Mounted search and rescue

["Jorene Downs" <Jorene@CEOates.com>]

From: HALLJK@aol.com
> Part of the problem faced is that by the time I can respond with horses,
on most of our missions, foot soldiers can be to the victum.  Our best use
has been in out of county mission support.
Jay Hall <

I found Jay's observation interesting.  So much depends on the region and
local terrain as to how effective MSAR units might be! I had to grin because
Jay referred to groundpounders responding faster than those who need to load
their horses and haul trailers - very true in any environment, and not much
we can do other than have all the gear ready to go to expedite MSAR
response. But that also means MSAR needs a particular type of environment to
be effective response for a Hasty Search.

Our county is about the size of the state of Connecticut. About half of the
county is in steep mountain terrain, and the vast majority of that mountain
area is wilderness. (Sequoia Nat'l Park & Forest, Golden Trout Wilderness
Area, etc.) About 3/4 of our field personnel are mounted, and the Sierra
Nevadas are why MSAR is so important locally. I can recall driving 5 hours
just to get to a remote location in the mountains so we could spend 3 hours
searching trails to locate a missing camper ... and waiting several more
hours for all the SAR & MSAR personnel to return to the Hasty Search CP so
we could account for everyone before heading back down the mountain. I went
up the mountain in the dark, and returned in the dark - all on 1 hour of
sleep - but it was well worth it to bring that man out alive. (One of the
"lose more sleep" duties of SAR management is to show up before everyone
else, and be the last to leave. <g> ) Another time we assembled 40+ people
on foot on the outskirts of one of the small valley towns at dawn ... and a
passing patrol car found the missing woman before we even had the search
teams assigned. The most important part about both incidents is that we were
all ready to do our jobs, and those who were called and were able to respond
showed up.

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, and every person
contributing to that effort - or prepared with training and equipment so
you're ready to make the effort - is valued. You can bet even the camp cooks
on an extended SAR get a huge Thanks from everyone!

This afternoon I had a meeting at the local Red Cross, and saw the new 2003
"Heroes" calendar. Every month has a photo of local emergency response
personnel on the scene or in training, including fire, ambulance, law
enforcement, disaster team, etc. And there are several photos of SAR. That
sends a message we should all appreciate ... we are definitely valued by our
communities - Heroes?! - whatever our particular involvement includes. Yes,
I recognized almost half the people in the photos. But I tend to travel with
a camera, and next year that calendar layout will also have some MSAR photos
to choose from! ;)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Jorene Downs
Tulare County, CA
SAR, MSAR, Swiftwater Rescue, US&R