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Home > Training > Combat Diver Qualification Course (CDQC)
Diver Badges. Upon successful completion of the Combat Diver Qualification Course students are authorized to wear a diver badge on their uniform. See Diver Badges at The Institute of Heraldry for more info.
The course has seen many changes in the program of instruction and length of the course since it was established in the late 1960s. Special Forces detachments started training in Key West, Florida on temporary duty in the early 1960s. The course length has varied from three to six weeks. As of 2021 the course was 6 weeks long. One thing has always remained constant - it is an extremely physically challenging and mentally tough school.
Photo: A Green Beret, assigned to 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), with hands and feet restrained, retrieves his scuba mask with his mouth during a training session of the Maritime Assessment Course (MAC), January 6 – 17, 2020. The Maritime Assessment Course, formerly known as "pre-scuba," is a prerequisite course that physically and mentally prepares Soldiers for the rigors of the Combat Diver Qualification Course. (photo by Staff Sgt. Travis Fontane, Jan 1, 2020) Pre-SCUBA. Prior to sending personnel to the CDQC most units will weed out weak swimmers and those lacking motivation with a Pre-SCUBA course. Usually Pre-SCUBA lasts two to three weeks depending on the branch of service and unit. SWCS does offer a POI to follow which inlcudes a lot of pool work, water confidence drills, and long-distance swimming. In the old days (when it was a hard school) you used to have to do bobbing drills and cross-overs. Pre-SCUBA is currently known as the Maritime Assessment Course although most Green Berets refer to it as "Pre-SCUBA". CDQC Program of Instruction (POI). Knot tying, water survival, open-circuit twin-80s SCUBA, closed-circuit SCUBA (using the DRAEGER LAR V O3 Rebreather), submarine lock-in and lock-outs, ship bottom searches, underwater navigation (compass swims), long-distance surface swims, underwater search and recovery, and maritime infiltration operations. The course includes boat operations with Zodiacs and Klepper kayaks.
Physical Fitness. Every morning there is a physical training formation with lots of exercises and fast runs. Classroom Instruction. Some of the topics taught in the classroom include dangerous marine life, tides and currents, CPR, diving injuries and diving physiology, inspection and maintenance of diving gear, oxegen tolerance and chamber pressure test, diving physics, regulator repair, and use of diving tables for determing air supply and decompression. Pool Work. The CDQC starts off with basic SCUBA orientation in the pool. The student learns knot tying, pool conditioning drills, instruction in dive equipment and procedures, ditching and donning of equipment, confidence swims and open water surface swims. Open Water Swims. The student conducts long-distance surface swims as well as open-circuit and closed-circuit equipment sub-surface swims. The sub-surface swims are timed compass swims.
Closed-circuit Swims. Students are currently using the DRAEGER LAR V rebreather. Prior to the LAR V students used the CCR-1000 and in earlier days the Emerson Rig. Click here for a detailed look at a LAR V.
FTX. The course concludes with an maritime Field Training Exercise (FTX) incorporating many of the aspects of the course instruction and an end of course final examination. Advanced Training with ODAs. Upon graduation from the Combat Diver course the Special Forces student is usually assigned to a Special Forces Combat Dive operational detachment. Once the newly assigned member becomes experienced in Special Forces maritime operations he may very likely attend advanced combat diver training. One of the locations that the advanced training takes place is Key West, Florida on a small navy base called Naval Air Station Key West.
The Combat Diver Supervisor course is three-weeks long. The Combat Diving Supervisor plans, coordinates, prepares for, and supervises diving operations on a Special Forces detachment. He conducts detailed dive planning and pre-dive equipment inspections. He is trained in tides and currents, maritime boat operations, various means of maritime infilitration. Physics of Diving. The dive sup is schooled in diving physics, dive physiology, Navy dive tables, emergency medical treatment for dive injuries, and hyperbaric operations. Knowledge of dive equipment is a big part of the dive supervisors job. The dive supervisor is very familar with open and closed circuit equipment (O2 rigs), field repair of equipment, and handling of high-pressure air and oxegen systems. He must be qualified in the DRAEGER LAR-V dive set. At one time students in the CDS course were required to complete a Para-SCUBA jump into the waters off of Key West. A Para-SCUBA jump requires the donning of twin 80 SCUBA tanks and then putting on a parachute with other assorted equipment and then a jump into "Shark DZ".
The DMT course is three-weeks long. Special Forces medics on Combat Dive detachments attend the DMT course at Key West. At the course they learn advanced medical procedures associated with the recognition and treatment of diving injuries, SCUBA lifesaving measures, and administering hyperbaric treatment for diving injuries. In addition, they learn the operation of a recompression chamber.
Management of Army Divers. Army Regulation 611-75, 20 July 2007. An Adobe Acrobat PDF file located on the Army Publishing Directorate (APD) accessed on October 22, 2011. ATP 3-34.84, Multi-Service Tactics, Techniques, and
Procedures for Military Diving Operations (MD), February 2015. Air Land
Sea Application Center (ALSA). This MTTP describes United States (US)
military dive mission areas (DMAs), force structure, equipment, and
primary missions each Service could provide in support of joint operations
to assist commanders and staffs at all levels. TM 3-34.84, Swift Water Diving Operations,
March 2015. Headquarters, Department of the Army. Special Forces Waterborne Operations. FM 3-05.212, September 30, 2009. Military Diving. FM 20-11.
"Waterborne Infiltration Training: Maintaining a Battle Focus", Special Warfare Magazine, July 1995. (Acobat Adobe file pdf located here). "U.S. Navy Special Warfare - from Frogmen to SEALs", Special Warfare Magazine, Spring 1989, pages 24-27. "Combat Diving in Special Warfare", Special
Warfare Magazine, Volume 29, Issue 2, July - December 2016, pages
50-51.
Herr, Andrew and Lt. Scott Cheny-Peters.
Between Iron Man and Aqua Man: Exosuit Opportunities in Maritime
Operations, Center for New America Security (CNAS), January 2014.
The following link will take you to an Amazon.com Associate Bookstore with listings about books on combat divers and combat diving.
"Waging war below the waves: Special Forces combat diver school is in session", Washington Examiner, December 26, 2020. "Improvement Plans in the Works for Special Forces Underwater Operations School", U.S. Department of Defense, July 6, 2015. "Army Special Forces Underwater Operations School makes its mark on Key West". Army.mil, January 14, 2013. News article on the free ascent tower at SFUWO School and SGM Walter Shumate - a founder of the early dive school at Key West in October 1964. "Dr. Christian Lambertsen, Father of American Combat Swimming, Honored". Defense Media Network. Ashes scattered at Key West, FL dive school. March 12, 2012. "Combat Diver Qualification Course challenges Special Forces". US Army, March 8, 2011. "How do you get to work: land, sea or air? Combat divers can take their pick". soc.mil, February 15, 2011. "Combat divers remain selective in their mode of travel". Paraglide, February 24, 2011. "The water sorts it out". Army News. November 1, 2010. "Cadet Perspective on Combat Diver School". Army ROTC, Marquette University, Summer 2010. Combat Diver Qualification Course. Images on DVIDS. March 10, 2010.
September 18, 2022, "Inside the Special Forces Combat Diver
Qualification Course", Coffee or Die Magazine, YouTube, 17
minutes. Surviving the Cut - Special Forces Combat Diver. Discovery Channel documentary. August 24, 2015. Army Special Forces Underwater
Operations School. Key West, Florida is a lovely tourist destination
. . . but it is also home to the Army's Combat Dive School. 4-min video
posted to YouTube.com by the U.S. Army. August 2014. On Every Front - Special Forces
Combat Diver, National Guard YouTube. Combat divers from 3rd
Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group participate in training and rdive
requalification at the Special Forces Underwater Operations Schoo in Key
West, Florida. (7 minutes). Video - 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne)
Combat Diver Training, 3rd SFGA. (3 minutes). "Florida Army National Guard Aviators in Key West", DVIDS, February 16, 2011. A video showing aviators supporting the Key West SF Underwater Operations School in helicast and rolled-duck operations. (click here). Video - Special Forces Underwater Operations Combat Diver Course. Video by the Special Warfare Center and School. (click here to view video). Video - Ranger Pre-SCUBA Course. A video depicting the training Rangers go through in Pre-Combat Dive Course. Pre-SCUBA prepares and selects candidates to go forward to the Army Special Forces Combat Diver Course at Key West. (Click here to view the video). Video - Special Operations Combat Diver with Diver Propulsion Vehicles. MILpictures.com. (click here to see the video). Video - Special Forces Water Jump Out of C-130. (click here for video).
Photo from CDQC 2010. flickr.com.
Special Forces Underwater Operations School. GlobalSecurity.org. Combat Divers School. Tactical MilSim Magazine.
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