Mounted search and rescue

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

 

----- Original Message -----

From: tm'-fi

Barbara,
I share many of your same concerns.  Personally, I believe the draft that I reviewed lacks the balance that is needed for MSAR skills in the field, and places too much focus on NASAR SAR Tech (III, II and I) skills.  

I'm not sure I understand your position. What Ground SAR skills indicated in NASAR SARTech (III, II, I) do you think aren't needed for MSAR? And what minimum skill levels do you believe aren't addressed by the proposed NASAR MSAR Practical standards?  Or, what do you think needs to be changed to provide better "balance" in the proposed standards? (I don't see anything posted by you on www.smartgroups.com/groups/NASAR-MSAR )

As discussed a few month back, the is a great need for a National MSAR standard that is reflective of all states.  I know MSAR-riders has been working on a set of National standards for quite some time now, but do not know what the status of them are. 

I haven't seen any announcements or requests here for input or recruiting for a committee, so if someone who posts here is working on MSAR standards I'd consider it to be an individual / individuals working on a rough draft ... not representing MSAR Riders. ;)

 

I support the concept of national standards for MSAR. However, any person / team could post some MSAR standards online and suggest that everyone use them, but that doesn't create a national standard or provide incentive for anyone to use those free standards ... because there would be no real certification related to those standards. Recognized certification requires standards and testing, and testing must have consistency in application, which means there needs to be a "Train The Trainer" program to create that consistency. 

 

I'm thinking any recognized "national standard" for MSAR will need the backing of an organization recognized nationwide to create and publish the standards, provide instructors / evaluators, etc., to certify riders. But any decent standard for MSAR would need to also define and certify Ground SAR standards for riders, which would essentially put a new MSAR organization in competition with NASAR for Ground SAR training and certification.

 

However, I'm open to suggestion. ;)

 

If someone is planning to launch a new organization specific to MSAR, complete with standards, quality controlled testing, etc., I'd like to hear more details.

 

If someone is planning to roll out a "national standard" for MSAR without starting a new organization to provide certification with quality control, I'd like to hear the strategy of how this is supposed to work.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Jorene Downs
Tulare Co, CA
SAR, MSAR, Swiftwater Rescue, US&R,
Technical Rescue, Cave Rescue,
Hasty Team, ICP
www.CEOates.com/sar
Tulare-Kings CERT Program Coordinator
www.tk-cert.org