Mounted search and rescue

["T'mi Fi" <tfinkle@erols.com>]

Chris-  You hit on a very good point.  

Much the same as a third string baseball player, it is human nature to need
a reason to keep training in a specialty field they rarely get the chance
to perform in. No one likes sitting on the bench, season after season. Even
the best MSAR training program in the Country can't replace the experience
that team members gain during actual search deployments.    Personally I
think the phrase "use it or lose it" also applies to SAR skills, training
alone simply can not maintain that cutting edge performance needed during
a search missions.  

Our primary MSAR response area covers approximately a 200 mile radius from
the Washington DC area and over the past several years we've been averaging
7 to 10 SAR deployments per year.  Thankfully we have enough callouts to
keep our team members and their equines proficient in their SAR skills, updated
with new deployment trends and also keeps team members interested in wanting
more training.  All MSAR teams must have a balance of both training time
and SAR mission deployment time; too much of one and none of the other can
quickly reduce a team's overall effectiveness.        

With regards to getting time off work: Because we are a volunteer public
safety response organization, many of our team members are allowed 3 days
off per year by their employer for actual SAR Missions and others are pre-authorized
the use of unscheduled leave.

T'mi
www.trotsar.org

pennbo@verizon.net wrote:
>  
>  
>   
>  (......)
>   
> It must be difficult for some of your units to maintain top training when
> you have very few call-outs yearly. Too, it must be hard to keep folks committed
> in those cases as well because it can be hard to keep them committed even
> when you are regularly working!
>   
> Chris