Ian - a good question.
My take on this is that we must be "self sufficient" in that every team member must be able to do everything - lead the dive, laying line, running deco, bagging up, etc. etc.
In our team, being weak at something means you will get asked to do it more - not less - to bring skills up to scratch.
This does not detract in any way from the concept of team diving - or team resources.
Rich Walker (UK GUE Instructor) gave a fantastic quote recently on this. He said, talking about gas management - but it is equally applicable to everything else:
Quote: (Originally Posted by Rich Walker)
You're right that you should plan to always be able to get out if the need arises.
To that end, I don't plan to have my buddy rescue me should I have a gas failure. However, I do plan to be able to bring my buddy back should he/she had a catastrophic gas failure.
The difference between the two approaches may appear academic, but they are in fact a world apart.
