Search & Rescue in New Mexico is made up of all volunteers. Our goal and primary job is to help a person in need. When we respond our thoughts should be on how our skills best can be used to help. And when assigned a task, do the best you can, no matter the type of task.

Team rivalry may be good to motivate a football team to play a better game, but in Search & Rescue a person life depends on how will we cooperate together. Be professional.

If you feel that the actions of a person or persons is causing harm to the subject or impacting your safety, then let the appropriate ICS staff (logstics) know. Before calling Base camp, talk it over with the team leader or the most experienced Cibola team member in the field. Be professional.

In cases of injury, the person with the highest level of medical certification is in charge. That person is responsible for the care being given to the subject, not you.

On missions we do not always know the skill level and capabilities of the members of other teams. Team up with Cibola members first. Do not be discouraged if other teams members underestimate your skills. We all trust people we know.

See you out there.

Boots and Blisters

by Tom Russo

By now you all know that February's training was cancelled because an insufficient number of team members signed up to attend it. I hope that this sad state of affairs is temporary and that we have a good show at the next few trainings.

We held a Search Techniques evaluation on Saturday, March 6th. Five members passed; David Dixon, Paul Donovan, Paul Husler, Melinda Ricker and Tom Russo.

There was a PACE exam on Sunday, March 7th, and four Cibola members passed: Paul Donovan, Ryan Jackson, James Newberry and Joyce Rumschlag. Congratulations!

March's training will be on Tracking and will be taught by Jon Holmes of the US Border Patrol. It will begin at 8:30am on Sunday, 14 March at the Tijeras Ranger Station on South 14. The original instructor, J.D. Martin of New Mexico SAR Support was called out of town at the last minute. I believe that Jon will be a very capable substitute, and hope for a good turnout. One suggestion that J.D. had was for each member to bring a "tracking stick" with them. This could even be a 3-4 foot length of dowel rod. Jon says it is not strictly necessary for his class, but if you have 'em or are interested in getting hold of something that fits the bill, bring 'em.

I will arrange a mock search as our training in April. I hope to make it a full-blown imitation mission, and as such I'll need to ask for maximum participation. Sometime in the late afternoon/early evening of Saturday April 10th the pagers will go off with a -611 suffix. Respond as for a mission. I hope to invite a couple of other teams to join us in this one. We'll need a good turnout of ICS people, too.

April's evaluation session will occur on Saturday, April 3 and will be on litter handling. As always, members interested in becoming evaluators should contact me at least a week in advance to arrange an evaluator training to occur on the same day as the evaluation. If you are not yet ready to take the litter evaluation the next one will be in July, and there will be a litter training in June.

NMESC is hosting a helicopter training on March 27. This is a good training to attend, and is only offered once every two years. Unless a significant fraction of active members attend it (say 10 or more), however, it will not count as one of our team's trainings, and will therefore not count toward the two trainings you need to attend in a six month period.

Speaking of the two trainings per six month period, two of the six opportunties have passed. Remember that you will not be allowed to participate in field assignments as a Cibola member if July comes around without your having taken two trainings. The remaining four trainings are March's tracking, April's mock search, May's Escape and June's litter handling. I hope to see you at them.

I have contacted the New Mexico Four-Wheelers regarding the possibility of them leading another four-wheel-drive training for us, possibly in August. They will be bringing the subject up at their next meeting on March 12th, and I hope to hear from them soon afterwards. Watch this space.

Please welcome Frances Robertson and Brian Murray. Both have gone through orientation and are anxious to learn about what happens on missions and in trainings.

We currently have nine prospective members who have had orientations and are working toward active membership. Four more members passed the PACE exam on March 7th. Congratulations. Everyone can check the mentor list in the newsletter for the names of this new wave of members. Please make the attempt to learn the new folks' names and get acquainted. Thanks to all who have agreed to be mentors and to everyone for helping the new folks get started. And rumor has it that the Girvens are back from Austria and looking forward to rejoining Cibola. Welcome home!

Gearing Up

by Mike Dugger

At the last meeting the team voted to provide 25 feet of 1 inch tubular webbing and a locking carabiner to each member eligible for missions. I have contacted our supplier for this equipment and will make it available as soon as it arrives. This equipment will not be provided to people who are ineligible for missions or who elect to help out in base camp.

Coming Attractions

by Tom Russo

Joyce Rumschlag has written an interesting article on insect bites, and this will appear as April's minilesson.

Public Relations

by David Dixon

We are all here for the volunteer experience but when missions are less frequent think about giving some of that time to something else that would benefit the team. Attend a hike of the month, take in a SAR Support Workshop, volunteer a Saturday of outdoor clean up or trail maintenance or just get outdoors and work on those map and compass skills you struggled with at the last evaluation. And while you're out there keep recruiting those new members.

I am in the process of redoing our team brochure (single page foldout). We also have bookmarks and posters. If you know of a source that would display or hand these items out let me know. They have been very positive for recruitment.

Upcoming PR events are always posted on the newsletter calendar. The PR Committee meeting is on for March.

Web News

by Tom Russo

There was a question raised this month regarding the "membersonly" website. We had thought it self-evident from the name of the site, but the files that are password protected really are meant for distribution to members only. This is a privacy issue (we don't all like to have our addresses and phone numbers publicly available), and also so that we can distribute information to team members without concerning ourselves with copyright issues: distributing training information can be "fair use" when we do it amongst ourselves, but illegal re-distribution if we make it generally available. Similarly, having the password-protected site enables us to provide training handouts to team members without worrying about liability issues which might arise from someone from outside the team using our training information, causing harm, and then just saying "well, I just did what Cibola SAR recommends..."

If you're a new member of the team and want access to this part of our website, please contact me for the team password you need to activate your personal account.
The team website can be accessed at http://www.cibolasar.org/

Statewide SAR Notes

by Mike Dugger

PACE News

Rick's office is no longer in the Emergency Management Center. His office is back at SP Headquarters on Cerrillos Road, second floor. His phone numbers are now: voice 827-9228, fax 827-3395, pager 939-4661.

The state police just acquired a used King Air C-12 chopper. They expect it to be operational in 3-6 months. It can airlift 8 people to remote assignments. Read - make sure you pack is in order...

The last PACE evaluation was at Blackrock near Zuni on March 7. Remaining PACE sessions for the year are tentatively scheduled for: ESCAPE (on Sunday afternoon), in Albuquerque late in July, in Las Cruces Sept. 12, and in Santa Fe at St. John's college Oct. 2.

New gear requirements on the PACE exam are for heavy work gloves, 10 feet of 1 inch tubular webbing, and a practical compass test. The gloves and webbing are for hauling litters. The practical compass test has partcipants take a bearing on a landmark, and report magnetic and true bearings. Participants will fail if they don't properly handle declination.

Some new forms are coming for use in ICS. One will be a "dispatch" form, containing all information that resources will want to know from the logistics person calling them out. Stuff like weather, directions to base, subject details, repeater and mission frequencies, etc. Teams will be given an identical form to record this info on. This is to make sure that critical information is not forgotten. The other new form will be a team tracking form, to record team responses to callouts. For example, when Cibola tells logistics we are sending 8 people, how many actually showed up? This will insure that all responding are accounted for in base camp, and track what kind of response they typically get from the teams.

The idea of "Base Camp Orientation" was presented. This will be a document with general information on the functions at base camp, and what goes on in each. Anyone working in an ICS position must pass a written test on this material. Those who pass will get some sort of recognition that they have been "oriented." The state will not require this of others tapped to help out in base, but individual teams could always make it a requirement.

Speaking of base camp and ICS, some FCs on the committee expressed frustration with ICS section chiefs who report to base without the tools needed to do thier job. If you are a section chief and respond to a mission as part of ICS, make sure you have all the forms, pens, transparent overlays, etc. needed to do the job. This can be assembled in an "ICS kit" that you grab just as you would your pack.

NMESC News