Introduction/Certification/Experience Thread

[kellymoe]

Geez...you guys have high class drunks...we get hairspray and bread loaves here....

If you don't know how that works....you don't want to know....

-H-

Please share. I like to know what I am up against. Right now we see to be going on lots of heroin OD's. Usually pretty simple reversal with narcan. Some other upstanding citizen is usually stuffing the the guy who is unconscious crotch full of ice. I dont know where they got it that they think a crotch full of ice will wake them up. I usually tell them that the next time it happens a swift kick in the crotch will wake them up. It wont of coarse but it make s me feel better

 

[DarkHelmet]

To the rescue!

Owen M.
Current Assignment (August 2006 - Present)
Idaho Mountain Search & Rescue Unit
Training Director
NREMT-B
High Angle Rescue
Avalanche
ELT

Previous Assignments:
Civil Air Patrol - WA Wing (March 1993 - June 1997)
King County Search & Rescue (Seattle, WA) (March 1994 - April 2006)
Western Montana Mountain Rescue Team (Missoula, MT) (Sept. 1997 - May 1999)

I started my SAR career at 13 with CAP and 14 with Explorer Search & Rescue in Seattle. Idaho is a bit slower pace than Seattle. Seattle was running about 120-150 missions each year. In Boise we are running about 25-40. In the 15 years I have been doing SAR I have somewhere around 750 missions under my belt. I'll be in SAR for life. I love it. In High School it was a great excuse to skip (I missed 43 days my senior year for SAR and still managed a 4.0). A ton of great experiences and some not so great. A defining moment of my SAR "career" was the loss of a SAR mentor of mine in a plane crash in 1995. He survived the crash but died of hypothermia waiting to be rescued. His survival pack was on the back seat of his car at the airport. This is the likely reason that I am always so over prepared for any outdoor excursion.

- DH

 

[rionorte]

Geez...you guys have high class drunks...we get hairspray and bread loaves here....

If you don't know how that works....you don't want to know....

-H-

My guess-
Cheap highs from household/cooking/baking stuff?
What Ive been hearing is that kids nowadays are using baking ingredients to get high - inexpensive vanilla extract that contains alcohol, cooking spray, nutmeg...

 

[Antichrist]

Tom,

Your bank might be interested in the CERT courses (Community Emergency Response Team).

Good idea. Yeah, I'm familiar with CERT and that would suit the Atlanta area. But what I had in mind was SAR teams to respond to disaster areas, like New Orleans, tornado disasters and the like.
We have other groups that head out to disaster areas to assist, but I'm trying to get something going more along the lines of my volunteer background.

 

[Hltoppr]

Ok, since folks have asked...and DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME, IT CAN KILL YOU.

Hairspray/Vanilla extract have high concentrations of alcohol.

Spray hairspray into loaf of bread, saturating the bread...then sqeeze and drink or eat (yuk).

Nasty.

-H-

 

[Momrocks]

Not SAR but Level 2 CERT

Member of CERT. Minor impact to my personal life but can be a very valuable for the community. We just were alerted for Fay and one week later we have Gustav breathing down our necks. Hurricane Ivan encouraged me to become active, Katrina cemented the decision as a good one. Never miss an opportunity to be a descent citizen.

 

[RVR2RSQ]

K9 Sar

Hi all, new guy here.

I'm in Columbus OH, and am on a K9 team. We don't do alot of wilderness searches (a few in the last couple of years). Sadly we get alot of call outs to do recovery .

We have about 15-20 call outs a year.

Some of us get a SAR Tech cert, but mostly we certify through NAPWADA (North American Police Work Dog Association). We are all volunteers.

Brian

 

[Hltoppr]

Great to have a K-9 handler here!

I'm assuming yours is air scent, and cadaver?

-H-

 

[RVR2RSQ]

Hltoppr - He is cadaver and trailing, we do have a couple of air scent dogs on the team though.

Brian

 

[Off-Grid Engineering]

Hi all, my name is Matt, 25 yo, and I've been a member of this forum for a little while. I'm glad someone finally recognized that alot of us are into this! Anyways, as long as all of us are bragging....

National Registry EMT-Paramedic
National Ski Patrol Alpine Patroller
Wilderness EMT w/ ALS
North Carolina EMT-Paramedic
North Carolina Rescue Technician
North Carolina SWAT Medic
Former Corporal w/ the Davie County Sheriff's Office

Just moved out west and obtained my:
Colorado EMT-Paramedic

Looking for a good rescue organization here in the west!

 

[Hltoppr]

Good to hear you're one of the team Matt! Colorado should keep you busy! With the vast country up there, I don't think you'll have a hard time finding a team that'll need your talents and challenge you at the same time!

Cheers,

-H-

 

[RaginRabbi]

Brand new to forum and SAR

Since I can't find a New Members sub-forum I'd like to post my into here.
I was referred by mike, a fellow Frontier driver and member of the ClubFrontier forum, where I'm a newly minted Junior-Moderator. I spent 6 years as a Navy Nuke Electrician and am now an HVAC controls Engineer in the Seattle metro area.
I've been a Nissan Frontier 4x4 owner for a couple of years now and just a couple of months ago I joined up with the King County 4x4 Search and Rescue Unit, based in Seattle, WA. We are just one of a bunch of different units that make up KCSARA, (King County Search and Rescue Association) which also includes units like the Explorers, Seattle Mountain Rescue, Ski Patrol, Dog Teams, trackers and some others. I've only been out to one mission so far, but it was amazing to be standing there when the Sarge from the Sherrifs office was briefing the media that the two boys in the ice cave-in were alive and the rescue was in progress.
I'm signed up for a slate of classes for the SAR academy this fall and I'm looking forward to getting to know the other members of the unit.
I hope to learn a lot of cool things from this forum.

 

[Hltoppr]

Congrats on joining the new team. You'll find that the training and experience you get will far outweigh the time you put in!

Navy nuke, huh...good guys and gals in that program. I worked with a bunch of 'em as a Radiological Control Tech for Los Alamos National Lab when I graduated from college.

First rate rad techs!

-H-

 

[spunky2268]

OK, here goes...

Where it all began: 21 years ago as an EMT-Basic. 20 years as a paramedic. 4 years as a respiratory therapist. 16 years as a registered nurse. 4 years with local Emergency Managment Agency in various capacities; primarily as Mass Casualty Coordinator and mounted search and rescue team coordinator. 8 years as a Medical Specialist for a midwestern Urban Search and Rescue team.

Currently: Emergency Medical Services and Preparedness Coordinator, EMS Instructor, Medical Team Training Coordinator for said US&R team (they are somewhere between Mississippi and Georgia right now - I had obligations here). Provide technical consulting to local search and rescue assets (primarily US&R), but still provide training in land navigation for the mounted guys.

Related interests: EMS Outreach education; providing first aid, navigation and survival training to my motorsport club; spending time with my horse; learning lots to apply to the SAR side from Expedition Portal and Overland Journal.

 

[DarkHelmet]

Since I can't find a New Members sub-forum I'd like to post my into here.
I was referred by mike, a fellow Frontier driver and member of the ClubFrontier forum, where I'm a newly minted Junior-Moderator. I spent 6 years as a Navy Nuke Electrician and am now an HVAC controls Engineer in the Seattle metro area.
I've been a Nissan Frontier 4x4 owner for a couple of years now and just a couple of months ago I joined up with the King County 4x4 Search and Rescue Unit, based in Seattle, WA. We are just one of a bunch of different units that make up KCSARA, (King County Search and Rescue Association) which also includes units like the Explorers, Seattle Mountain Rescue, Ski Patrol, Dog Teams, trackers and some others. I've only been out to one mission so far, but it was amazing to be standing there when the Sarge from the Sherrifs office was briefing the media that the two boys in the ice cave-in were alive and the rescue was in progress.
I'm signed up for a slate of classes for the SAR academy this fall and I'm looking forward to getting to know the other members of the unit.
I hope to learn a lot of cool things from this forum.

My old team! I spent 13 years with King County ESAR and know a TON of 4x4 guys. Brian Harden is a good buddy of mine. He drives a gray/blue Jeep Cherokee.

Welcome to ExPo and SAR.

- DH