[VINMAN]

Another diving incident.. 1987, was doing a penetration dive on the USS San Diego off the coast of Long Island. I wanted to get into a spot in the wreck that was the armory, to grab a few rifles . I couldn't fit in the spot with my usual double and pony setup. So on my second dive I went down with a single. I figured I'd do a quick grab and go, get out and surface. Went down and while trying to squeeze in there, I guess I overexerted a bit and blew through my air a little too fast. Next thing I know Im out! I tried to get my buddies attention , he wasn't facing me and was a deck below. I started waving my light and slamming on my tank to get his attention. By then I was struggling to get air through my regulator. I gave him the out of air sign , and tore his octopus off his bcd. took a few breaths and headed out the wreck . I had about a 25 ft obstructed swim to get out the hole in the side. By time I got to the hole I had been holding my breath and was starting to panic and getting dizzy I knew I was gonna black out. That's when I said this is it, I'm history I'm gonna die. I had 105 feet to the surface. He was right behind me. I turned and grabbed for his octopus again and took a breath without clearing it. I took in some water and air completely panicked and bolted for the surface. I actually knocked someone off the downline on the way up. I think I blacked out for a second or two right before I hit the surface.
My buddy had pullled one of my fins off trying to slow me down. Luckily I didn't burst a lung on the way up. Took me a while to get back diving again after that.

Second was losing a kid in Disney for around 10 minutes.

Another brief "I'm a gonner!" moment was doing 9/11 recovery, when we were down in one of the sub-levels and something shifted and debris started falling on us. Luckily it was quick and only light debris., but it was enough to see your life flash.


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