| The
scene at Okinawa's Suragaki Beach was peaceful. Twenty feet beneath the
placid waves rolling ashore, however, a Marine was fighting to save a
friend's life.
Lance Corporal Benjamin Juico and Cpl. David B. Kaggwa had gone
recreational scuba diving. They snorkeled 300 meters from the beach before
they began diving. About 60 feet deep, Cpl. Kaggwa started having trouble
breathing. Soon, LCpl. Juico heard a high-pitched hissing noise coming
from Cpl. Kaggwa's gear, so the two surfaced to fix the problem. They
stayed afloat about a half-hour, then started their final dive 45 feet
below the waves.
Five minutes later, LCpl. Juico again heard the hissing sound and
turned toward Cpl. Kaggwa, who was about 15 feet behind him. He swam to
the imperiled diver, who held his breath as LCpl. Juico checked the air
valve. It appeared to be working fine. By the time LCpl. Juico could offer
his secondary-breathing apparatus to Cpl. Kaggwa, the latter had been
without air for a considerable amount of time.
Panic-stricken, Cpl. Kaggwa grabbed both air hoses on LCpl. Juico's
scuba gear, which left him without air. LCpl. Juico immediately took off
his weight belt and inflated his buoyancy vest. Meanwhile, Cpl. Kaggwa
continued clinging to LCpl. Juico's air hoses, making it difficult for the
two divers to ascend. At 30 feet, LCpl. Juico's vision began to blur.
"I thought we were going to die," he said, "so I swam to
the surface, ingesting seawater en route. When I got there, I gasped for
air, coughed up water, fixed my goggles, and deflated my vest so I could
swim back to Cpl. Kaggwa."
By now, the imperiled diver was about 20 feet below the surface,
feverishly waving his arms in an attempt to ascend. LCpl. Juico descended
toward his friend, grabbed him, and started pulling him to the surface.
Because Cpl. Kaggwa was foaming at the mouth, LCpl. Juico inflated his
buoyancy-control device and tilted his head with his arms. Cpl. Kaggwa was
pale and unconscious.
"When we reached the surface, I screamed for help with every ounce
of strength I could muster," said LCpl. Juico. "I was praying
aloud that God would let my friend live. I shook his head, but he didn't
respond.
"As I swam, I performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. After the
second or third try, he began breathing, and I realized there was hope.
Every breath that struggled in or out of my friend's lungs, however,
created a sound that told me he had a lot of water in his airways."
LCpl. Juico moved Cpl. Kaggwa's head to one side so he could cough out
some of the water. All of it was foamy water, mixed with blood. LCpl.
Juico continued the first aid and kept calling for help while pulling his
friend ashore.
One time during this ordeal, Cpl. Kaggwa opened his eyes, then slipped
back into unconsciousness. When he finally became alert, he yelled,
"Take me back!"
"I've got you, man," said LCpl. Juico. "We're going
back," he added, as he kept washing away the foam from Cpl. Kaggwa's
mouth.
"I dragged him for what seemed like a mile or more," said
LCpl. Juico. "I couldn't really tell how far it was because of the
current and the exhaustion we both were experiencing. I kept talking to
him and praying aloud that the Lord would give me strength. I was crying
because I didn't want to lose my friend. Kaggwa kept telling me his head
was hurting, he had pain in his chest, and he felt very tired. I kept
reassuring him everything was going to be OK."
About 50 meters from shore, LCpl. Juico saw a Japanese family and
yelled, "Tasukete!" the Japanese word meaning, "Help!"
The family immediately called an ambulance, and a man swam to the two
Marines with a life buoy.
Once ashore, LCpl. Juico laid his friend on the beach and took off his
diving gear. The ambulance arrived about four minutes later and took both
divers to the emergency room at Camp Lester Hospital.
"I told several doctors and nurses what had happened," said
LCpl. Juico. "They told me I had saved his life, but I somehow felt
responsible for the incident. I hoped I had done enough, because I wanted
my friend to live more than anything else in the world."
LCpl. Juico's water-safety skills are no accident. They're part of
every safety briefing in Marine Expeditionary Unit Service Support Group
31, 31st MEU, which is the unit to which he and his friend belong.
We appreciate the author sharing the details of this near-tragedy
with the Ashore readers. The incident could have been avoided if
the two Marines only had followed safe diving practices and emergency
procedures and had applied the principles of operational risk management.
They should have aborted the dive until a professional had fixed the
equipment problems. |
