Hey all. I comment/post here semi-frequently on my main account but wanted to post this anonymously. I had an offputting first day with a new group and I'm wondering if I'm just overthinking it, it feels off because its new, or what.

So a little background information. I've served on a small state-wide wilderness SAR team that also supported a regional group that did mountain SAR. Partly because of some of the travel involved, and partly because they weren't as active, I was wanting to join a team that was utilized more and stayed more local. I found a group that was very active in my corner of the state, based about a 30 minute drive away from me. Previously, I was driving 2 hours minimum for training, and call outs were anywhere between 2-4 hours away normally, with the regional mutual aid calls being a 6-8 hour drives sometimes.

The state-wide and regional group were not affiliated with any LE agencies. They were called out by LE, no self deployment. Most of the members were NOT LE affiliated either. They typically were just avid hikers or climbers that trained and joined up, or had EMS or FF background.

I hadn't heard about this new group until recently, and it was through social media. The vast majority of their searches are "cold-case" missing persons, most with some sort of "foul play" aspect, IE presumed homicide cases. They are on far more searches IN TOTAL than my old team, but the amount of call outs for presumed living persons seems less.

First thing that struck me as being off was when I first spoke to their leader, I got a bit of a pompous response when I told him what team I was currently on. Scoffed and said he'd never heard of either the state-wide team or the larger regional group. I was taken aback because I can name drop a couple of the officers of the larger group and I guarantee half of you or more would recognize them from SAR or WFA material they've written, or you use software that they helped develop. He didn't recognize them at all. I asked if they required SARTECH or anything like that since my former regional group had their own certs. He said they would handle getting me certified in-house with their own classes.

I brushed it off and took him up on the offer to come out to an orientation, meet the team, etc.

I was under the impression it was just me coming to one of their normal training meetings. Nearly 2 dozen people showed. Only 3 or 4 of them had any sort of experience in EMS, SAR, or anything close to it. The rest were all teachers, nurses, etc. No big deal, gotta start somewhere, right? I have trained a lot of people that came in with zero experience before, so again, brushed it off. I assumed I had misunderstood something during our conversation.

Then they started the meeting with playing the National Anthem, and having everyone stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance. I genuinely thought that was a joke at first but it wasn't. I don't know about yall but the last time I said the Pledge before a meeting was during Boy Scouts.

Next was a "meet the team" deal where they all introduced themselves. Every single person was LE except 2 firefighters and a bail bondsman.

Within 5 minutes of starting their intro video, they show graphic, uncensored photos from their previous searches. I mean graphic. Partial decomp, body hanging from a radio tower, etc. Doesn't bother me as I've been de-sensitized to some extent but remember there's ~20 other people here that likely haven't seen anything close to this. But this was immediately followed up with a lecture on not sharing info or pictures from searches with people not on the team. (We hadn't signed any paperwork at this point so we aren't "on the team.")

The uniform is black BDU style pants, black boots, dark blue tee shirt with the team logo and such. CCW or open carry is not only allowed but encouraged. The 3 team vehicles (F150, trailer, and UTV) were blacked out with the team name and logo in "ghost graphics."

All of that had me thinking this was a big fucking mistake, but the nail in the coffin...

When the leader mentioned a 6 month probationary period, someone asked if that means they can't go on callouts until they've trained for 6 months. No shit, he said "Absolutely not. You can go on a call out tomorrow. The probationary period is just to make sure you can handle it."

This last one blew my fucking mind. I had to pass practical and written tests to go on a call out with my previous team. But not here? Teachers and bakers out in the field, with no idea how to communicate when carrying a liter, no first aid experience outside of bandaids, nothing?

I don't know if I'm just having some "sticker shock", so to speak, or if my bad vibes are justified.

My husband is a volunteer member of a central California search and rescue team, and I am wondering if it would make sense for me to get him a budget-friendly drone (i.e. pretty cheap), and if it would be useful in his searches. I’d appreciate any advice. Thank you.

I've noticed my respond time for call outs are slow as I keep all my gear at my house. As I don't know what the call out will require.

Does anyone keep there gear in there car? Do you keep all of it or just basics?

Do you have any organization tips or items you use to react and respond better?

I’m looking to make a small modification to my gear and marking and flagons would be nice .

I was look at pouches so if there are any recommendations please feel free to let me know.

I’m wilderness SAR but am wondering about the latest technology to locate survivors under rubble. Are any teams using tech? Affordability?

We were shown a technique in a course I did long back. I can't seem to recreate it.

Suppose you are at the bottom of a crevasse and need to get up to the top. You are mostly uninjured but you need to self-rescue. All you have is a top rope (anchored at the top and thrown down perhaps by an inexperienced 2nd). You need to ascend up this rope. You have neither jumar nor prussiks/cords nor any other devices. Just you in your harness and the top rope.

You can tie the rope to your harness and make foot loops and keep pulling yourself up, but there's nothing to capture your progress. Maybe you're not even strong enough to pull yourself up all the way.

The technique that was shown involved making a foot loop on a bight in 1 strand of rope. Then use the end of the same strand to make a friction hitch looped around both strands of the rope taken together. Similarly another loop and friction hitch tied to your harness. It's tough to explain in words cuz I dont recall 100% and what I wrote here might not be 100% correct.

Now you can hang off the harness, take your weight off the foot loop and move its friction hitch up the top rope. Then you stand on the foot loop. Move up the hitch tied to the harness. Something like that. Then hang off the harness and repeat.

Is anyone aware of such a technique and could give maybe a reference to it from a book or maybe a video link? And its name too.

Thanks so much 🙏🏼

I am in Toronto Canada and am interested in Paramedicine potentially going for Toronto's HUSAR team (CAN-TF3) as a medic. Just wondering if anyone on a Canadian HUSAR team could talk about what kind of work you do with your team? Are you only deployed domestically, or are you also deployed internationally (is the Toronto team?). If Canadian HUSAR teams are deployed internationally, which teams go and what determines which teams go? How often are you deployed with the HUSAR team? What kind of disasters have you responded to?

Thank you!

Title

I do SAR with CAP (Civil Air Patrol), and if you know anything about the gear list they give you, most of the items never get used. I've ditched most of the stuff I haven't used on exercises (except medical).

I am now looking for items not on their packing list to add to the pack. I've already got my ideas but suggestions never hurt.

Also, I'm up in Alaska, however, I've already got cold-weather clothing and a cold-weather sleeping system. The budget is around $500.

https://preview.redd.it/j1vmbrc8zxyd1.png?width=386&format=png&auto=webp&s=d5a0bdb67ee9f177ab14957fa261b178449778b5

Hi all,

I have an Under Armour synthetic set for the hiking but was wondering what people pack to change into for sleep?

Any suggestions?

For our high school Capstone Project, we are required to engineer a device that could help solve an issue that many people encounter (Me and my Team are in a STEM Academy, hence the Capstone Project needing to be related to engineering). Our team have decided to make a device that could help to more efficiently and cost effective solution to clean rope as research has shown that dirty rope can be weakened by up to 30%, we would really appreciate it if people could fill our form as we need survey response to get an idea about how impactful our product could potentially be that would be greatly appreciated.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdd1sGDmNUuz4WSae17u4uFL6ShPLzMv8A1jv92B95qJeRCgQ/viewform?usp=sharing

Sturt SES 33 general rescue truck, with a modified roadcrash rescue body. This vehicle contains structural collapse, vertical, swiftwater, confined space and large animal rescue capabilities along with a traverse mule for patient carryouts and additional gas detection, building stabilisation and general rescue capabilities. The truck itself is capable of holding a crew of 6 and is a 2021 Isuzu 110-260 and compliments and additional 2 rescue trucks and further 2 modified utes at Sturt SES.

A photo of a cliff rescue conducted by my SES unit in South Australia 2 weeks ago. Male 50m down on a crumbling cliff edge.

Hi folks,

I'm a relatively new SAR tech civilian... person, just finishing up my ground SAR course in Canada. As part of this course, we have an overnight wilderness survival skills exam which is also, usually, the culmination of the GSAR course - half exam, half rite of passage :)

We were fortunate to have super mild weather, but I learned a lot and made plenty of mistakes. I wanted to share those here.

Mistake One: shelter site

I was assigned an area with a lot of blowdown, including some big fallen trunks. My first shelter spot would have had a big log provide shelter on one side, with a tarp supported by some lashed posts providing the rest of the cover. I would have been lying with my feet downhill, which would have been fine, but the overall space was pretty small and I figured out that the prevailing wind would have blown into the shelter, not against it. I relocated to the other side of the big log, where fortunately I had a central support beam and a little hill perpendicular to the big log I had been using. Super easy: throw a tarp over the support beam, tie or weigh it down the other side of the hill, block up one end with boughs, job done. Which brings us to:

Mistake Two: Fire strategy

I figured I would make a small fire and be close to it, to minimise the amount of time I'm spending hunting (dry) firewood - we had snow and then a thaw so everything was pretty wet. Unfortunately, being close to the fire and having damp wood means you are going to be shooting embers frequently - and also burning holes in your tarp if you haven't covered it up with e.g. moss, boughs, etc. Due to the terrain I had to have my fire at the opening, where my head was, which meant that my feet were naturally colder, but that was not an issue due to clothing and the relatively mild weather. The main cause of my discomfort was mistake three.

Mistake Three: Bedding

I mentioned that hill. There was what looked like a ledge that was covered in thick moss, which would have been perfect - I was using an emergency blanket as a ground mat, which is fine if a little cold, so the damp moss wasn't a concerned - but unfortunately, that ledge turned out to be... not a ledge. So I spent the entire night lying along a slope, trying to prop my hips up with my backpack so I didn't roll. All my gear, if it wasn't stowed, would fall down the slope when I slept. Please don't make my mistake.

Takeaways

I used the following equipment:

• Axe
• Knife
• Tarp
• Emergency blankets x 2
• Billy can

Things I wished I had:

• Saw
• More of my homemade firestarters (coarse and fine sawdust mixed with vaseline, brown twine wick, form into a cherry bomb shape and dip in candle wax). I only had one, and stupidly used it to start my fire... just before a 2hr walk around to see everyone's shelters. I used a small tea light candle to get the second fire going, and when I woke up to an out fire I made a third using cotton balls I keep with my meds in a pill bottle (both OTC meds for subjects, and my own personal ones) plus a healthy dose of hand sanitizer. I will probably use tampons smeared with vaseline going forward.

Plus a canteen, first aid kit, food, good clothing, etc, but the above is the equipment I needed. I frequently wished my axe was a saw. For food, I ate a mix I had put together of salted shellless pistachios, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds and raisins, plus a protein bar and a snickers. I also had single serve hot chocolate and instant coffee, which was great. I only had 2L of water, but it was one night only, and so that was (just) enough.

I'm hoping to get some of my colleagues together to do a similar exercise in December, where we should have plenty of snow and -20 to -35C temperatures :)

I have had a few different Victorianox and Leatherman knives/tools. But is there anything out there that I’m missing? Unique? Best bang for your buck? Personal favorites?

Thanks

Hey yall! Figured this would be the reddit corner to ask this in, sooo....

We are an org that is currently working in WNC after Helene. We are about to start our next phase of working on homes and repairing the flood damage. We are looking for an app where we can mark places and separate them out based on where in the process they are, make notes on what is needed there, etc.
From scrolling through, it looks like SARTopo may be our best bet but I wanted to throw it out here in case there is a better app y'all can think of for our specific needs. Thanks in advance!

Having a hard time finding information on this. How does one get to this level? It doesn’t seem like something where you can just volunteer for a bit and then get onto a team as it looks like most teams require you to have a k9 already and for the two of you to already possess certifications.

There are only two K9 SAR teams in my state and I live too far from either one of them to be considered for a handler position. How would I even begin to work towards this?

Recently found this channel called Rescue Craft, looks like the guy stopped posting a few years ago but he has a lot of content on steep ground access and how to use ropes to affect a rescue.

It's pretty niche stuff, so I just thought people might find it beneficial to have something where you can learn the theory than just being shown on the ground what to do.

Hey, you guys I hope you’re having a good day. Sorry, P.s a little bit long. But here I just want to ask and hear from the people who are already working in this field. Is it possible that I can work in this field due to my limitations? And how can I go about it if possible? Anyway, I have always dreamed of saving people. But more in the front lines type of way and I love the mountains I’m planning on moving to Morganton somewhere in between my sister's location and the mountains. I am a very good survivalist. I’ve always been since I was young ik what to do in an emergency from getting lost to surviving in a rural unknown location for a long time. And I grew up around people who are in the medical field. So I know some basic aid and I have somewhat of a talent for it. I’ve always wanted to provide medical aid to someone in need. So having all three of these, I was able to find my dream job. Especially seeing what’s happening with WNC, it has really got me into wanting to put my foot in the door. The problem is that I am a very short person which that shouldn’t take away my advantage to perform my duties. But I have a rare syndrome also so it makes me very petite. I am 78 pounds rn. I have gone all the way up to 90 and my goal is to reach 100 and try to maintain that weight. My weight was affected by my bone growth at birth very twig-looking arms and tiny baby hands, baby feet.😅 But I won't let that stop me. The advantage of this is that I can fit into some very tight spaces that not even a firefighter can fit in, but with my syndrome, it also comes with disadvantages. I cannot join the military I won’t be able to join the firefighting unless I can become a volunteer. I can’t go into the police force, nor EMT, or paramedic. Since EMTs and paramedics come in teams of two. And I don’t want to have to push all of that responsibility on my partner. Since I cannot pick up 100 pounds. I can push up to 50 since I have to push a very big cart with stuff in it at work all the time. How can I still go about this job field? I want to volunteer but also want to make a career out of this meaning that I want to get paid. Besides my syndrome. I can carry a heavy backpack and walk very long distances. I can hike mountains. I work out and eat pretty regularly so I am healthy and active and can work around my limitations if I have to. My plan right now is to focus on gaining the weight that I need to and getting used to heavy objects. Then before the next school season starts, prepare my mind to do EMT classes to get my certificates and other classes to be able to get all the certificates that are needed.

But if you vote for a other SAR org on the link, I guess that's ok as well.

https://www.landroverusa.com/experiences/events-and-sponsorships/defender-service-awards/vote/honorees.html

What's in your Go Bag?

What are your favorite boots when facing water, climbing, and hiking?

Gear Recs?

What items if any that might not be typical on a gear list do you find helpful?

Thanks!

Alrighty gang, I need a new tarp. I'm West of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State (read, it's always raining, and the brush is super thick). What tarps are people using (note: my team does not allow tents or bivvies. It must be a tarp)?