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msar-riders - [MSAR] Hasty searches and teamwork

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Subject: Mounted search and rescue

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  • From: Una Smith <una@lanl.gov>
  • To: msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [MSAR] Hasty searches and teamwork
  • Date: Mon Dec 9 11:36:01 2002

Jorene Downs <Jorene@ceoates.com> wrote:
>But that also means MSAR needs a particular type of environment to
>be effective response for a Hasty Search.

Yup. If the subject is on foot, mounted resources probably are not
a good choice for hasty searches. It is better to call out a foot
unit that can field more teams in a shorter time. Also, around here
hasty searches usually happen late in the day, or even late at night
and night searches on horseback require training the horse for work
in the dark. Despooking re flashlights, being in a new place in the
dark, working at a time that is normally not work time. Also, many
SAR people who are not horse people do not know that horses see well
in the dark! So they just assume mounted teams cannot respond for
night searches.


>I reckon regardless of the travel or arrival time, regardless who is / is
>not called to respond on that particular SAR, regardless which team actually
>locates the missing person, end result is WE found that person ... or at
>least gave it 110% effort. SAR is a team effort

That's right. The bigger the search, the smaller the odds that your
team will find the subject. But the goal is to find the subject,
not to beat the other teams. A find by ANY team is a victory for
ALL teams; turning the search into a contest between teams is self-
defeating at best (most teams will lose most of the time) and at
worst can cost people's lives.

Una Smith
Santa Fe County Sheriff's Posse, in New Mexico





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