For folks that have the GI Bill available to them, you may or may not know that you can use this benefit to become a dive professional.

Even if you have no dive experience there are programs called "Zero to Hero" that take you all the way from Open Water to Dive Master, IDC, or possibly beyond.

In order to use the GI Bill you have to have a career plan. The end goal when using the GI Bill is to get to a professional level where the skill you're getting could be used toward employment.
Dive Master is the first of the professional certifications.

I've been researching this for over a year now as I have the post-9/11 GI Bill. The way it's been explained to me, with the Post-9/11 GI Bill, a person has 15 years from the time they ETS from the military to use it. My expiration date is 15 May 2018, so after that date I no longer have that benefit available to me.

I've been in contact with about 4 places that are approved by the VA to provide this career path. I'm certain there are more but I was trying to stick to a certain area. This search tool can help you find more than the four places I'm going to list. It's not pint point accurate.
The problem with this search tool is that it's keyword specific. So if you search "scuba", you will not find all of the places that are available. You almost have to know the name of the places or be really creative in keywords you use.

Hawaii Scuba University (HSU)
This was my first choice because of location. I live west of Hawaii and it would be an easy commute there. Unfortunately the deal breaker was that they don't normally offer a full-time course schedule. Since they're on Schofield Barracks they cater a lot to active duty military that get their certs on their off-hours. I have a full-time job so I need to take vacation and knock out as much as I can in as short a time as possible.

Chattahoochee Scuba
This place offered full-time schedule, but could not accommodate me with getting as much done as fast as possible. This is where I learned that each place, while going through the approval process for the VA, creates a course program. Once that program is created they cannot deviate.
Why couldn't this place get me as far as I wanted. I'm guessing it has to do, in part, with the 12 specialty courses they require you to take as part of their Dive Master Program. The only prerequisite for PADI DM is pretty much that you are certified up to Rescue Diver. PAD does not require specialties. My interpretation of this is that this place is milking the VA by making people take classes that they don't need. That's my opinion based on what I'm seeing. There might be more to it.

Sea Experience
This place also offers a full-time schedule but based on how their courses are structured I would have waste about 8 days re-taking certifications I have (Nitrox, CPR).

Rainbow Reef
This place was recommended to me by the top guy at HSU. he said they can accommodate all of my needs in a short amount of time. I contacted them and it looks like that's where I'm going this summer to get Rescue, DM, IDC, MSDT, and I'll be taking TECREC 40. 45, and 50 so I might go back before my GI Bill runs out to get tec instructor.

I had also contacted a couple other places that  never responded.

I'll follow up on this when I actually get to the school and do the thing.

Good for you!

Be sure to follow up on here.  Rainbow Reef is quite an operation from a customer's perspective.  They took over Horizon Divers dock and building which makes checking in a breeze.  They have 4-5 check in stations to move people along.  They also have a main office on 1.
You didn't mention whether you have been there before, but in any case you will enjoy the diving there.

I have been with Sea Experience, some real asshats working there.  Of course asshats come and go in this business.   But, we are talking apples and oranges between the two ops.

If you have time [not likely I suppose with the schedule], roll up to my AO in Jupiter for some of the best drift diving to be had.  Nice reefs and big critters.

Good luck.

I'd love to but odds are I won't make it up that way on this trip. Like every other trip back to the states it'll be stop and go, rushed all the way. If anything changes I'll let you know.

Just an FYI, Underwater Connection in Colorado Springs, CO, has the program as well. They refer to it as the VA program.

I just completed AOW through the program, and start Rescue Diver in April.

I have looked into these folks as well.

The wife & I are going to dive the Cat Ppalu and visit my sis in the Bahamas this summer, but, the next dive adventure after September is going to be to Rainbow Reef and assess this school for learning.

I am in the same boat, GI Bill runs out in 2018 and I want to insure I drain that critter.

Pretty much a month of education to get DM (again!) IDC, MSDT then Rebreather Instructor.  I didn't see the TECREC classes...

Will

Days are counting down... I'll admit I'm a little nervous... but I've seen quite a few turds where I live get through it so I'm hoping my worries are for nothing.

Let everyone know how it goes, they look like they have their stuff together.  

Are you looking at the full month of courses?

Will

I complete my Divemaster candidacy at the end of June. Spending June and July knocking out my 10 specialties. I'll probably take August off to rest, and then start the IDC after that.

I know of someone that used their GI bill in Ft Lauderdale to being an instructor.

http://www.seaxp.com/veterans-dive-training/


Veterans, you can use Chapters 30, 31, 33 and 35 under the GI Bill.

Approved Courses:
Total Immersion Program (60 dives, 36 days): PADI Open Water Diver, PADI Advanced Open Water Diver, PADI Master Scuba Diver, PADI Enriched Air Nitrox Diver, EFR First Aid/CPR/AED, DAN Emergency Oxygen Administration, PADI Rescue Diver and PADI Divemaster.
Phase 1 (18 dives, 16 days): PADI Enriched Air Nitrox Diver, EFR First Aid/CPR/AED, DAN Emergency Oxygen Administration, PADI Rescue Diver and PADI Divemaster.
Phase 2 (6 Dives, 11 days): PADI Assistant Instructor, PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor, Emergency First Response Instructor and the PADI Instructor Examination.
Phase 3 (23 dives, 23 days):
PADI Master Scuba Diver Prep Course: Enriched Air Nitrox, Night Instructor, Search & Recovery Instructor, Deep Diving Instructor, and Underwater Navigation Instructor
DAN Diving Emergency Management Provider Instructor: Emergency Oxygen Provider Instructor, Neurological Assessment Instructor, Hazardous Marine Life Injuries Instructor, Basic Life Support and First Aid Instructor
Resort Operations Specialist: Equipment Specialty Instructor, Boat Diving Instructor, Wreck Diving Instructor, Digital Underwater Photography Instructor, DSAT Gas Blender, Increase your Tips workshop, In-Service Rescue Drills, Boat Crew Internship, Fill Station Operations, PSI Visual Cylinder Inspector, PSI Eddy Current Technician, PSI Oxygen Cylinder Cleaning Technician, Valve Repair Technician, Project AWARE Dive and resume preparation and job placement assistance.

I'll save any potentially butt-hurtful comments until I've completed everything I set out to do here.

Completed Rescue Diver today.
Day 1 classroom: Buzzed through a lot of the book stuff. Watched a couple long, sleep inducing videos, and then did the EFR and O2 provider.
Day 2 pool: Like drinking from a firehose... lot of steps to remember with the higher level exercises. But it's very eye opening.
Day 3 open water: Today I realized that using a DPV for pretty much 80% of my dives and of the kick dives I do I deal with no current about 98% of the time. It's even more eye opening when you are doing the steps for rescue breathing in the water while you're getting pulled away from the boat by current and slapped around by waves. We did everything within the "spirit of the training" but when it's time to index, it's time to index. When it gets to the point that you might have to do CPR and rescue on a live person, there's no point in continuing. Overall I'd say it was fulfilling, but I'm also glad it's over.

The instructors are definitely squared away and professional. I have no basis for comparison but from everyone I've talked to Rainbow Reef is pretty top notch not only for Florida but for the country.

Key Largo... I suspect by the time I'm done with everything here I will be able to say with 100% certainty that it doesn't compare to where I live and the diving I have access to. We'll see if anything here changes my mind on that.

CPR can revive a drowned person.  Generally a drowning diver is in good shape.

We had a security guard do CPR on a smoke inhalation victim from a house fire.  

He performed CPR and monitored and she crashed FOUR times, before paragods got there and gave her O2 and drugs and stabilized her!

Never give up until they are dead by a DOC.

It can still happen.

Will

I think he meant no point in continuing training if someone was going to get dead over it -- that's how I read the comment anyway.

True. The difficulties of digital stuff.

Correct!

Rescue Diver was probably my favorite cert yet. Challenging, but really enjoyed it.

Re-reading it - boy did I read that all sorts of WRONG!  

Yeah, no sense it doing training that can get folks hurt, when that training can be accomplished in calmer water.

~Will

Wrapped up DM today.
Dive Theory review tomorrow before starting in on IDC.

I enjoyed DM more than Rescue, but both have been a very good experience.

More to follow...

Congrats. I wrap up my DMC on 18 June. IDC at the end of August, but I won't be able to make the IE until Nov, due to travel in Sep.

Finished IDC two days ago and finished the IE yesterday.

Working on MSDT-prep now.

Then on to TecRec!!

[url=http://www.ar15.com/member/user.html?id=28096]pathfinder74[/url] let me ask you, is the VA covering your MSDT? Our coordinator said that, at least for our shop, they no longer will cover MSDT in the program.

I'm a little late to this thread, don't check in here often. given your interest in going Tech, is there any reason you didn't go SDI? Their Tech transition seems more of a true Tech program and a bit easier. Granted, as long as you are getting a good foundation in deco and emergency procedures it's all about you in the end. Nothing wrong with PADI for recreational, but they aren't really big in Tech.

Check your PMs

Today was my last day of instruction wrapping up TecRec 50. Learned so much in this course. Rainbow Reef should have a VA approved Tec Instructor program before the end of this year. I'll hopefully be heading back in 2018 to knock out some of those as well.








And a late one from IE graduation

Great pics!

We just had a guy come through our shop using his GI Bill to get his instructor.

Myself & my wife are headed there end of January!

She will do the DM portion with me, then she is back to work while I stay, play and dive up through MSDT+ for another few weeks!

~Will

Here at Rainbow Reef now, a couple days left of DM.  Pretty nice. Having my wife along for the DM ride, she has ZERO interest in Instructor though...

DM has been good - a couple changes since I went through DM 10 years ago!

Looking forward to IDC-IE & DiveHeart as well as multiple specialties!!

~Will

Chris A. has left Rainbow, so the TEC program and VA approval has been tentatively pushed to June-July-"ish" 2018.

I just finished IDC/IE and am on to specialties for MSDT now.

~Will

HSU has had their VA program shutdown.

Rainbow Reef is considering temporarily putting their VA program on hold, to up staffing and training for their VA program.
Contact them for current information.

Lahaina Divers in Maui has a VA program also.  Shoot them an email or call and ask to speak to "KEN" (he is a Veteran also).  Lahaina offers a compressed schedule or an extended more relaxed and professional experience.  Housing is available and inexpensive compared tot he HI BAH rate!

As an additional note: If the Veteran student instead uses VOC-REHAB in lieu of GI Bill then there is a SUBSTANTIAL amount of gear and equipment that is provided to the Veteran Student (About $10k worth of new dive gear!)