Coast Guard rescuer swims 1 mile to save 4 fishermen from cold, choppy waters

But none of that mattered.

The only thing on the 27-year-old U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer's mind was rescuing the four fishermen who were stranded on an inflatable raft after their commercial vessel ran aground near Cape Blanco, Oregon, early Tuesday.

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He spent 45 minutes in the water, swimming about 1,750 yards – nearly a mile – as he pulled the four men in their raft safely to shore.

The long swim wasn’t easy, but he said he was prepared because of his training. He swam into rip currents, using them to his advantage to get out to the men faster.

“They train us hard,” he said. “They kind of give us an idea of what we’re going to see.”

After the rescue, Harrity got to spend a little time with the fishermen, which he described as an “awesome experience.” He’s made rescues before but never in the middle of the night.

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Harrity is getting the chance to live out his dream with the Coast Guard, but it almost didn’t happen.

As a sophomore at Florida Atlantic University eight years ago, Harrity was swimming laps in the pool when he experienced a shallow-water blackout, which is a loss of consciousness caused by cerebral hypoxia.

He woke up in the hospital days later and needed a long rehabilitation to get back on his feet.

The near-drowning instilled in Harrity that life is short. If he was ever going to be in the Coast Guard, he needed to get to work.

“I kind of realized I need to focus on some of my dreams,” he said. “I need to do this now.”

Four years later, he joined the Coast Guard as a helicopter rescue swimmer and has been stationed in southern Oregon for the past three-and-a-half years.

Harrity tries to make it back to Jupiter, where his mother still lives, a couple times a year.

Growing up near the water, he became an avid surfer and spear fisherman at an early age.

Going from the sunny skies of Florida to the windy, rainy weather in Oregon has been a bit of an adjustment, but Harrity still gets into the water and surfs whenever he can.

Realizing his dream of being in the Coast Guard has been everything he imagined and he plans to stay in the service for the foreseeable future. He looks at his colleagues as brothers, saying they spend time together on and off duty.

“I love my job,” he said. “Not a lot of people get to say that.”