Quote Originally Posted by bent View Post
Wow, usually people make sure to wright super positive reports about gue classes.
If I spend 4 days and a grand and instructor told me I failed because I did the skill correctly at the wrong depth, I'd be pissed. No wonder so many people don't pass if that's how the class is conducted.
If anything it was the instructors fault for not communicating clearly that the skill must performed at what depth.
I think things have relaxed a bit from what I experienced in the early days. It was almost like being hazed to join a frat. It made me a better instructor, but if I had been looking to just dive caves and trimix, it would have held me back. I dated an NSS-CDS instructor and she had to deprogram me. We were diving at Ginnie one evening and I accidentally knocked my grape Powerade off a picnic table with the cap off. Rich Courtney came bounding over saying, "Trace, just let the Kool-Aid spill out." Both my girlfriend Cristina and Rich had a good laugh about that. I wasn't even that cultic about the agency. They managed to assimilate Michael Menduno, and he coined the term. Bob Sherwood became one of my best friends, but I think I'm excommunicated from the organization and only marginally welcome in EE.