Who disagrees with DIR and why?

[beeger]

The problem is that the OOA diver needs air NOW, and YOU need to deal with that person's situation first because that is the problem at hand. Let's say you go to your backup and something is wrong with it (unlikely because you checked it at the start of the dive but it could happen). Well, then you have to handle that situation next: e.g. buddy breathe, figure out if your buddy is really out of air, get to an alternate air source if applicable, etc.. Most of which suck to do but you are in a better position than your buddy to handle the situation. Keeping you and your buddy's gear configuration consistent makes this process somewhat easier. Having your buddy on a long hose while you are going through this makes the process much easier. You don't further penalize the OOA buddy by taking chances like handing off something you are not 100% sure is working. This is why concepts such as breathing/donating the long hose can NOT be separated from other concepts like team/buddy diving, as well as fitness and dive planning. Disregard the later and the former loses much of its value.