Newbie SAR


gwynn1975

gwynn1975

Misguided Wanderer
Bushclass I
Joined
Sep 8, 2011
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Location
Spokane, WA
Next week I will be attending my first SAR meeting with the Inland Northwest SAR group. I'm pretty excited for a few reasons, mainly being that I have a chance to volunteer and give back to my community and I would be able to help out somebody in need.

I will be attending the meeting for their ground/field search and rescue, but I will probably end up on a dog team as one of their navigators. I have a lot of experience in map reading, orienting, and reading terrain, so I think I would fit in good over there.

Any other SAR guys/gals on here that would like to chime in and give some pointers to a new guy to the game?

I am taking a basic first aid class right now at my local community college right now and will receive my CPR/ARC card when I finish. I spent 9 years as an infantryman in the army, and most of you have seen how much time I spend in the woods. I am also very proficient in radio procedures, rock climbing, rappelling, land navigation, first aid, survival, and backpacking. I just want to know what some other SAR guys might give as far as advice.

What kind of bushcraft skills can/will be taken on a rescue? IE: land nav, shelter, etc

Thanks in advance.
 
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No tips or suggestions for you as you have much more experience than I ever offered, but I will say that volunteering with my hometown SAR/EMS was some of the most choice times in my life. Best Wishes to you as you do so!
 
Bucketosudz said:
No tips or suggestions for you as you have much more experience than I ever offered, but I will say that volunteering with my hometown SAR/EMS was some of the most choice times in my life. Best Wishes to you as you do so!
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Thank you sir.. I'm really excited to get started with them. Just a few days after the meeting, I will attend my first training session. (Helicopter rescue safety procedures..)

Thanks for the encouragement BoS
 
SAR is very rewarding an fun. I have done it for the past 10 years or so. Skills that you will need to focus on are:

Ropes and Knots
Land Nav
GPS
Radio Communications
Lost Person Behavior
Incident Management
First Aid (wilderness)
Survival Skills
Evidence collection and handling (important)
Crime scene preservation
Legalities of SAR

NASAR is a national organization that provides classes and certification. Check with your new team if they recommended for your training. Also FEMA offers online courses. I would suggesting do the basics. IS 100, 200, 300 and 700.

Congrats and have fun!!!
 
Best of luck. Just a suggestion but if you are going to work with dogs it might not be a bad idea to get some vet first aid training somewhere. Or talk with a vet about a suitable first aid kit for the dogs.

Wolf
 
Great to hear you wanting to give back to the community, sounds like you have a scattering of skills that all will be useful in the events. You will need to learn NIMS, National Incident Management System, just a standardized way of doing things. Also might help if you were able to take some CISM, Critical Incident Stress Management, a lot of these searches end with less then happy out comes and these skills are not thought about. The ability to help people work through issues without mental health involvement is great and helps people get back to normal operating procedures. Any way good luck and stay safe.
 
congrats on getting involved, bro!
you'll do great work - meet a lot of great folks - and probably get some new eyeballs on G.O.A.L. too -
guys n gals in positions to get you into some new doors maybe! :51:

I've still got my dive certs and that gets me in the door with my local team - the sheriffs office only has one other guy who will go into the river looking for a floater. guess I'm just immune to the weirdness of it. :)
 
solocanoe said:
congrats on getting involved, bro!
you'll do great work - meet a lot of great folks - and probably get some new eyeballs on G.O.A.L. too -
guys n gals in positions to get you into some new doors maybe! :51:

I've still got my dive certs and that gets me in the door with my local team - the sheriffs office only has one other guy who will go into the river looking for a floater. guess I'm just immune to the weirdness of it. :)
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I let my scuba cert expire, but will get it renewed at the first chance I get.

Thanks for all the encouragement everyone.

My dad (Filo) will be attending the meeting also to apply. I already have a shoe-in, and hopefully they will accept Filo as well.
 
I think Panzer is our most knowledgeable SAR guy on the forum and he would have the best advice. I would recommend studying for your ham radio license and if they don't use ham radio it's still a great thing to have with you.
 
gwynn1975 said:
What kind of bushcraft skills can/will be taken on a rescue? IE: land nav, shelter, etc
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You're far ahead of most SAR trainees and even experienced team members already.

The best skill for SAR is tracking and medical skills (for when you find the victim). Find the best tracker you can to teach you and put in the hours. After you get good in the daytime, get good at night tracking. Take an EMT course if you can. Volunteer agencies often pay for the course.

IMO every SAR team member should be at least a serviceable tracker. Unfortunately, many SAR members are more interested in gadgets and shuffling around with 75 pounds on their back.
 
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I agree with all the advice given, Panzer hit it on the head. EMS skills are great. Knowing the Incident Command structure helps. Tracking is great training for SAR. At the least it gives you a more enhanced sense of clue awareness. You are close to Joel Hardin and crew out there, great trackers.
SAR is cool because you can go where you want with it.
Like anything else, stay quiet and open minded until you figure out the group. As a former 11B myself (Harmony Church!) there are differences between the military and a civilian volunteer group. Lots of different personalities but all well intentioned. Enjoy it, I do!
 
gwynn1975 said:
What kind of bushcraft skills can/will be taken on a rescue? IE: land nav, shelter, etc
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Good navigation skills are frequently necessary on SAR missions in WA so being fluent with map and compass is important. You may choose to pack just a lightweight tarp for shelter, so knowing how to set one up quickly in various conditions is very helpful. Since you may be the first team to find an injured victim, First Aid is a requirement for good reason.

Many bushcraft skills such as starting fires and improvising shelters from natural materials may never be needed on missions but that knowledge could prove to be the key to survival in extreme conditions. Keep in mind that you not only need to be prepared to survive yourself, but you could be responsible for the survival of others as well. Maintain your physical fitness so you can travel quickly when needed while carrying extra gear to sustain the lives of others.

When supporting a dog team, know that the dog will be focused on scent and the handler will be focused on the dog, so you should be extra conscious of visual and auditory clues. It is not always the dog on a dog team that detects the lost person first, it could be the sign you see or the faint sound you hear that leads to the lost person.

I don't use my dive certification on missions, but I highly recommend swiftwater rescue training. It will help you to safely cross fast moving streams. It will also give you experience with rope throw bags and swimming through rapids and eddy currents in case a you fall out of the boat while searching on a river.

And of course this time of year Avalanche safety is necessary so take a class and practice skills with beacon, probe, and shovel.
 
In my SAR group I specialized in tracking which is an important skill. Land nav and first aid are also important. Being patient is also important because a lot of the callouts turn out to be nothing or can drag on for long periods.

I would be sure to have a decent light base weight setup, good sleeping bag, a bivy and other things in case you have to stay out overnight at a search position with your team or to stay with a rescue victim for medical to arrive.

Also you will probably have to have good strength and endurance to handle a stokes litter in case you have to do the evac. It's hard work.
 
As others have said, Panzer pretty much hit it on the head. I suggest the FEMA NIMS courses even if your group doesn't require it. They're free and you can take them online at you're own pace (with the exception of 300 - it's a classroom course).

NASAR SARTech certifications are a great starting point but only brush the surface on a multitude of topics. Pick your poison and take as much specialized training as you can.

Physical fitness is extremely important. A ground search team can only cover as much ground as your least physical fit resource can.

Be prepared for the "stand around and wait" searches and the not so happy ending searches. In our area, we do more recovery searches for law enforcement than wilderness injury or lost person searches. It's not every's cup of tea. If it weren't for the National Forest to our north, we'd probably do 99% recovery searches.

Going into to it, lay low until you get the feel of the group. Remember you're dealing with a 100% volunteer group. 10% of the people are probably going to do 100% of the work involved. Be a 10%'er and it's worth every minute.
 
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