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msar-riders - Re: [MSAR] Conference planning

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Subject: Mounted search and rescue

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  • From: Una Smith <una.smith@att.net>
  • To: Mounted search and rescue <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [MSAR] Conference planning
  • Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2006 22:07:30 -0700

Tm' Fi wrote:
>I will agree that NASAR type conferences are more costly and much
>different than local SAR events, but then again so are most other
>conferences that are designed to draw from a national audience.
> National organizational events draw from and support "paid or full
>time" attendees, who more often than not have Monday through Friday type
>jobs.
[...]

That is true for business professions, but not for academia
(college and university faculty, staff, and students). SAR
volunteers are similar to academics in that their conference
costs are almost always personal expenses, unless they are
exceptionally fortunate to have a research grant that pays
conference expenses (most grants don't cover this). I don't
understand why NASAR follows the business conference model,
rather than the academic conference model (the model for
most state SAR conferences), except that their strategy is
to focus on attendees who have budgetary authority. These
are the folks who can decide to require 50 or 100 volunteers
to take NASAR's courses. :-)

I have attended probably 100 academic conferences, and I've
helped to put on a few. My experience is that having many
vendors does draw more attendees, but the increase is "day
trippers": people who register for only one day (or not at
all), don't stay in the conference hotel, don't buy a ticket
for the banquet, don't attend any training, don't network.
They are there only to see the vendors.


> search managers
>do not need to have SAR field skills in order to manage a search
>incident.

I think search managers need to know enough to know which
field teams are competent or, if not competent, what are
the specific deficiencies. The alternative is something I
don't like to see: a search manager who operates entirely
from experience. "Sent them out once 10 years ago, they
didn't do the job I assigned; don't know why, don't care;
never called them again."



s task assi
Most paid professionals that I've met at similar type
>conferences generally come away with learning something. Some of the
>best search managers that I've seen could not follow a compass bearing
>unless the line was drawn on the ground. On the other side of the coin,
>some of the best field resource personnel that I've ever met, can't
>master the skills needed to manage a search.
>
>I have found that many during the week SAR Conferences have a greater
>focus on administrative and specialized subject matters. Where as SAREX
>or weekend type events offer basic and some advanced training, that
>include more hands-on skills for SAR field team members, which is often
>times is incorporated with a multi-agency mock search. Unfortunately
>weekend events seem to draw fewer vendors and suppliers, thus preventing
>a chance to purchase special sale items. It is sad that SAR volunteers
>have such a big out-of-pocket expense.


> What's even worse is that fact
>that MSAR volunteers seem to have the smallest voice at any level SAR
>gathering, unless it is specifically MSAR related event.

Hm. My experience has been that cavers and divers are even
more obscure. And trackers; they are a tiny minority and
too often SAR managers don't know a good opportunity exists
to use a tracker unless a field team specifically reports
conditions that are favorable for tracking. The difference
is those specialties recruit out of recreational communities
that are even smaller, more regulated, and more uniform than
horse riding. (I used to be a PADI-certified scuba diver,
and trained in basic underwater search and recovery; there
was very little rescue in our training program. Reputable
dive shops won't fill your air tanks unless you show them a
current dive card with certifications appropriate to where
you will be diving.)

Una Smith
New Mexico





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