American Sniper - Boekje Pienter

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don’t know if it’s shared experiences, or maybe it’s something in the
water—or maybe the beer. Texans tend to get on pretty well with each
other, and in this case we formed an instant friendship. Maybe it’s not
that much of a mystery; after all, we had a lot of experiences in common,
from growing up with a love of hunting to joining the Navy to
toughing out BUD/S.
Marcus had graduated from BUD/S prior to me, then went off to
do special advanced training before returning to SQT. Trained as a
corpsman, he happened to check me over when I got my first O2 hit
while diving. (In layman’s terms, an “O2 hit” occurs when too much
oxygen enters your bloodstream during a dive. It can be caused by a
number of different factors and can be extremely serious. My case was
very minor.)
Diving again. I always say I’m an “ . . . L,” not a SEAL. I’m a land
guy; you can keep air and sea for someone else.
The day my incident occurred, I was swimming with a lieutenant,
and we were determined to get the day’s golden fin—an award for the
best shit-hot dive of the day. The exercise involved swimming under a
ship and planting limpet mines. (A limpet mine is a special charge that
is placed against the hull of a ship. Generally, it will have a timed
charge.)
We were doing extremely well when suddenly, while I was underneath
the hull of the ship, I experienced vertigo and my brain turned
into a vegetable. I managed to grab hold of a pylon and hug it. The
lieutenant tried handing me a mine, then tried signaling to me when I
wouldn’t take it. I stared blankly into the ocean. Finally, my head
cleared, and I was able to get out and continue.