Rescue swimmer is a designation given to rescue specialists, most commonly in the service of the military. Rescue swimmers usually are charged with the rescue, assessment, and rendering of medical aid to persons in distress in the sea, on the land, or in the air. This highly specialized position is extremely challenging.
U.S. Coast Guard helicopter rescue swimmer
A USCG petty officer pulls a pregnant woman from her flooded New Orleans home.
A U.S. Navy sailor swims toward a stranded boat near Guam in 2019
Surface Search and Rescue Swimmer assisting in the transfer of midshipmen
Aviation Survival Technician
Aviation Survival Technician (AST) is a rating or job specialty in the United States Coast Guard. Rescue swimmer is the collateral duty or aircrew position of the AST. They are trained at the U.S. Coast Guard's enlisted Aviation Survival Technician/Rescue Swimmer school at Coast Guard Aviation Technical Training Center, Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
Coast Guard rescue swimmers from Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City train off the coast of Atlantic City, New Jersey.
AST demonstrating a rescue.
A rescue swimmer from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is hoisted back into an HH-60 Jayhawk after retrieving a rescue training dummy.
