This month I've been training in Search and Rescue every weekend (personal,
NOT DOG)
This weekend was the weekend they intended to push us outside of our
comfort zones. Philosophy is, if you train outside your comfort zone, you
will function better in emergency situations.

They had us carry 35 pound packs everywhere we went all day, including
climbing muddy steep ravines.. Then last night, we conducted searches in
the dark until 2am in the morning in thorns and briars.. (They promised
us we would be bleeding, we were)
They told us to erect an emergency shelter. No sleeping bags, except a
mylar sack folded to the size of a cigarette pack.
In good faith, we did what was instructed. It was 26 F (-3.33 C) degrees
last night. and tired, completely depleted, we trusted these sacks would
keep us alive , but perhaps not comfortable, as the instructors directed.

Uncomfortable was not the word for it. Those bags condensed moisture and
soon was a rain forest , keeping everything sopping wet.

We never slept all night, even though we were dead tired. Several of us
were vomiting (personally, I vomited up blood, which was something I've
never done) and all of us shivered violently all night. Back spasms from my
7 herniated disks only aggravated my situation. I was ill in pain.

When we finished the exercise, we were all alive, as the instructors
promised, but certainly anything but comfortable!

To top it off, after a night of misery, they gave us a two hour test.


I'm so glad to be home. I get to go back next week and do it all over
again.

I called home yesterday, telling DH I could not do this. HE encouraged me.
I was having back spasms so badly, I kept dropping to the ground when my
legs folded on me like a cheap tent.
I told him I couldn't go on, and he sounded disappointed. I did not want
to disappoint my husband, so I rested, thought about it, and informed my
instructors that I wanted back in. (I had already withdrawn). I bucked it
up, and although in absolute pain, I persevered.

What I learned, This training separates the men from the boys. It makes
you understand conditioning and the difference between being a real rescuer
and a wanna-be-rescuer-compounding-the-problem-by-wasting-resources-by-
becoming-a-victim (liability in the field). You do not want someone like me
hampering the search. The search continued based on the slowest person (me)

You want the rest of the guys present looking for you. They were awesome.
Although they accommodated me, and were nice about it, I simply had no
business out there. Although they suffered on the Hell night as much as I
did, the rest they did in style. Wonderful people.

On 2009-03-23 09:35:19 -0400, diddy none said:

It makes
you understand conditioning and the difference between being a real rescuer
and a wanna-be-rescuer-compounding-the-problem-by-wasting-resources-by-
becoming-a-victim (liability in the field). You do not want someone like me
hampering the search.

We're part of out local CERT (Community Emergency Response Team). I
believe there are a lot of jobs that we can do without becoming part of
the problem, but S&R is not something I can do.

In any emergency, there have to be folks who do paperwork , who are
part of the communications team or the supply chain. It isn't good to
have more able-bodied people doing those jobs when other trained
volunteers can fill in.

There are new rules to for those who want to help in emergencies and
you have to be trained to get through the door. The training for CERT
is not rigorous and there are opportunities to continue to train in
different areas. Some areas, like what you did, are very difficult and
you're right, some training does help us realize our limitations, but
it also helps us learn what the support jobs are.

There are a lot of ways we can help and I encourage everyone to get
involved. We never know when a big storm will hit and extra hands are
needed.

montana wildhack spoke these words of
wisdom in news:2009032309563816807-montana@wildhackcominvalid:

On 2009-03-23 09:35:19 -0400, diddy none said:

It makes
you understand conditioning and the difference between being a real
rescuer and a
wanna-be-rescuer-compounding-the-problem-by-wasting-resources-by-
becoming-a-victim (liability in the field). You do not want someone
like me hampering the search.

We're part of out local CERT (Community Emergency Response Team). I
believe there are a lot of jobs that we can do without becoming part of
the problem, but S&R is not something I can do.

In any emergency, there have to be folks who do paperwork , who are
part of the communications team or the supply chain. It isn't good to
have more able-bodied people doing those jobs when other trained
volunteers can fill in.

There are new rules to for those who want to help in emergencies and
you have to be trained to get through the door. The training for CERT
is not rigorous and there are opportunities to continue to train in
different areas. Some areas, like what you did, are very difficult and
you're right, some training does help us realize our limitations, but
it also helps us learn what the support jobs are.

There are a lot of ways we can help and I encourage everyone to get
involved. We never know when a big storm will hit and extra hands are
needed.



I am also CERT (which I can do) And my neice, who is in a wheelchair after
having her ankle amputated and reattached last October (she will walk
again, it's just a 2 year rehabilitation process) just completed her CERT
training. So I agree with Montana, just because I realized I was over my
head in this type of search training, does not mean I can't help at some
level. We all can.