HUMAN BEHAVIOR PROGRAM 269 



All the divers were volunteers, a fact which probably produced a predisposition to endure 

 whatever hardships came along with the feeling that, "I got myself into this and now it's up to 

 me to prove that I can do the job." 



Furthermore, each diver expressed a desire to participate in future Sealab operations. 

 Most of them felt, however, that they would prefer to stay down longer in the future, but that a 

 crew size of six to eight would be better in the Sealab II habitat. When asked, "How many days 

 do you think you could live and work in the Sealab II habitat?" the average answer was 31 days. 

 One of the chief reasons given for lengthening the bottom time was that the first week was spent 

 getting organized and becoming familiar with the equipment and topography. Once these goals 

 were accomplished, more time and mental activity could be devoted to accomplishing the job at 

 hand. 



While many felt that it would be desirable in the future to have some of the specific house- 

 keeping chores assigned permanently, 22 out of 28 felt that the workday schedule was about 

 right. Along similar lines, some of the Navy members of Team 2 felt they had no jobs to call 

 their own and were primarily supporting the scientific personnel. In the future, it might be 

 advisable either to assign specific operational tasks or to train Navy divers to work closely 

 with a scientist. 



Some of the Naval personnel felt it would be much more challenging and that they would be 

 motivated to spend more time in the water if the salvage projects in future Sealabs were genu- 

 ine. Even though the tasks during Sealab were of an operational nature, it was not the same to 

 them as actually performing a "real job." 



The men were asked to compare working from Sealab with doing a similar job from the 

 surface. The response of one of the men expresses the general feeling that, "There is the tre- 

 mendous advantage of being able to start a job and then finish it. Whereas, say a guy could 

 drop down from the surface and maybe have 20 minutes on the bottom, he could be just two or 

 three minutes away from completing the job and his bottom time would be up and he'd have to 

 quit and they'd bring him up and put somebody else down." It was stated further that if operat- 

 ing from the bottom, "You'd maybe take a couple of tools and go out and start on the job and 

 see just what it was with the idea that, if you needed some more tools, you could pop back in a 

 couple of minutes and maybe change your tools, or get a different wrench and get some more 

 information and then go back out." 



Another question asked on the postdive questionnaire was, "Based on your experience, 

 which of the following characteristics do you think most important for a man to live and work 

 in a Sealab environment?" The possible answers are shown in the following list in the rank 

 order in which they were rated by the divers. A desire to "get the job done" and general so- 

 ciability seem to be the personality characteristics most valued. 



A question frequently asked of men living in an unusual environment concerns the matter 

 of isolation feelings. When asked on the postdive questionnaire, "How isolated from the world 

 topside did you feel?" of the 24 responding, ten said, "Not at all," niae said, "A little," four 

 said, "Quite a bit," and one said, "Very much." One interesting comment during debriefing 

 was, "I kept waiting for this sense of isolation, you know —where you hate everybody topside. 

 I never did." 



Summary of Rank Ordering by 28 Divers When Asked for the "Charac- 

 teristics You Think Most Important for a Man to Live and Work 

 in a Sealab Type Environment 



1. Diving experience 



2. Willingness to do his share of general work 



3. Competence in work specialty 



4. Physical condition 



5. Sense of humor 



6. Has imagination 



7. Takes orders well 



8. Tries to keep everyone's morale high 



