Mounted search and rescue

[Una Smith <una@lanl.gov>]

Jorene wrote:
>One of the photos shows helping someone with an injured leg into a saddle to
>transport mounted. You might want to look for a photo using the chair carry
>lift into the saddle instead - easier on the injured person.

Of course.  FWIW, that's a training mission, not a real situation.
I can only put up photos that I *have*...


Una wrote:
>> I gave essentially the same talk at our New Mexico state SAR
>> conference (ESCAPE) in May of this year.

Jorene wrote:
>I'd forgotten I'd mentioned my idea to you for this kind of presentation at
>the NASAR conference. Glad you took the ball and ran with it -

Actually, my committment to teach an MSAR course at ESCAPE 2003
predated our discussion of NASAR's conference by several months.
The sequence of events was this:  in preparation for ESCAPE, I
floated some ideas on MSAR-Riders;  that brought me to the
attention of Susan Thrasher who was then just starting to put
together NASAR's MSAR standards committee;  Jorene, as you know,
I sent her on to you.


>But we should be comparing notes so we can expand our own
>presentations and reach more people. 

That is exactly what I am doing here.


>From the photo gallery it appears as if you were more focused on
>identifying MSAR potential in SAR, which is a giant stride all by
>itself.

Indeed it is a huge task.  I was asked specifically to design a
course for SAR resource managers, to address this issue.  Also,
the photo gallery contains mostly other people's photos, not my
own (yet);  my own have a somewhat different slant.


>But disaster response has huge potential for MSAR response - did you get
>into that area at all?

Only very superficially.  I mentioned that many MSAR units, at
least in New Mexico, routinely do traffic and crowd control for
rodeos, etc.  And for those events we wear "sheriff" uniforms,
and use our SAR radios to coordinate our activities.  In these
circumstances, much of the general public respects us as police
officers;  practice of this type is highly relevant to disaster
response.  

Another aspect of disaster response is evacuation of threatened
areas.  There are several domestic animal evacuation networks in
New Mexico, which many of us are involved in.  However, by law
New Mexico *SAR* resources can be used for direct benefit only
of people.  No evacuating pets or livestock.

Basically, MSAR units in New Mexico have a fairly good idea re
their roles in disaster response situations.


>                 It sounds like you might be moving a little into the
>How To? I avoided going there other than providing basic examples like
>Mounted fording a river to secure a line on the other side

In my experience, MSAR volunteers on the whole desperately need
more instruction re How To.  Having them together in a classroom
is a rare opportunity, not to be wasted.  I did not go into much
detail, beyond showing What To and mentioning how to learn (who
can teach) How To.  I know the class has stimulated several MSAR
units to think about getting new training, from outside their
own unit.


>a lot of the options related to expanding MSAR capabilities are
>outside current comfort zones for many teams.

That's for sure.  But *everyone* has a comfort zone;  *the* key
task of any training officer is to identify and provide training
to expand each SAR volunteer's comfort zone.  Horses also have
their own comfort zones;  for MSAR we must identify and address
those too.

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