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Guardians poised when chaos hits

By TERRY TOMALIN
Published October 6, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - Standing outside a movie theater waiting to see The Guardian, I asked my friend Chris Cross to signal me anytime he saw something hokey on the screen.

The movie offers a detailed account of rescue swimmers - U.S. Coast Guard personnel who drop out of helicopters to save the lives of mariners when things have gone terribly wrong.

Most people are familiar with the work of airborne lifesavers, thanks to The Perfect Storm, another film that dealt with distress at sea. And while my friend Cross never wore the rescue swimmer's trademark TRI-SAR orange vest, he is a grizzled ex-Coastie who has been to both the Arctic and Antarctica on icebreakers.

He, like the hundreds of thousands of men and woman who have served in the fourth branch of our military, has an esprit de corps that has not diminished with time. Still, I knew my friend would give me an unbiased review, because like others in his profession, he has no time for posers and slackers.

I went to the theater hoping I would like the film, because I am not ashamed to admit that I love a good hero. Be it Gladiator or Saving Private Ryan, in my world, good guys always win.

The Guardian features Kevin Costner in the title role as a legendary rescue swimmer from Kodiak, Alaska. Ben Randall has selflessly put strangers before himself and his family for more than 20 years, which has prompted his wife to file for divorce.

Randall isn't your typical Hollywood hero. A rescue swimmer, or to be more precise - an aviation survival technician - doesn't carry a sword like Russell Crowe's Maximus or a machine gun like Tom Hank's Capt. John H. Miller. Randall's primary weapon is his own mind.

Sure, rescue swimmers are in great shape. When it comes to conditioning, they are right up there with the other military elite, i.e., Navy SEALS and Army Rangers. But what sets rescue swimmers (and other members of the Coast Guard) apart is they are willing to risk their lives to save others.

In The Guardian, Costner's character loses his crew - a team that he has trained, lived and worked with for years - during a particularly harrowing rescue in the Bering Sea. Shaken, both mentally and physically, Randall is sent off to train a new batch of recruits.

Rescue swimmer school is no picnic. Only a fraction of those who apply get admitted, then more than half who start the training never make it through. But one who is determined to succeed is a high school swimming hero, Jake Fischer, played by Ashton Kutcher.

Fischer has all the athletic skill it takes to join the ranks of the 300 or so rescue swimmer corps. But does he have what it takes mentally?

"If you succeed, you can look forward to a long, slow, cold lonely death at sea," Costner tells the recruits.

I won't spoil the movie for you, but what Fischer eventually learns, as does anybody else who makes it through the Coast Guard's basic training, is that there is no "I" in team.

The rescue swimmers might get the glory. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Coast Guard helicopter crews received international attention (as they should) for rescuing more than 11,000 people in New Orleans.

But as you ponder those staggering statistics, keep in mind that on this first Friday in October, if the average holds, Coast Guard personnel will conduct 82 search and rescue missions, aid 114 people in distress and save 15 souls.

Ben Randall teaches Jake Fischer that everybody - from the mechanic to the winch operator who hauls the victim up in the basket - must work as a team to get the job done.

My friend Cross, the grizzled ex-Coastie, pounds that into my head every time we head out to sea. I'd hate to sail without him, for I know that when things go terribly wrong, he's got my back.

I am not alone. If you boat, fish, sail or scuba dive, remember that you always have the men and women of the United States Coast Guard standing by, always ready, to lend a helping hand.

When The Guardian ended, I wasn't the only one in the audience who gave a hearty round of applause. Next time you're on the water and you see our friends, I hope you do the same thing.

[Last modified October 6, 2006, 07:00:31]