Thailand youth soccer team found alive.

Thailand youth soccer team found alive. You may have seen the headlines. Good news indeed.

As a side note I found this ( U.S. Military Joins The Search For Thai Children Trapped In A Flooded Cave )

Since then, rescue teams that include Royal Thai Navy SEAL divers, soldiers, police, and officials have been working day and night to save them. Authorities believe the boys are alive but trapped on higher ground deep inside the sprawling complex.

And now the United States has arrived. A team from the U.S. Pacific Command, including pararescue and survival specialists, flew in from Okinawa on Wednesday night, local time.

The search and rescue team came at the request of the Thai government, Jillian Bonnardeaux, a U.S. embassy spokeswoman, told NPR from Bangkok.

"The team is assessing the environment and developing potential courses to move forward with the Thai side," Bonnardeaux said. "I know that we, the U.S. side, are prepared to stay as long as it takes to support the Thai operation." She added that the core team consists of 17 people.

British cave divers also arrived at the site but were unsuccessful in entering the cave because of the incessant rains. Some parts of the complex received up to six inches of water per hour overnight, authorities said.

This because caving/cave diving and cave exploration in general is a 1st world area of hobby/expertise.

Why post this?

I often see on the web where many have made a statement about "Going to live in a cave when the SHTF.."
As a younger person, I was a member of the NSS (Las Vegas Grotto) . Caving is not for the faint of heart or the untrained. It is also ridiculously easy for you die in a cave.

A small (shallow) cave or an overhang is one thing, but a true cave system is nothing to approach with the proper equipment and training,. I would also add that most large caves in the US are on private land. In my experience, many of the caves on public lands are leased from the FedGov and gated to bar entrance - this is order to protect (unfortunately) what is left of the cave. Other cave systems are open and bear the scares of graffiti and massive amount of trash. (Yes, some people are pigs)

small ,dry cave near Wickenburg AZ.


inside Peppersauce Canyon Cave, near Tucson, AZ. This cave a good lake about 1 mile in.

Helmets, lights (two different source with lots of spare batteries), N95 particle masks, rope and rope climbing equipment, along with first aid kit are the minimum you should consider carrying. Checking with a local Grotto (chapter) of the NSS will usually get you information on the caves in an area that are safe to enter with technical equipment.

As the story above points out, many caves are prone to flooding and rescue is difficult, at best.

Caving can be a fun pastime, and many areas of caves are quite beautiful. Coming out of the cave alive to share your experience is important.....

If you think this might be fun for you, contact the
National Speleological Society for chapters in your area and training that is offered...

 

A friend is a caver.

He and his wife had to cave for over a year to get a Texas caver map.

 

If you have seen a trashed out cave system, you'll now why folks with the NSS can be....picky.

The places I caved had very technical entrances, in one, we had to repel in almost 100 feet.

Going in, fun - climbing out, not so much.

 

When I was younger and thinner, school mates and I did a little spelunking , as I got older and smarter not so much. .

 

Agreed.

I have a cave on my getaway place. Loose shale hints at a deeper recess. If I go dark one day that may be why.

Never fear though. With vitamins, tools, and water I might well reveal myself several months later croaking for sunglasses and rum.

 

We have no caves in Louisiana, We have swamps, Lots of swamps...People go in ,Some are never seen again.

 

Some of those chuck holes are like that on I-10

 

The last time I was in Peppersauce, there were guys in there with Coleman lanterns and aluminum extension ladders chipping the stalactites off the ceiling... said they were going to sell them at the swap meet, luckily they didn't know how to get to the rest of the cave. Spent many a weekend trip to Onyx back when I could still do the climbing.

Rancher

 

This is the news story of the year. Lots of work left though.

 

Ain't gonna get me in a hole in the ground until I quit coughing and even then, you better drive a stake in my heart.

 

They can't get them out of there. The boys do not know how to swim. I read today that two doctors are staying with the kids and they may be in there for a month.

 

I bet you put a tank and a mask on them the little buggers they will get out!
I mean, They did get in there?

 

Too much media emotionalism there are dive helmets that have neck dams if not that they make a iron lung we called the coffin to relay a bent diver from a work location to the nearest decompression chamber hit them with Valium stick them in the coffin and pull them out. they don't need to swim or even be conscious. Hell this is an adventure where is the adventurous spirit --- Sorry I forgot these kids are the technological wonders of today all that gameboy cellphone and non contact sports.

I and some friends got in trouble for playing mumbly peg with one of our fathers war souvenirs a German bayonet BB gun wars dirt clod fights black eyes busted lips we rode horses got bucked off and right back on played tackle football NO PADS and used to race our bikes down deadman's hill and would wipe out from high speed wobbles most of us learned to swim because our fathers threw us in the creek and we all had some sort of motor bike got our ass whipped for smoking cigars and we were always fighting wrestling and all manner of kid stuff I had stitches as all the kids I knew loose teeth dog bites chased by bulls cows goats and kicked by same and drug half to death because I would not turn loose of a rope I had on a good size calf We all had blood or stone bruises broke fingers toes concussed fallen out of trees jumped off a swing set at the apex head first trying to do a power flip. Fallen out of the back of pickups hung up in barbed wire lost a wisdom tooth by a baseball bat over swing, no seat belts, steel dash boards steel wheel roller skates hit the ground and drove a tooth through my lip before we ever hit our teens. We thought it was fun to nut each other slap another in the gonads and run like hell or punch someone in the gut TAG YOUR IT ! When I was a kid we would jumped at the chance to be Diver Dan and goaded each other with hoots

If they wait till the cave is flooded their options will be zero even a drowning victim has a 7 in 10 chance if treated in minutes but that does not need to happen the longer they wait the more hypothermia poor diet and mental stress of fear and then breakdown and that is worse than death because it is debilitating for a lifetime claustrophobia night terrors and a host of other issues that children cannot cope with hoots of, "CHICKEN" any kid i knew would rather die than be a chicken !

 

the coffin may not make it but there are a 1/2 dozen dive companies in that region with Kirby Morgan helmets if a kid got in it will fit, all you need is one and a safety man / diver inside guide the kid to the choke point hand off to the next diver. The Pnumo hose as air backup that 3rd world is a pretty tough place unless these are honor students they will do just fine. kids are scared of the unknown it is up to adults to calm and instill confidence take the willing first to build confidence of the others it mental triage. or just try to dive in 4 star hotel accommodations. blankets ladders pitons cables food medical supplies -- it is not a matter of what the kids parents or onsite techs do, your always playing against the house (death) it always wins all we can do is delay it, life is terminal no one gets out alive. as of now they are risking the people onsite is the cave stable or can it collapse can it fill with silt can it flood to a point where the children risk drowning or hypothermia. has there been quake activity in that region what is the overburden can the hill slide and bury the cave entrance is there enough air circulation or are they in a area where both ends fill with water leaving a pocket for a bunch of scared kids using up air.

If you can train a dog to dive why not a kid



These helmets allow internal communications pressure regulation from remote compressor oral nasal mask no regulator.
Real easy jam the helmet in the hole either it fits or not it requires no tank you need only a topside compressor and hose length is not really an issue if needed series of air tanks / rack still topside that too is all over the pacific.

 

Big Bertha is available now. (Not my mom. Jerks)
Bertha (tunnel boring machine) - Wikipedia
This Big Bertha.

 

Hahaha, When I was 12 and some diver said here, Put this mask and tank on we are going for a little swim and hold onto my belt/hand/back or I'm strapping you to me, Guess what I'm going diving!