What's the most terrifying thing about being a search and rescue diver?

Lots of stories here about ER doctors, nurses, and other people who have access to information that the rest of us don't. I'm a search and rescue diver for the US Coast Guard. I've been all around the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, and I've seen some things that you can't unsee. So here are some answers to questions you might have:<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*<br><br>\**What's the scariest part about being a SAR diver?\**<br><br>\*\*It isn't the corpses. Some people find them bad to look at, but if you've seen a case of a badly burned girl with the skin dripping off her back like molten lava, and then you see a bloated waterlogged corpse, it doesn't even bother you. It's a corpse, you see a lot of them.<br><br>The scariest part is thinking about how these people died. Imagine being on a boat, thinking you're going on a nice vacation to Jamaica with your family. You're drinking your prosecco and eating your mixed nuts and then the side of the boat bursts open and you get tossed into the warm water. You manage to find your spouse and one of your kids and your dog but your other two kids never showed up. And your boat sinks. But hey, at least it's not in the Arctic. This isn't so bad. You all link up and start swimming for shore, which is only about 3km away. You've kept in shape all your life, and the sea is warm. Your spouse and child are survivors, they can tough it out. But your dog is in agony. It keeps trying to tread water but it just can't. <br><br>Imagine having to hold your shaking dog and watching it drown in your arms as the sun sets over the water, wondering what you did wrong. Imagine your other two children out there somewhere, calling and calling and calling, but you can't hear them from a kilometer away. <br><br>And then the night falls. The water is warm, but it sucks the warmth out of your body at a slow pace. Your spouse loses consciousness. Your child starts to lose hope. And then the sharks show up. But they don't attack. Not at first. They can tell you're a survivor, and most sharks know better than to jump straight into a net or a trap. But you know the sharks are out there. Back in the darkness. You can tell because your dog's carcass is being torn apart just out of sight, and the blood keeps drifting towards you. <br><br>You know what? I'd rather die in a burn ward than die at sea.<br><br>\**Do you find it enjoyable?**<br><br>\*\*Why the hell would I find this enjoyable? It's an office job, except the office is a tiny helicopter and a plastic boat in the middle of the ocean, the boss is the US Coast Guard, and all you do every day is look for dead bodies, hurt people, and sometimes rescued animals. Occasionally you get to rescue someone and they live. Sometimes they die after you drop them off at the hospital even though you did everything right. If you're in a search and rescue job and get bored, go do something useful.<br><br>\**Have you ever been injured on the job? Do you ever feel in danger? **<br><br>\*\*Well, I got my left lung punctured by a marlin once. It was hohoho, merry as fuck. I was diving and a goddamn marlin speared me and I had to get it removed with a needle. But that barely even qualifies. I've sat in the hospital for a shift because of a case of heat stroke, and sprained my ankle on the deck. Nothing overly fun. <br><br>I was on a sinking ship once and I had to find a missing child. I found him, but he was dead. I had to hunker down in aclinched hallway for a while as water filled up the ship. I had to crawl through a window and swim out, and the ship went down less than 3 minutes later. I felt a little in danger then. <br><br>\**Have you had to recover hikers who have fallen off cliffs?**<br><br>\*\*On coast guard we don't do cliff recoveries. I've had to recover people who have gone overboard from cliffs, but that's much rarer. Statistically speaking, you're safer driving to the mountains than you are driving to the beach.<br><br>\**How do you not develop PTSD?**<br><br>\*\*Honestly, I do have PTSD. But I'm in a good headspace right now, mostly because my wife and I are trying for a kid. I'll be honest though, if I hadn't joined the Coast Guard I would probably own a business or something, or be working on some white collar career. But I feel a sense of purpose here. I feel like I'm doing something important. <br><br>Plus, I'm honestly more afraid of dying of a heart attack age 52 because I sat when I should have stood than I am about developing PTSD. Statistically speaking, heart disease is a *much* higher risk for me than PTSD. So I'm not too worried about it, and if you met me you would realize I'm pretty normal.