As a new U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer, Chuck Medema and his crewmates flew into the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf coast in 2005, rescuing 190 storm victims in four days.

``The first day, there were a lot of people in the water,'' Medema said. ``By the third or fourth day, we were pulling people off roofs. You grab 'em, say, `I'm a Coast Guard rescue swimmer.' They calm down fast. It's a fun job; very exciting and fun.''

By contrast, Sept. 19 was an easy duty day for Medema and his teammates. They spent the morning on Hollywood Beach training as many as 300 colleagues from the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station at Opa-locka in open-ocean survival techniques. Helicopter and jet pilots and other aircrew members had to swim 75 yards clad in full-flight gear and boots to a life raft where they had to inflate it, use a pack full of gel to purify sea water and shoot off a pencil flare to signal for help.

After the ocean swim, a Falcon jet crew demonstrated dropping survival gear to the crew of a Coast Guard Auxiliary boat, and a rescue helicopter dropped a swimmer into the water and hoisted him back up.

The exercise drew a rapt audience of beachgoers and the service members' families who were treated to a barbecue following the annual ``wet drills.''

``It's great to get out in the public and show them what we do,'' Commander Don Taylor, the base's operations officer said. ``With the boating community, it's great for them to know we're prepared if they get themselves in trouble.''

Jumping into towering seas is nothing special to the rescue swimmers, who typically spend 8 ½ months in arduous physical training to prepare for 4 ½ months of specialized rescue courses. As enlisted personnel, their job requires two hours a day spent lifting weights, running, swimming and performing water rescue drills.

TEACHING VOLUNTEERS

But pilots, technicians and Auxiliary aviation volunteers who don't engage in such regular physical training need to know how to survive in a worst-case scenario.

``We have to simulate the worst: we ditched, the life raft is drifting away from the aircraft. Can we make it to the life raft?'' Lt. Cmdr. Brad Klimek, a Falcon jet pilot, said.

The open-ocean swim wasn't easy for Auxiliary member Robert Alameda, 62, of Miami Lakes.

``For me, it was hard. I'm deathly out of shape,'' Alameda said.

He is awaiting security clearance so he can fly missions with members of Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 69 in Miami. Members fly their own planes and are reimbursed for fuel by the federal government. They receive no pay. Typical missions involve patrolling above the Florida Straits for boats smuggling illegal aliens and drugs, and flying parts for ships and aircraft to Guantanamo and Key West.

J.J. Samuelson, a retired Hialeah traffic homicide investigator, commands the flotilla.

``If you're a private pilot, after a while, there are only so many airports you can fly to have lunch,'' Samuelson said. ``This gives you a reason to fly -- much better than a $100 hamburger. Every time I get in the plane, it's something new. I'm living a dream.''

The Opa-locka air station keeps very busy, averaging 500 to 600 search-and-rescue cases annually -- about two a day, according to Klimek. They drop pumps, radios and life rafts to sinking boats, hoist floating refugees and ailing freighter crews into helicopters in medical evacuations and chase drug smugglers -- among other things.

BEING PREPARED

There is one thing South Florida boaters could do to make their job a little less hectic -- be prepared, according to rescue swimmer Ian Powell, a veteran of Alaska's infamous Bering Sea. In those icy, rough waters -- scene of the popular Discovery Channel series Deadliest Catch -- boaters practice safety drills and carry the required life saving equipment, Powell said.

``Here, when a storm is coming, people go out with no life jackets. They don't stick to float plans. They don't have signaling devices,'' Powell said. ``It's like a constantly moving needle in a huge haystack. It makes our job harder.''

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