Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer Deploys into Gulf of Alaska, Rescues Three

About 0300 local time on June 10, 2015, the uninspected commercial fishing vessel Kupreanof began taking on water while transiting from Juneau to Bristol Bay, Alaska. Weather conditions at the time included a 35-knot gale warning and 15 to 20 foot seas. About two and half hours later, the vessel sank in 420 feet of water. All four crewmembers were rescued without injury by a Coast Guard helicopter and rescue swimmer soon after abandoning ship. About 7,300 gallons of diesel fuel and an unknown quantity of hydraulic and lubricating oils were aboard the vessel when it sank.The Kupreanof was not salvaged due to the water depth. The vessel and the equipment stowed on deck were valued at $875,000.

More about Coast Guard rescue swimmers, sourced from a combination of the USCG website and the illustrious Wikipedia:

Technically called "United States Coast Guard Aviation Survival Technician ("AST")/Helicopter Rescue Swimmer," ASTs are called upon to respond in the most extreme rescue situations. High seas, medical evacuations, downed aviators, sinking vessels, and hurricanes are some of the deadly scenarios that Coast Guard rescue swimmers are trained to handle. The Coast Guard's team of ASTs is composed of about 350 active-duty members, and only 900 members have passed the training to become Helicopter Rescue Swimmers since the mid-1980s. The training school has some of the highest attrition rate of any military school with about 80% of candidates washing out. For comparison United States Navy SEAL selection and training is about 75%.

AST School in Elizabeth City, North Carolina lasts for 24 weeks, and includes intense physical fitness, long hours of pool fitness and instruction, extreme water-confidence drills, and classroom instruction. The Coast Guard rescue swimmer training program is very challenging and is one of the toughest U.S. military training courses. Reportedly, only 75–100 Coast Guard personnel attend the school each year. The attrition rate in some years has been as high as 85%, although the 10-year average is just over 73%. Prospective U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmers are physically conditioned to meet high physical fitness standards. About half of prospective candidates make it to AST "A" School. Upon graduation, candidates must attend seven weeks of training at the Coast Guard's Emergency Medical Technician ("EMT") school in Petaluma, California, where ASTs are trained and become certified as EMTs. Rescue swimmers at Coast Guard Air Station Sitka, Alaska, must maintain the EMT-Intermediate level of proficiency due to the remoteness of their operational area and the number of medical evacuations performed by that unit each year. Once stationed at a Coast Guard Air Station, apprentice ASTs must complete 6 months of qualification on their respective airframe before moving on to finish their rescue swimmer syllabus and becoming journeymen.

The Coast Guard holds a one-week Advanced Helicopter Rescue School ("AHRS" — formerly known as Advanced Rescue Swimmer School) at Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment, Washington, which is host to Air Force pararescuemen ("PJs"), Navy rescue swimmers, and foreign rescue departments as well. There, students learn the challenges of vertical-surface rescue, cliff operations, sea-cave traversing, and extreme-high-seas rescue. AHRS is considered the premier helicopter-rescue training school of its kind by most military and civilian rescue operators.

The Coast Guard also trains a basic form of life-saving swimmers known as Cutter Surface Swimmers. These swimmers deploy only from ships and boats, and are tethered to a line handler stationed on board the vessel.

The course is 24 weeks long. The course includes instruction on rescue techniques, helicopter deployment techniques, and a myriad of technical skills from small engine repair to parachute packing and maintenance. Successful completion of this course results in being awarded the Aviation Survival Technician rating, the technical rating for a variety of aircraft and survival equipment maintenance.

After completion of A-School, all ASTs are sent to Training Center Petaluma, California to attend the Coast Guard's Emergency Medical Technician school. After seven weeks of EMT training, they must take and pass the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians-Basic (NREMT-B) test as part of their qualification as a helicopter rescue swimmer.

Full qualification as a rescue swimmer can take up to a year from graduation of A-School, as graduates must learn the aircraft systems and emergency procedures of their assigned aircraft.

Not all ASTs serve as rotary wing helicopter rescue swimmers. Many serve in other roles, including as aircrew on fixed-wing assets, at Coast Guard fire departments and as instructors at any of the various training commands.

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