Navy Divers Give Insights Into Working-Life Underwater

This week, the nation’s maritime forces, including the Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard joined together in New York City to celebrate Fleet Week 2018. Navy divers setup in Times Square to give onlookers a glimpse of their underwater working-life. Navy diver, Justin Poretti has been in the Navy since 2002. He was at university when he made the decision to join the military. His decision was influenced by the events of 9/11 and the feeling that he would be regretful later in life, if he did not serve. Poretti’s fellow serviceman, Dylan Lafountain informed the military recruiter that he would only join if he could be a diver. Subsequently his request was granted. “Divers have to volunteer several times before you become a diver. You have to have wanted it. You don’t just show up,” Poretti said. Lafountain, identified having strong will power as one of the key ingredients for success on the Navy diver course. “You have to be in shape. You need to be in shape for sure,” he added. The Navy diver display featured some essential diver apparatus, such as the Kirby Morgan (KM) 37 diving helmet. According the Kirby Morgan website (link), the KM 37’s Quad-Valve exhaust system provides less breathing resistance than older single valve models. This particular system is recommended for use in biologically contaminated water. Lafountain said that the Navy divers can descend to as deep as 300 ft. However, the deepest that he has dived to is 190ft. Poretti, on the other hand, has descended to 256 ft. Poretti said that “it depends on the job” as to how deep they dive—“It really depends on what the parameters [are] of the job you are doing.” In terms of his personal development, Poretti said that being a Navy diver has “taught [him] not to procrastinate anymore.” Lafountain said that teamwork is essential to the work that Navy divers do. “I love the people I work for. It’s a great community. I know they have my back. When we are diving or working on something, I can trust them with my life, and I do,” he said. Poretti has visited New York a few times before; the last time was about 10 years ago. “It’s still an awesome melting pot of all the cultures. It still has all the really cool people, all the really weird people, and everything in between,” he said.