09/12/2025
Long Post ( Excerpt from SAF publication 2009 ) for those who still wants an electronic copy.
Underwater Operation Course
(SAF-UOC)
The origins of diving are firmly rooted in man’s need and desire to engage in maritime commerce, to conduct salvage and military operations, and to expand the frontiers of knowledge through exploration, research, and development.
From the earliest time, divers were active in military operations. Their missions included cutting anchor cables to set enemy ships adrift, boring or punching holes at bottoms of ships, and building harbor defenses at home while attempting to destroy those of the enemy abroad. Alexander the Great sent divers down to remove obstacles in the harbor of the City of Tyre, in what is now called Lebanon, which he had taken under siege in 332 B.C. Other early divers developed an active salvage industry centered around the major shipping ports of the Eastern Mediterranean.
The underwater freedom brought about by the development of SCUBA led to a rapid growth of interest in diving. Sport diving has become very popular, but science and commerce have also benefited. Biologists, geologists and archaeologists have all gone underwater, seeking new clues to the origins and behavior of the earth, man and civilization as a whole. An entire industry has grown around commercial diving, with the major portion of activity in offshore petroleum production and underwater military operation.
After World War II, the US Navy Combat-swimmers were organized into two separate groups, each with specialized training and missions. The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team handles, defuses, and disposes of munitions and other explosives. The Sea, Air and Land (SEAL) Special Warfare Teams make up the second group of Navy Combat-swimmers. SEAL team members are trained to operate in all of these environments. They qualify as parachutists, learn to handle range of weapons, receive intensive training in hand-to-hand combat, and are experts in SCUBA and other swimming and diving techniques. In Vietnam, SEALs were deployed in special counter-insurgency and guerrilla warfare operations.
During the 80’s, police organizations around the world realized the importance of police diving team in their organization not in terms of underwater demolition or underwater ordnance disposal but in real police diver work. Police Diving Teams evolved from a need by the police for an underwater search and recovery facility of bodies, properties, weapons, and other items connected with police investigations. These underwater capabilities should be as forensically and professionally reliable as that executed on land.
The primary role of a Police Diving Team is to provide search facilities in support of police officers investigating crimes, dealing with reports of missing persons or lost properties of high value or particular significance. As in land-based searches, it may be necessary to establish and describe the scene of the circumstances in which the property or body is found, and it may be desired to preserve the integrity of the item to be recovered for evidential and identification purposes.
The sinking of Super Ferry 14 in 2004 and of MV Princess of the Stars last year are still fresh in the mind of SAF Director PCSUPT Leocadio SC Santiago, Jr. He is bothered and aware that these kind of incidents will be repeated again in the future and the Police is not ready to deal in these kind of situations at present. He values the importance of this kind of underwater police operation and his vision is to bring back again this capability of the police in all kinds of search and rescue operations not only on the highlands, and urban areas but most importantly in an underwater environment.
This vision of Gen. Santiago became his mission and this mission was put into action. On the first quarter of 2009 , he ordered the creation of a Company size Search and Rescue Unit composed of SAF organic personnel, who, aside from their regular police duties as SAF Troopers, can react swiftly when needed in search and recovery operations around the country, especially in times of calamities or in natural or man-made disasters be it on land or underwater. With the kind of leadership he possesses, Gen. Santiago encourages not only his men but also his junior and senior officers to undergo of what is now SAF-Underwater Operation Course, being a Dive Master himself. He understands the importance of this training for his officers for he knows that only a diver can support and effectively lead a fellow diver in the preparation and in actual underwater operations.
On March 2009, they invited PADI Dive Instructors of the Philippine National Police Scuba Divers Association (PNPSDA) to present and orient the group regarding the kind of training they are about to undergo. After the presentation of PNP-HRDD approved Program Of Instructions, a long discussion and deliberation followed. Lessons from past scuba training of their colleagues in the PNP made these officers inquisitive and more curious. Satisfied, the officers and men were convinced that the kind of training they are about to receive is not the usual and commercialized-4-day scuba diver training, common to recreational divers. During this orientation, they also understood the importance of an internationally recognized C-Card of which PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors), the largest certifying agency around the world, can give. They were also informed that although this is a “gentleman’s course”, it is not and will not be an “executive course”.
When all of the questions were answered and other questions in their mind were cleared and satisfied, they decided to commission the services of brothers Brett-Kalvin and Dale-Aubrey Garcia, both active members of PNPSDA and are both qualified and certified PADI Dive instructors.
On 09 March 2009, the joint ceremonies for the closing of Basic Airborne Course Class 47-49 and opening ceremony of SAF-UOC Class 0109 , Vector Balance 09-01 and UCRWC Class 62-2009 were conducted at SAF RDB premises where the guest speaker is non other than the Chief PNP, PDir Gen Jesus Ame Versosa ,who himself is an airborne paratrooper and a scuba diver par excellence. After the ceremony, all the guests, officers and men were treated to a dinner in the traditional SAF boodle fight.
On 23 March 2009, SAF-UOC CL-0109 started their first phase of training not in water but inside the conference room, in a classroom like environment. In this Knowledge Development phase, officers and men were taught all the diving theories from the effect of pressure to a human body up to the risk and hazards of scuba diving and how to lessen these risks. It was also in this phase were they learned how to plan their dive using the Dive Tables to avoid Decompression Illness on their future dives. Introduction to SCUBA equipment tackles the name, parts and function of every dive equipment they are about to use, how to properly assemble and disassemble them, how to wear and remove, and how to properly maintains them. It was in this phase that their instructors made sure that they not only memorize these procedures but internalized them in rote. After 12 days of learning, a final examination was given to each student diver and they have to get 75% points in order for them to be able to move to the second module of the training, the confined water phase. Those who failed were given a last chance to make-up and have to take another set of exams and pass in order to qualify for the confined water phase of the training. Nobody will be trained in the pool whether PCOs or PNCOs unless they pass all the quizzes and examination of the knowledge development phase.
The first day of confined water training look simple. The instructors taught simple skills on how to walk with fins on land up to basic mask clearing and snorkel clearing. Trainees are not yet allowed to use scuba gear in this phase It is in this phase were students noticed that not everybody can cope up easily with these new and yet simple skills. Students who have a poor nose and mouth coordination cannot escape the keen eyes of the instructors and they will make them do the same skills over and over again until they are comfortable doing the same skill no matter how long it takes to master it.
The second day started on how to use the fins. Before learning new skills, the instructors made sure that the student divers have mastered the previous skill that they have already been taught. Everyday, in-water “Jogging” became a common practice to everybody before a new skill will be introduce, student divers can get so exhausted and yet they never perspire. If the student ask permission to take a rest or for whatever reason, the instructors will allow them, but with an advice: “ The more you relax on land the more you will encounter problems underwater”. With this advised, student divers were encouraged to cope up with the training. There came even a time when some students find themselves in the pool performing and mastering the same skills without scheduled training, all by themselves. Self practice is the key to mastery. Skin diving phase passed, student divers enters the scuba phase of the training. This phase start again with the basic skill of mask clearing, but this time, instead of confusion, each and every student divers perform every underwater skills with confidence. All the skills the students took up in skin diving phase helped them perform better in the scuba phase of the confined water dives. Three weeks passed and the student divers are now ready for their practical exams - the check out dives.
The openwater check out dives is composed of mandatory four dives at depth of between 30 to 60 feet, where the students will perform all the skills they learned in the pool. The big difference aside from the depth was, student divers will be doing it in uncontrolled sea condition. Waves, tides, poor visibility and current are all elements the students have to dealt and cope up with. This is the reality of diving. Buddy system are rotated and the students have to learn to adjust with a different buddy on every dive, PCOs and PNCOs were assigned as buddies. The instructors are very strict in this safety rule and they make sure that this practice of buddy system is observed, before, during and after the dive, because down there, when you encounter trouble, the only one who can help you is your buddy. Dive with your buddy, stay with your buddy and abort with your buddy is a MUST FOLLOW rule in diving.
The beauty of the underwater world are just down there to explore and appreciate. Nothing on land can compare to it and only one breed of men can venture into this hidden cities, the Scuba Divers. For a while, everybody are so mesmerized with this kind of underwater beauty and tend to forget the real reason why they are there, that is, to learn scuba diving not for recreational purposes, but to put this skills into use in the performance of assigned task in the future.
The first batch of students finished Phase 1 of SAF-UOC without untoward incident or casualties. Divers went back to barracks tired but in high spirits. The first part of the training is done but SAF-UOC is just starting. What the students learned is just the basic in scuba diving, an important foundation. Advance and Rescue diver course are still to be achieved, This is the ultimate goal of Gen Santiago, author of SAF-UOC, and this is what separate this training from other scuba training in the PNP. His objective is clear for this training, not just the basic. Being a professional diver, he knows that these level of training is very important to achieve, since it will determine what the troopers can do to help in actual search and retrieval missions. He understands that emergency situations are usually not the best place to learn new skills. What is important is to learn by heart now to perform the necessary tasks right from the start of the training – not later, since time is of the essence. He is fully aware that lack of knowledge in an emergency situation underwater can put someone at risk. It is very important for the unit to determine whether or not they have the level of skills and knowledge required to carry out the task safely and efficiently. While recreational divers enjoy a leisurely swim amongst amazing creatures of the sea, police divers are usually contending with more serious matters under adverse conditions. A day's work might involve locating the body of a crime victim underwater, or assisting in an investigation that involves a capsized boat, a sunken car, or a plane crash, most of the time in a polluted murky waters.
Gen Santiago might not achieve all of these during his term as SAF director but he believes that the next man after him will continue this noble cause. After all, this mission reflects the true essence of the word --- “TAGALIGTAS”
