I would like to thank everyone for their support as I enter another Presidency. I again look forward to the challenge. I would also like to thank last year's officers for all the hard work they did for the team and this year's for all they will do. I look forward to working with them. Finally, thanks to Mark, Mike and Adam who have all agreed to remain as committee chairs.

Evaluations will be, as they were last year, the weekend following trainings at 9 a.m. I will start with Sunday and alternate them as usual. Mike has set up some great trainings for the year including pre-meeting classroom time covering each of the evals. Just as he asked for I can also use help running them. If you are certified please let me know which of them you would be willing to do. If you are not let me know which you are interested in becoming. Here is the schedule:

January 23. Search Techniques
February 19. Land Nav
March 20. Litter
April 23. Search Techniques
May 22. Land Nav
June 18. Litter
July 24. Search Techniques
August 20. Land Nav
September 18. Litter
October 22. Search Techniques
November 20. Land Nav
December 17. Litter

Finally, I think the president always need to establish a few yearly goals, and certainly maintaining high standards and increasing membership are most important for Cibola right now. With those in mind I look forward to another great year.

Boots and Blisters

by Mike Dugger, Training Officer

I am looking forward to being Cibola's training officer this year. I hope to have more intermediate and advanced topics this year, while still providing training on the fundamentals for our newer members. I plan to accomplish this by combining some of the fundamental topics in a single field training, to be held three times during the year. This "SAR Fundamentals" training will include the FIELD components of litter, map & compass, and search techniques, while the THEORY parts will be covered in detail during pre-meeting trainings. Trainings will take place the weekend immediately following the business meeting, and alternate between Saturday and Sunday. This should provide everyone with ample opportunity to obtain the training we require of active members. Further, these are only the MINIMUM set of training opportunities we will have. Anyone is welcome to schedule an additional training, hike of the month, etc. to augment this. I will even help if I can!

So far, here is what I have in mind for the annual training calendar:

• Jan - Orienteering
• Feb - Winter Skills and Bivy
• Mar - SAR Fundamentals
• Apr - Mini-Mock Search
• May - ESCAPE
• Jun - Wilderness First Aid
• Jul - SAR Fundamentals
• Aug - Summer Bivy (safety, gear & clothing)
• Sep - Four Wheel Drive
• Oct - Helicopter
• Nov - SAR Fundamentals
• Dec - Low Angle Technical

I will upload the specific dates and other information to our online training calendar within a couple of weeks. Please be sure to check the website and the voicemail hotline for the latest information on training dates and locations.

January's training will be on orienteering, and will take place at Cedro Peak at 9:00 AM, Saturday January 15. Steve Buckley has graciously offered to lead this training as I must be out of town that day. The training will focus on terrain identification and route-finding using a map and compass and NO GPS.

On January 21-22 there will be an avalanche training at Pajarito Mountain, near Los Alamos, provided by the New Mexico Emergency Services Council (NMESC). I have chosen to sanction this training which means that attendees from our team will get training credit. Continuing education credits are also available for medical personnel. Additional information can be found at www.nmesc.org (go to "training," then "registration"). The sooner you register, the cheaper it will be. Please be aware that we are an NMESC team, so you should get a reduced registration rate. If you attend, please provide me with copies of your registration receipt so that you may get credit.

If you have ideas for training topics, or components of one of the above that you feel should be emphasized, please let me know. This is YOUR training program - I am just the facilitator - and it should reflect the topics we need to do our jobs as proficiently as possible. See you out there!

Business as Usual:Meeting Minutes

by Aidan Thompson, Secretary

Minutes of December 2004 Meeting

The meeting began at 19:15. Larry congratulated Rhiannon on becoming an active member. He also thanked Stephen T. for his service to the team and wished him well in the future. Tom Rinck received a commendation for "Top Mission goer". Bryan received the "Rookie of the Year Award." Larry announced the result of the election for 2005 Officer Positions, which were as follows

President: David Dixon

Vice President: Mike Dugger

Secretary: Aidan Thompson

Treasurer: Mark Espelien

Membership Officer: Bob Baker

Aidan requested that pager handlers e-mail him a brief mission report directly after the mission. The key data required to enter a mission report in the database are: mission number, start time, end time and list of members responding.

The meeting ended at 20:00.

Pinching Pennies

by Mark Espelien, Treasurer

First, I'd like to thank the group for the opportunity to serve in this position. I will do my best to keep the coffers full enough to serve our needs.

To that end, we received several donations at year's end. When I get my feet under me in this new job, I hope to do more to recognize that generosity.

Also, continue to send in your fuel receipts, even if you do not want to be reimbursed, as these can be handled as donations. Make sure you check that on the form if that is your choice.

Gearing Up

by Mark Espelien, Equipment Committee chair

We are currently setting up the gear budget for 2005 and I would like to solicit suggestions for gear buys from the group. I have heard of interest in a few more team radios, but I would like to hear more.

2004 was pretty easy on consumables - remember that our team provides items such as batteries (AA, AAA, C), MREs, and trail tape for use on missions.

Disclaimer and Copyright notice

the Editors

The contents of this newsletter are copyright © 2004 by their respective authors or by Cibola Search and Rescue, Inc., and individual articles represent the opinions of the author. Cibola SAR makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in these articles, and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made. Articles contained in this newsletter may be reproduced, with attribution given to Cibola SAR and the author, by any member of the Search and Rescue community for use in other team's publications.