Mounted search and rescue

[Una Smith <una@lanl.gov>]

SAR in my area is fortunate to have an outstanding SAR dog unit
(Mountain Canine Corps) and a very large groundpounder unit (St
Johns College).  Between them, these two units can and do cover
almost all the needed night/hasty search duty.  Even so, my unit
would like to be better prepared for night and hasty searches.
(Locally, hasty searches are almost always at night, and night
searches are almost always hasty.  "Hasty" being the fast first 
search made at the start of a mission.)

It has been my experience, in talking to incident commanders and
section chiefs, that few non-riders are aware that horses can see
in the dark.  So in addition to training for night searches, we
would also need to do far more to educate our SAR managers about
how to use us at night.  FWIW, my unit is typically used in areas
where there are *no* trails and *no* water.  Horses can go where
ATVs, and 4x4s would be stopped by barriers, and where searchers
on foot would make slow progress and quickly become exhausted.
In juniper scrublands, which is abundant, we also have the major
advantage of being able to see over much of the vegetation.

At our altitude (7000+ feet) and low humidity (typically 20%), we
have very clear skies at night.  Starlight alone is often enough
to travel by, so I would use a flashlight only for close tracking
or signaling.  Using the flashlight ruins your night vision, and
may cause you to miss clues.  The flashlight I use for night work
is a "Mag" flashlight that takes 3 D batteries;  it is very bright,
lasts all night, and I can carry it under my arm, stuck in my belt,
or strapped to my leg.  I dislike headlamps, particularly when
they are worn by inexperienced people who repeatedly shine their 
headlamp in your eyes when they look at you.  That destroys any
remnant of night vision you may have.  On the other hand, it can
be very educational to see by the headlamps what the people with
you spend all their time looking at!  Flashlights in night work
is one of those issues that has to be addresssed on a team level,
because if one person needs to use a flashlight, everyone else
may need to also, to see anything at all.

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