In 1983, the disaster of the SS Marine Electric spawned a Congressional Inquiry that found the USCG was the only military service unable to deploy a member from an aircraft for search, rescue and recovery, and initiated a legal requirement for the armed force to do so.

By June 1985, the Commandant formally announced that the ASM rating would be permanently redefined to include rescue swimmer and emergency medical technician (EMT) duties.

Despite initial resistance, the Aviation Survival Technician (AST)—evolving from the ASM rating—has become an integral and enduring component of Coast Guard rotary-wing operations.

It took six years to expand the program to a robust force of 300 rescue swimmers, ensuring every duty section across all air stations had qualified personnel.

[4] After completion of A-School, all ASTs are sent to Training Center Petaluma, California to attend the Coast Guard's Emergency Medical Technician school.

After seven weeks of EMT training, they must take and pass the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians-Basic (NREMT-B) test as part of their qualification as a helicopter rescue swimmer.

The 2006 movie The Guardian featured Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher as well as a number of actual ASTs and Coast Guardsmen as extras, and told a fictional story of two rescue swimmers.