The rules say buddy pairs should be used, and “buddy lines” are standard training equipment, the report said. The report concluded there was confusion among the dive school staff on the necessity of the buddy-pair system during 2,000-yard surface swims. There was also no sign of trauma or broken bones. His dive gear was intact, the report said, and there was no sign he tried to activate his personal flotation device. A diver soon found Baker’s body, which was then recovered. In all, 87 personnel on 18 boats, a police helicopter, and a C-130 - including five dive teams and assets from the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and Bay County Sheriff’s Office - searched for Baker for hours.Ī Fish and Wildlife Conservation boat ultimately detected something underwater on sonar at about 4:15 p.m. The instructors began looking for him, and soon called the dive school superintendent to report a student was missing and ask for search and rescue help.
Another instructor on a boat also directed a fishing boat away from the swim lane, and later directed swimmers around the 65-foot yacht. At one point, an instructor on a boat broke away from the group of student swimmers to stop two civilian boats from entering the training area. There was also more boat traffic than usual during the swim, which the report said was attributed to the later than usual start of the swim, as well as people trying to get out on the water due to the coronavirus stay-at-home restrictions. An instructor checked to make sure there were no fishing lines coming from the yacht, and did not ask the yacht to move. There was also a privately owned, 65-foot yacht anchored in the swim path, the report said. They also shifted the starting buoy marker 100 yards to the east of its usual location. The ammunition pier that usually serves as the finish point was under construction, so the instructors instead used a floating barge about 100 yards east of the ammo pier to drop the buoy marker that served as the finish line. Baker’s classmates said he appeared to be in good spirits, and they noticed nothing out of the ordinary, aside from mentioning soreness in his hip flexors the previous few weeks.īut there were a few changes from standard procedure, the report said. March 19, but a fog forecast prompted instructors to push it back three hours.
This surface swim was supposed to begin at 6 a.m. Baker and his classmates took part in multiple physical activities, including a 1,000-yard surface swim while wearing gear, during the first three days. The swim in which Baker drowned took place on the fourth day of his class. Like his classmates, Baker wore a mask, a load-bearing vest with a pair of 2-pound weights to simulate ammunition magazines, a personal flotation device, a dive tool and a rubber AR-15. Students at the dive school are required to finish a 2,000-yard surface swim - more than a mile - in simulated combat gear, to check each student’s swimming ability. The dive school, officially known as the 350th Special Warfare Training Squadron, Detachment 1, teaches students basic diving, advanced rescue diving principles and advanced combat diving fundamentals.
He was on temporary duty to the Air Force Combat Dive School at the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center at Naval Support Activity Panama City, Florida.
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