Jim Phalin, Master Chief Hull Technician, Master Diver, talks about his 28-year Navy career. Jim was an accomplished swimmer and springboard diver in high school. Inspired by Navy stories about Deep-Sea Divers in Vietnam told by his close neighbor, Jim joined the Navy in December 1975. Before joining the Navy, he knew that he wanted to be a Navy Diver. Jim retired from active duty in November 2003.

Jim's first Navy Dive command was the USS Orion AS-18, homeported in Charleston, South Carolina. His follow-on dive duty assignments were the Submarine Escape Tank in New London, Connecticut, USS Brunswick ATS-3, Submarine Development Group One Saturation Dive School in Point Loma, California, Navy Medical Research Institute (NMRI), Bethesda, Maryland, and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 3.

Master Diver Phalin recalls his most memorable dives: the salvage of the USS Bluegill and his experience with extreme hypothermia during an HeO2 mixed-gas dive after losing the main and auxiliary hot-water heaters while stationed on the USS Brunswick. His back-to-back saturation dives to 1,000 feet of seawater during his tour of duty at NMRI, and when he was the Master Diver in charge of a dive team from EOD Mobile Unit 3 that searched at high altitude for two missing 4,500 lbs bombs following an A-10 Air Force Pilot's desertion from formation and flight to Colorado.

Jim remembered these names when he talked about his adventurous career. MDV Cliff Ellis, Tony Thompson, Kevin Ryan, Vance Hudson, MDV Dick Slinkerman, Terry (Moon) Mullins, Bob Corby, Navy SEAL Brian Cavolt, DMO Captain Jed Morrison and MDV George Powell. The leaders who influenced his success the most were MMC/DV, CWO4/LCDR Ron Roe, MDV Donny Laurin, MDV Frank Witunski, MDV Bill Loudermilk, MDV Don Roberts, MDV Ray Straining, MDV Don Curtis, and MDV Langlais.

Post Navy career, Jim had a successful 13-year career with ADS, Inc. as a West Coast Sales Account Manager for federal and local law enforcement and managed accounts for Navy EOD, Divers and West Coast BMU1, ACU1, ACU5, and ACB1. Jim Phalen continues his commitment to the Navy Dive community as the Navy Diver Association's Executive Director.

Deep-Sea Stories podcasts are available on Amazon Music, iHeart Radio, and Spotify.

Master Diver Fernando Lugo discusses how his life changed after joining the military and attending Navy boot camp in San Diego, California. Fernando enlisted as a Machinist Mate, unaware of the undersea journey that awaited him in the future. MDV Lugo's career, Deep-Sea Stories, is about him and the Deep-Sea Divers he served with, pioneering a Navy Dive capability that contributed to the end of the Cold War.
These riveting Deep-Sea Stories center around MDV Lugo's time on the Navy's Sea Lab III project. He discusses how he and his experimental dive team contributed to the development of deep-dive decompression tables and schedules, as well as the engineering of dive system valve placement to maximize human dive system operational performance. A few of his team members that he mentions are Don Risk, P. A. Wells, Bob Barth, Jay Meyer, Jack Smith, Billy Kaughman, Pete Rugdon, Frank Reando, and Berry Cannon.
Fernando gives great credit to his parents, who instilled into him a strong work ethic that he needed to endure his challenging career. "I never thought of myself as a pioneer in saturation diving. We wanted to prove that it could work," stated Master Diver Lugo, paving the way for the future of Navy Saturation Diving. Read more about Master Diver Fernando Lugo and his dive team aquanauts in a myriad of publications, including Sea Lab III: A Divers Story by author Kevin Hardy.

Deep-Sea Stories podcasts are available on Amazon Music, iHeart Radio, and Spotify.

Master Diver Milford Buzbee, also known as "Buzz," began serving his country in the Army from the ages of 15 to 19. Like many other young men who wanted to serve in the military, Milford lied about his age to enter military service. Milford was a welder in the Army. The attack on Pearl Harbor drove Milford to join the Navy in 1942. He retired from the Navy in 1961.
Son, Lewis Buzbee, collected photos and artifacts and documented recollections of his father's Navy Diving career in his published book, "Diver," by Lewis Buzbee. Lewis said Master Diver Milford Buzbee attended boot camp and dive school in San Diego, California, followed by Seabee school in Oxnard, California. After Seabee school, Milford was sent to Naval Base Espiritu Santo in the South Pacific Ocean. Master Diver Buzbee's other commands were Deep-Sea Diving School in Manhattan, New York; Navy Base Norfolk, Virginia, where he deployed to conduct harbor clearance missions in the Mediterranean; Bayonne, New Jersey, where he was selected to Master Diver; and Key West, Florida where he retired from the Navy. Milford worked on off-shore oil rigs and for General Electric after he retired from the Navy. Son Lewis recalls his dad Milford taking him on a tour of Sea Lab II docked at Hunter Point, California. Lewis was with his dad when they met astronaut Scott Carpenter. Lieutenant Dole, a submarine officer, was the only name Lewis remembered. His dad was a good friend in the Navy. "My dad had a passion for Navy Diving. I don't think he was the same person after he retired from Navy Diving." said son Lewis Buzbee.

Deep-Sea Stories podcasts are available on Amazon Music, iHeart Radio, and Spotify.