Force Blue, the only nonprofit organization in the world that provides “mission therapy” for former combat divers, will celebrate the graduation of six divers Friday at Pilot House Restaurant in Key Largo.
The public is welcome to meet the Force Blue Team Two at their graduation ceremony, Friday, Aug. 24 at 7 p.m., at the Pilot House Restaurant in Key Largo, 13 Seagate Blvd. If you would like to join Force Blue and stay for dinner, RSVP to Mark at markcharles@pilothousemarina.com.
Force Blue Team One divers were on the front line when it came to saving corals immediately after Hurricane Irma and worked closely with Coral Restoration Foundation.
Team Two is made up of six new recruits, who have been receiving intensive coral restoration training from the foundation since Aug. 10 and will earn the PADI Coral Restoration Distinctive Specialty.
In essence, the two-week training deployment that Team Two underwent is geared toward a transition from military divers to marine environmentalists.
Force Blue gives former military-trained combat divers and veterans of special operations forces an important new mission: to experience and explore one of the most critically endangered ecosystems on the planet, and to adapt their training and teamwork to rebuild the fragile ecosystem and aid in its protection.
The premise is simple: present the ecosystems of the underwater world as communities under threat, train them to preserve and restore those communities and then develop the missions that will enable them to do so.
