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msar-riders - [MSAR] RE: MSAR-riders digest, Vol 1 #56 - 9 msgs

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Subject: Mounted search and rescue

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  • From: "Ian Vowles" <Ian@modric.net>
  • To: <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [MSAR] RE: MSAR-riders digest, Vol 1 #56 - 9 msgs
  • Date: Tue Feb 4 13:26:36 2003

To add another point of view ; This is what works for us - every team is
different .....

We have riders all of whom must be qualified to take part in an actual
search / rescue , untrained / unqualified riders are encouraged at all
monthly trainings. We also have ground team members who must also be
qualified to participate on missions.

On "unmounted" assets - our philosophy is that we require a full ground
support team to establish our base and staging areas , (we use ICS
principals) , this means our field base is manned with our comunications
team , radio loggers , map plotters , liasion officer for working with
agency calling us out , safety officer ( very important we think ) and
the food / logistics support ( down to our own porta pottie !! ) who are
invaluable. In addition to these "ground" people we have a small number
of ground pounders who excell at getting into awkward places or more
especially getting a repeater onto the top of nearest mountain to
establish comms. In a perfect world we would like to have 6-10 ground
members always available to support our horse teams.

So , if you train your team , riders or non riders , the whole will work
well together, we are lucky that everyone horse owner or not "can" ride
~ and everyone trains together , but when a mission comes down we use
the best assets for the job at hand .

I should mention we specialise in wilderness SAR , but use the same
principals outlined above when working the Rural/urban interface.

Really glad someone came up with the MSAR list - I welcome a forum where
we can learn from each other in this "specialized" area of SAR.

Best wishes to all,

Ian Vowles
CMR - Colorado.



<<There isn't much need for support in an MSAR group; unless they
already have SAR skills, non-riders are a lot of work and someone who
does have SAR skills needs to stay with them. If they have those skills
then what are they doing with a horse group in absence of a horse? That
said, it depends on what else your group does; some groups have many
activities that don't involve searches or horseback. We do appreciate
it when our riders who are temporarily without a mount still do what
they can to help with searches.>>







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