The Roat Deal
Each month John Roat will furnish this page with a new column. Feel free to email him with your questions,
comments, or accusations. This guy's the real deal and he definitely has his very own groove.
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Inventer of the circle...
Born 11/16/42. I am currently a working diver, surface air/gas and a saturation supervisor. I was a member of Underwater Demolition Teams 21, UDT 11 and SEAL Team 1. I went to work for Taylor Diving and Salvage the end of 1969 as a tender and broke out at Taylor Diving in 1970. I have also worked for Sub Sea, Comex, J. Ray McDermott, Tennessee Valley Authority, Global, Martech, Offshore Petroleum Divers, Cal Dive and too many small companies, some of them very good, to name. Taught rigging, open tanks, harbor and burning for one year at the College of Oceaneering. I authored “Oxy-Arc Underwater Burning Class”, a 90-minute training video and manual, for Oceans Technology.

If I were evaluating myself in this business it would be: good divers, that will leave the next diver well, burn with the best of them. I am proudest of having never bent or injured a diver. I have been running dive’s from 1969, when the tender did the job. I have been supervising since 1977.
I do believe there are more then one good way to do things.
 The following are a couple of my opinions, let me know what you think:


The Gorski G2000
Roat with Savoie and GorskiI had the pleasure of using the Gorski G2000 in the Burning Tank the other day.  Four of us did a dive apiece on the hat, and then gave Les Gorski our opinions. The main complaint was that the diver couldn’t look up, due to the hoses coming straight down from the back of the hat.  Les installed a 45 degree connector for each hose and that cured the problem.  There are two head liners that come with the hat, large and small. Even with that, the hat was uncomfortable on one of the guys head.  He does have a big head. The Miller is good hat but I have never been able to get comfortable in it.  Nothing like trying the hat on, before you buy it. I spent an hour burning in the hat after Les made the hose connection change and it was a very pleasant surprise.  I mean hell my Savoie Demand is the pretties most comfortable hat ever made. Looking at the Gorski is like looking at a mugger on steroids.  It is not pretty, what it is, is solidly built, very comfortable in the water and breathes easy.  I think we have another well built option for working divers to choose from.  No my Savoie is not for sale, either one of them. I will be diving the Gorski and putting it through some stress testing offshore.  Deep I hope and in the rivers and mud holes where we make our living.  There is nothing like a little hand jetting in mud and sugar sand, to stress test a second stage regulator.  Any qualified Diver or Diver Tender on one of my jobs will be able to dive the hat, and put their two cents in. My preference has always been to have metal on my head, that’s easy to maintain.  That’s why I love my Savoie. I’ll keep you guys posted on how the Stainless Steel mugger is performing.  Right now I am impressed.


Put Some Pressure on The ADC and IMCA
ADC logo

Have a look at both and see what you think

IMCA logo		 All of us need to keep pressure on both organizations. Keep in mind they are battling each other to say how we work in the Gulf of Mexico.  They both have a vested interest in winning, it is called MONEY.  They want to be paid to tell the oil companies how we are to work. You all know how I feel: I’m not impressed with either organization.  The way I see it the ADC has spent its whole existence fighting effective regulation and IMCA would love to regulate divers out of the business.  Keep in mind that IMCA knows next to nothing about Surface Diving. Of course they will both disagree with my opinion but I’m old enough to have been involved in this business before either organization showed up.

When this settles out, whoever wins, it’s our livelihood that is at stake.  So find out what in the hell your company is doing to get their two cents worth in.  One thing I’ll predict here and now: The Divers and Tenders will most likely be Grandfathered in.  All of us who call ourselves Dive Supervisors will be subject to testing. I’m not talking about reading dive tables or filling out all the BS paperwork we have.  I am talking about Dive Physics, Diving Physiology, Treatment Tables and the like.   There will be some mechanism to test us before we are licensed to Supervise Diving, Air, Surface Gas and Saturation.  So Dive Supervisors get ready to be tested and oh yea someone will have to pay them to test us.


Offshore Diver Blood Drive
Offshore Diver is holding a Blood Drive through United Blood Services. There will be a first, second and third place prize for the individual that gives the most.  Jess and I are working on the companies to put on a Barbeque for the Dive Company that has the greatest percentage of their Divers, Tenders and Supervisors donate.  There are three United Blood Services Locations in South LA. You can find more on their web page.
Baton Rouge
United Blood Services
8234 One Calais Avenue
Baton Rouge, LA 70806
225-769-7233		 Lafayette
United Blood Services
1503 Bertrand Dr.
Lafayette, LA 70506
337-235-5433		 Morgan City
United Blood Services
1234 David Drive
Morgan City, LA 70381
504-384-5671

You can donate anywhere you want but you must have the donation registered with Debbie Reed as an Offshore Diver donation.  We don’t care who you give too The Red Cross, Hospital, whatever. Their donation administrator just has to let Debbie Reed know when you donated blood and how much you gave.

Yes I said when and how much, you see I sometimes give every two weeks and on occasion I give a triple, almost always a double.

I give what is called Platelets, it mainly goes to Leukemia victims and if you have the right kind of blood, to babies born with immune systems that don’t work properly.  What they do is take out the blood, separate the White Cells and put the Red Cells back.  You can actually give every 72 hours.  Since I write for Offshore Diver I won’t be going for the individual prizes but I will be adding mine for the Company Barbecue. We are going to keep this going for six months. October 1, 2004 to March 31, 2005.  Just a hint the prizes will not be cheep, so don’t you be.


So the race for the bar-b-que is on. Roat and I will be your humble chefs if your company wins. Thanks to Steve Brazda for the use of the rig. The dive companies below are the ones getting involved in the blood drive.
brasshat

Aquatica, Inc.

click here to email Roat

I will do my best to answer any response to the things I say. That is, if you put your name and e-mail address with it. If there is no name and e-mail address, I won’t post your e-mail and I won’t respond.  If you just want to let everyone know how you fell about what I say, without putting your name on it, post it on the discussion board.

Dive Safe and Profitable

John Carl Roat


John has also authored a book on his experiences in SEAL training.
 Click on the cover image to read reviews and order the book.

From the Diver's Forum:
Posted by Surprised Diver on 7/11/2004, 6:05:56
 I read that old bastard Roat’s book, Class-29, I couldn’t put it down. No wonder he has so little patience, most of us don’t know what the words "team work" or "effort" mean. The thing that surprised me most was he made me laugh. I hate to give him the satisfaction but I’m going to ask him to sign it. Well maybe not.
 

Real Deal SEAL Team website: <http://sealstrike.com
John's previous columns are archived here:
Roat 1   Roat 2   Roat 3   Roat 4   Roat 5   Roat 6