Volume 5, Issue 6
| Top of the Hill | by Larry Mervine |
Also, time to give a heads up. Three of the current officers are not running for office next year. If anyone has any interest, do not be shy, start asking questions, volunteer to do a training, join a committee, there are many tasks to be done. Speaking of being more involved: Cibola is only as good as the involvement of it's membership. There many tasks that need to done besides going on missions. As volunteers I cannot make you be more involved in the team, but when you joined the team you have agreed to a certain level of commitment. Part of that commitment is particpating in trainings, meetings and PR events, helping with the gear, being a member of a committee, coordinating a hike of the month, becoming a leader on the team and giving financial help when needed. This is our team. How good this team is depends on you. Be involved.
See you out there.
| Boots and Blisters | by Tom Russo |
I have commented several times in this column that it is really important to leave a voicemail message if you plan to attend an evaluation session. The evaluation sessions themselves are not particularly difficult to set up, but it is definitely a non-trivial task to make them run smoothly. One of the most important pieces of information I can have is a good estimate of how many people plan to show up. Armed with a reasonably accurate count, I can plan for multiple courses when there are large numbers, arrange evaluators to assist on those courses, and just as importantly, cancel evaluation sessions that aren't going to be attended by enough people to do the whole thing (litter requires a minimum of 6 attendees, search techniques requires at least 3 and is much smoother with 6-8 people).
Unfortunately for some involved, this last search techniques evaluation was saddled with more than just the burden of last-minute scrambling to deal with fire-related closures announced the day before. About five people left voicemail messages saying they'd be at the eval, but eleven showed up. Since we can run a maximum of nine people on a team for search techniques, this required us to split the group into a group of six and a group of five. But since I'd planned for only 5 showing, we laid out only one course and had to have two teams searching the same area for the same clues, with the associated problem of "who should pick up what clue?"
Please help me avoid such problems and get people run through these courses with a minimum of fuss by letting me know as early as possible --- a couple of weeks early would be best! --- that you plan to attend. I ask for the couple of weeks to allow me to give alternate evaluators a considerate amount of time to plan for it, rather than having to call them up the morning before to ask them to help.
Paul Donovan and Gene Mortimer have been certified as land navigation evaluators as of the 21 May evaluation session, and Mickey Jojola is a search techniques evaluator as of 3 June. Thanks, guys, for pitching in and helping this evaluation stuff run more smoothly. It's taken a couple of years to get here, but we are gradually building up our pool of folks who can run fellow members through our evaluation courses. Keep up the good work, Cibola.
As I've said before, June's training will be on Land Navigation and will be led by Paul Donovan on 11 June at 08:30 at the Sandia Ranger Station on South Highway 14. The training comprises a classroom session and a field exercise. The field exercise begins shortly after the classroom session ends, and will involve a short drive down to the Pine Flat Picnic ground.
Paul will lecture on topographic map usage, the mechanics of resection (finding where you are using only map and compass), the UTM system, and other theoretical aspects of navigation. This should help you work through the resection and map-reading exercises in the field afterward, and those exercises should help you find your way through the navigation course that Paul will have set out the day before. The course will give you plenty of opportunity to practice using your map to get around with nothing to lean on but the Earth's magnetic field, the United States Geographical Survey, and your own brainpower. While GPS is a great tool, neither your map nor your compass will ever suffer from weak batteries. One hopes that your brain isn't like mine and that it won't run out of batteries, either.
On another note: for the last three years the team's policy has been that trainings will not count if you arrive more than fifteen minutes late. Unfortunately, since the Land Navigation training has two distinct parts some members have occasionally treated the field exercise as "optional" and left after the classroom session. The field exercise is in fact the main point of this training and the classroom stuff is just there to help folks who might need a little refresher to get through the exercises. Therefore, applying the same rationale as the 15-minute rule, I will not count June's training toward minimum participation requirements for anyone who doesn't attend both components. It makes little sense to tell someone they can't count the training if they miss the first 15 minutes of the classroom session but attend the rest of it while simultaneously giving someone attendance credit for showing up to an hour of show-and-tell and missing 5 hours of field work.
As you may recall, Paul Donovan and James Newberry have been helping me with training duties under the name of a "training committee" this year. The three of us kicked around a schedule a few times and came up with the following for the August to December training schedule:
| Date | Event | Instructor/evaluator |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 5 Aug | Land Nav eval | TBA |
| Sat/Sun, 12-13 Aug | *Summer Bivy/Survival training | Donovan |
| Sat, 9 Sept | *Litter handling training | Russo |
| Sun, 17 Sept | Search Techniques eval | TBA |
| Sat, 7 Oct | Litter eval | TBA |
| Sun, 15 Oct | *Search Techniques training | Newberry/Rumschlag? |
| Sun, 5 Nov | Land Nav eval | TBA |
| Sat, 18 Nov | *Low Angle litter handling | Russo, others? |
| Sat, 9 Dec | Search Techniques Eval | TBA |
| Sat/Sun, 16-17 Dec | *Winter Bivy/Survival | Donovan |
And in the planning ahead department: It's never too early to start thinking about who you'd like to see doing the
training officer's job next year. We've had a large number of people helping
out with trainings this year, so think about who you've seen pitching in and
whether you like them so little that you'd subject them to this job next
year. Just in case you haven't been memorizing all of my sesquipedalian
persiflage over these past few months, Susan Corban, Curtis
Crutcher, David Dixon, Paul Donovan, Mike Dugger,
Larry Mervine James Newberry and Joyce Rumschlag have all
been very actively participating in the training program over the last two
years by leading trainings. In addition, James Newberry and Paul
Donovan have both been pitching in by taking responsibility for
facillitating trainings in a rotation with me; in this way, each month's
training and evalation sessions are set up by a different person who is
responsible for locating an instructor, getting permission to use whatever
location is chosen, and all other logistical tasks for that month. That list
of things to do is quite long and takes a lot of time, so I hope you all
appreciate their efforts and dedication as much as I do.
| Business as Usual | by David Dixon |
Training proposal addition to member guide is voted on, unanimously for. See newsletter or full minutes for addition.
Mickey discusses the Pager test results. Seemed to be no correlation to where or when pages were missed.
James and Susan discussed tracking. SW Assoc. of Trackers Training at McKinley Center in Gallup on May 20.
Revised Mission sheets are available.
Melissa S volunteers to be Pager 1 for May.
All Pager callout procedures are now on our website.
The Phone tree is getting full. Another branch will be implemented if numbers go up. James and Mickey volunteer to be new tops.
There will be a going away party for Melissa S. immediately after the Land Nav Evaluation on Saturday. Melissa spent many years in Cibola and served as Treasurer.
Land Nav Evaluation will be on May 21.
June Training will be on Land Nav. on the 11th, 8:30 am. Pine Flat.
July Training will be a Mock Search on the 15th. ICS callout will be used.
Comments made on April Training on Search Techniques.
Escape reimbursement forms are available. Fill out after Escape and send/give with receipts to Mike.
James put a list of supplies in the newsletter. There are also 4 smaller boxes of supplies given to highest mission goers. There are only 3 orange stickers left. Don has or can get more. Forest service will accept these on vehicles at trainings/evals.
There was a nice Albq. Journal article on the outdoors, outdoor preparedness and search and rescue. James and Susan were quoted.
Officers are requesting that Jeff and ICS committee give them a draft of the proposal to look at.
Susan discusses the need for a CE (Continuing Education) Coordinator for medical policy. Vote will be next month.
We also need a medical director(s). 2 EMS doctors at UNM have agreed to do this. $500 is proposed for yearly payment . Vote is unanimous for. Don discusses state team classification and comments on medical. Says he would not authorize medical treatment by anyone below Paramedic/EMT. Susan points out that WFRs must legally respond. Further clarification by state needed in this area.
Discussion on what to do with the $500 check from REI Grant. It is proposed to use it to buy snowshoes. Discussion on this and other supplies. Motion made to buy Melissa's snowshoes but further discussion proposed postponing it until next meeting. Vote is unanimous for.
David announces that his mentee Ed Mighetto had all of his Cibola pack stolen. Anyone who has extra things to donate should call him.
Jeff P. says that state is looking for FCs and SCs to work as volunteers at crime scenes.
At Escape Rick G. convened a committee for accreditation standards for technical rescue
teams. State solicited comments months ago and didn't get many comments. Needs further updating. Copies are available on AMRC website: www.abq.com/amrc.
| Pinching Pennies | by Mike Dugger |
A final note to our pager holders. Due to several instances of problems when anyone at Contact Paging opens our file, please inform one of the officers if you go to Contact for any team-related service. For example, getting one of the pagers on the team account (top of trees and pagers #1 and #2) worked on, or setting up your own account with the team cap code added to your pager. We have experienced several problems with our service over the years, and in most cases this has been related to a change made incorrectly by Contact when someone went in for service. Just let an officer know so we can make sure that everything is working properly afterwards. Thanks.
| Who's Who and New | by Susan Corban |
Doug Davenport and Dennis Barnhart have each had an orientation and are ready to go on missions. Welcome, Doug and Dennis.
As most of you know, I'm always harassing team members for member profiles. Many of you have not given me one as yet. If you are willing, please email me your life story for the newsletter. These help us get to know one another and are often the more interesting part of the newsletter. Thanks to those of you who have contributed in the past.
| Gearing Up | by James Newberry |
| Public Relations | by David Dixon |
We continue to have new people at every meeting. Enough like what they see to stay and become members. In terms of recruitment and team direction we must be doing something right. I certainly like what I see. Since I joined Cibola three years ago we have become a better, more focused team. One area I have seen a marked improvement in has been trainings. We have gone from basic mini-trainings before meetings to excellent, well thought out learning sessions put on by many of our members. Because of this we continue to get inquiries from other teams about our trainings and evaluations. And even though all of us would like to get out on missions more we all see the benefit of these monthly trainings and yearly evaluations to stay mission ready. Oh well, another challenge in maintaining our reputation as the best ground-team in the state --- what the heck, let's not downplay ourselves --- best team in the state.
During trainings and evaluations I've heard members ask about specifics of search techniques, communication, equipment and other topics. So here's a reminder to all to not forget information available on our website and especially past Lost and Found newsletters for many good sar articles. Tom has worked hard to update and improve our website, maintaining it as one of the best in the state. And he and the other editors continue to put out a great newsletter every month. Make use of these resources.
Missions are the best part, but Cibola is much more. A big pat on the back to
all who have worked to make Cibola the standard in state search and rescue
teams.
| Member Spotlights |
I (Jeff Phillips) am the last of nine children born to Bea and Bob Phillips. I was born
and raised in a small community in upstate New York between Rochester
and Syracuse. I grew up playing in the lakes and rivers and on the hills
and bluffs of the Finger lakes and Lake Ontario. I have always had a
love for the outdoors and for adventure, and sometimes misadventure.
I was never a Boy Scout but I was an honorary Girl Scout, call it mascot, for three years when my mother was Scout Leader and I was at her hip. I actually see those years as developing early learning and appreciation for the outdoors. Who can forget learning CUM-BI-AH and making SIT-UPONS?
My whole life has been playing sports and I've tried most. I played competitive soccer through college and then in city leagues until 1997. Soccer led me to Adrian College in Southeast Michigan on the five year plan to get a Bachelors of Arts in Economics and Political Science.
My sense of adventure and strong desire to see if I could survive on my own led me to travel to Flagstaff, Arizona, sight-unseen, upon graduation in 1990. I had one months rent paid and no job when I arrived. My desire to eat led me to take a job working with people with developmental disabilities while I looked for something more permanent. I never expected it to turn into a career but I have been in that field for the past 10 years.
Flagstaff was a great place to live and I met the love of my life, Patty, there. We eeked out an existence for a couple of years but Flagstaff turned out to be a tough place to live without big money. In 1992 we moved to central Texas and I did a 6 year sentence there. I succeeded in my field, got a good, inexpensive graduate education and explored the state but I found I did not belong there. As Patty and I completed our Masters degrees we looked around and chose Albuquerque to live. We have not been disappointed. This is the first place I've ever put down roots. A year ago we bought a house in the city's north valley and we intend to stay for awhile, at least as long as the water supply holds out.
My life's ambition for the past seven years has been to work in emergency management, especially disaster planning and mitigation. I geared my graduate work in Public Administration in this direction and have pursued certification and experience anywhere I could find it. That's how I found Search and Rescue. I like being part of the best and that's what brought me to Cibola SAR. Last year I became a Logistics Section Chief and since have been trying to keep a balance between pounding the ground and working in base camp. Lately that hasn‚t been hard since balancing nothing is pretty easy.
My career in services to people with disabilities ends Friday, 09 June, 2000. I begin my new career in Emergency Management on Monday, 12 June. I will be a Regional Emergency Management Coordinator for the State of New Mexico. I will work for the Department of Public Safety and be responsible for the Northeast part of the state. My job will be to make sure local jurisdictions do their planning, training and exercising per state and federal law and to act as liaison in the event of an emergency.
Now you know me. See you out there.
| Web News | by Tom Russo |
| Special Notes |
The EMS Academy will be offering the Wilderness Medicine course again next fall semester. The UNM catalog has various EMS courses listed for summer and fall.
Wilderness Survival is offered in the first 8-week session (August 21-October 14) on Saturdays from 8:00-5:00.
Wilderness Medicine is offered in the second 8-week session (October 16-December 16) on Saturdays from 8:00-5:00.
Several EMT-Basic courses are offered also. If you'd like to contact the EMS Academy, call the office at 272-5757 between 8:00 and 5:00, Monday through Friday. -- submitted by Susan Corban
For all you WFRs out there, try the following URL: http://www.emedicine.com/
Check Wilderness Emergencies to find quick reviews of wilderness medicine topics and other interesting stuff. -- submitted by Susan Corban
| Disclaimer and Copyright notice | the Editors |