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Subject: Mounted search and rescue

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  • From: Una Smith <una.smith@att.net>
  • To: Mounted search and rescue <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [MSAR] Minors as members
  • Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 20:17:42 -0600

Chris Pennington wrote:
>Maybe the question we should be asking ourselves is SHOULD minors be
>involved in our teams and if so WHY and HOW?

Yes, start with SHOULD.

In New Mexico, numerous of our approximately 80 state-recognized
SAR (not just MSAR) units are family affairs. But for the most
part the families in question are tough ranching families, often
with strong traditions of service in the armed forces. One SAR
unit is a youth-at-risk program, with an emphasis on rescue. As
in teenage EMTs, technical rescue training, etc. A couple of
SAR units are college undergraduate units, so most members would
be under 21. Of these, my impression is that the college units
are the most fragile, but I don't know why. The minors' ages
vary, but so to do the units' social structure and dynamics.

My first hand experience, to date concerning finds of suicides,
is that some SAR responders are destroyed, while others are okay
with it. Youth by itself does not appear to be a good predictor
of who will be destroyed. My sense is that (in)experience is a
far more important factor, but there is also a large element of
randomness: some factor of a given incident may have a special
resonance for a given responder.

There is a simple fix for inexperience: training and experience.

I am not at all convinced that "simple" rules such as rider must
be at least 21 or mount must be at least 6 are a good solution.
They rather miss the point. What we should be aiming for is:
Can *this* rider and *this* mount do the job, safely, effectively,
and without undue emotional cost? But then the question becomes
how should we evaluate someone to make this delicate to-the-point
determination, without simply throwing them in the deep end?

Una Smith
New Mexico




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