trailangel4

I always tell people to see if they can put a close pin on their nose, noise cancelling headphones on their ears, swim goggles, and a back pack weighing 10 lbs on their back and then walk through their house breathing only through a snorkel. If you can't do that, you've going to have a bad day of SCUBA.

Exactly. Diving in a swimming pool is impossible for some people. SCUBA is a mental discipline and we're dealing with traumatized kids who, by all accounts, aren't strong swimmers. I don't think the general public understands that this water is murky and swift. There was a table in Thai that listed the flow rates in certain parts of the cave (an academic paper on mapping this particular cave) as being upwards of 900 cubic feet per second in the more narrow sections! That's like trying to swim against 900 baseketballs coming at you per second. Or, pushing you to the side when you encounter a cross current. This is worse than ocean diving during a hurricane.

Honestly? Not if I knew I could be supplied for a few months in a safe location. Obviously, if the choice was stay and die or take a chance, then take a chance...but we're not there, yet. The very fact that this is endangering the lives of hundreds of rescuers, and had already claimed one, might make me more prone to sit it out or just give up. It sounds awful, I know; but, we don't want to come upon a situation where we've not got 100 victims instead of 13.

Same. I think we can reasonably assume these boys aren't claustrophobic naturally. But, spending a week trapped on a small island, in total darkness, is bound to cause some phobias. Add in hypoxia and fear and you're going to start seeing panic. I have swift water rescue experience and I couldn't pass the recovery dive phase of training because the dark, murky waters bring up my own set of boogymen.

Not to be the killjoy, because you seem genuinely caring and coming from a place of love, but...money isn't going to fix this. The joint effort isn't going to hand the Thai govt. a massive bill. The King of Thailand is wealthy and has already assured people that money isn't a concern. There are already GoFundMes and they're fraudulent...

Concerned citizens around the world have already raised a voice. The fact that we're here is proof of that. But, as someone who lived through a very, very serious injury do to a natural disaster and was trapped (as a child)...these families don't want money or particularly need cards from well-wishers: they just want their children back alive. Our Western values make us want to send money as proof that we care...but, as wonderfully generous that might seem, it often comes with serious consequences for the family that is now wealthy because of a tragedy. Donate to the Thai Red Cross.