The final step we had to pass was the survival training. This is how to survive on an island when our boat has sunk. We learnt how to find and prepare seafood, and learned that some food we found in the sea was dangerous.

The deep diving has 3 levels in the training course: 60, 90 and 120 feet. The missions of the dives were searching for 10 bottles, diving with compass and night-dive. We must pass all of them.

Although we were very tired this training, we had a great experience in the underwater world that we had never seen before. It is beautiful. After we had passed every test of this course, we received an insignia on our uniform. It is 2 sharks in the waves, which is the sign we passed the underwater operations.