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Brotherhood of the Fin, by Gerald R. Hoover, is an autobiography by one of the
most decorated Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers in history. Hoover did a fantastic job describing
his part in the creation of rescue swimmers, his career as a rescue swimmer, and the evolution of
rescue swimmers. Hoover was one of the first rescue swimmers in the Coast Guard, and by the
end of his career, he was one of the best. As all did all of the rescue swimmers do, Hoover
attended the Navy Rescue Swimmer School because the coast guard didn't have one established
yet. This school was 8 weeks long, and grueling. Most people did not complete the school, but
he did. Not until a student died at the hands of the instructors did the coast guard set up a school.
Fresh out of the school, he was offered a position on the "Stan Team", standardization team,
which was the research branch of the rescue swimmer program. Hoover worked with skilled
people as they researched and tested new equipment. After leaving the Stan team, Hoover started
working as a rescue swimmer. Unfortunately, at the time, rescue swimmers with discouraged and
disliked, so Hoover did not see action at first. After the initial road block in the program, rescue
swimmers were starting to be used. Through the years Hoover completed save after save. He
described in the book that toward the end of career he felt like an 18 year old with 22 years
of experience, point being that time flied for Hoover. Hoover's main influences were his wife,
who understood the being inside of him that needed to save lives, despite the personal risk.
He was apart of the Katrina efforts, playing a huge role in the 33,500 survivors rescued in a few
weeks, and even met the President because of it. The amount of respect the Hoover has in the
Coast Guard is enormous, and surely cannot be met by anyone else.
Gerald R. Hoover is the best definition of a hero I can think of. He would rather die
than fail at saving a life. It doesn't get any closer than that, his only fear in life is that he might fail,
and that is what made him that man he is today. He shares with the select 300 plus rescue
swimmers in the coast guard today, along with all of the retired rescue swimmers living normal
lives now.
The theme of this book is sacrifice. Hoover would sacrifice his life for anyone else's.
That is the ultimate sacrifice. Hoover describes throughout the book that he would rather die
than to loose someone. That is also the theme for something else, a hero.
This book was very powerful. Hearing their stories doesn't even come close to seeing
their own words. There is so much emotion with ever line of ink. I would recommend this book
to anyone. You will appreciate it as much as I did.
I was curious as to how someone would become a rescue swimmer, so this is what I
found out. The whole process takes about a year. First, you must enlist in the U.S. Coast Guard,
where you will attend boot camp in Cape May, New Jersey. Upon graduation you must request
to become an AST, Aviation Survival Technician. Your name will them be put on a list, where
you will stay until acceptance to AST School in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. During this period
of wait you are put into a program called the Airman Program, where you are transferred to an
air station to train for the basics of being on base. This also provides the opportunity to build up
strength to help you prepare for AST School. After you get excepted into the school a whole
new phase starts. AST School is famous for its attrition rate being extremely high, meaning most
people drop out. The school is what separates out weak minded, for those are the ones who will
drop out. If you do somehow pass the school, only then do you know what it truly takes to
become a rescue swimmer. There is also Advanced Rescue Swimmer School in Cape
Disappointment, Oregon for rescue swimmers looking to acquire higher skills, and in depth
training of a variety of different types of rescues.
