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msar-riders - Re: [MSAR] Operational issues / Possible Magazine Article about MSAR

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Subject: Mounted search and rescue

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  • From: "Jorene Downs" <Jorene@CEOates.com>
  • To: "Mounted search and rescue" <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [MSAR] Operational issues / Possible Magazine Article about MSAR
  • Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 17:04:29 -0800

From: "Una Smith" <una.smith@att.net>
Jorene Downs wrote, apparently addressed to Una Smith:
your only SAR experience (IIRC) is in the unique statewide NM SAR
structure.

(Jorene, I think personal remarks such as you make here are not
appropriate; and this one is also not accurate.)

Sorry you don't consider it appropriate. Please correct where I was not accurate! But I consider it more like common sense to note that we are all most familiar with the SAR system we work in, but not necessarily with others. You're in the NM system. I'm in the CA system. Others are in different locations. That gives us all different perspectives, and that different perspective can definitely influence what someone thinks is a common practice in SAR / MSAR.

There are teams who consider themselves trained and experienced in SAR / MSAR ... yet in another system they'd be considered novices with inadequate training. Different systems, different expectations.

New Mexico is different from California and most other western
US states, but it is not precisely unique; with respect to the
local vs mutual aid idea, New Mexico is similar to most eastern
US states, where for many SAR teams there is no local authority
having jurisdiction.

In many states with no local authority having jurisdiction, a prospective team / SAR person simply needs to be on the state list, with no real consistency from one team to another. (I've heard some horror stories about supposedly state-certified SAR Dogs in different parts of the country because that state's certification process was inadequate.)

A big difference is I believe NM has call-outs organized at a state level for local response, complete with management, with personnel all trained using state SAR standards instead of local team standards. (Correct me if this is wrong about NM.) This provides for increased consistency in training and expectations that you don't find in most states.

How many teams even have state level MSAR standards to refer to and comply with? Many don't have statewide SAR standards, even for Mutual Aid, or don't address MSAR as a resource. And unless this has changed recently, I believe there are still states that don't have a State SAR Coordinator position. This suggests that many locals are doing their own thing related to SAR / MSAR. So most of the country is still inconsistent.

Lack of consistency is one of the big problems in MSAR. Some MSAR teams have earned a lot of respect in the SAR community with their contemporary training programs, and others barely address training related to SAR. Yet all are referred to as Mounted SAR teams, with no distinction between the trained and poorly trained teams.

Hopefully we'll resolve this important issue with the pending international ASTM standards for MSAR. We'll all have the opportunity to be on the same page and *prove* that our local MSAR team is worthy of that name! I look forward to the time when MSAR nationwide is recognized by the SAR community as a trained and respected resource. ;)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Jorene Downs
Tulare SAR - Hasty Team ICP Team
www.ceoates.com/sar
Tulare-Kings CERT
www.tk-cert.org




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