SAR Coordinates - May 2002
SAR COORDINATES
May 2002
TONTO RIM SEARCH AND RESCUE SQUAD
P.O. BOX 357
STRAWBERRY AZ 85544
A self-supporting Non-Profit group of volunteer
citizens dedicated
to improving safety in the Arizona wilderness.
Operating under the authority of the Gila County
Sheriff's Office
John Armer; Sheriff
April has come and gone and while we haven’t been on many
missions (one carry out at Tonto Bridge), we have not been inactive.
Thanks to John Avery, we now have three members qualified on the
trail bikes. Any other members wishing to qualify on them should
contact John and he will set up the training. The bikes, along with
the A.T.V, will be at the missions. The trailer used to transport
the quad and bikes is also being outfitted with a 100 watt radio,
lights and work-space for a mini-command post.
I’m very happy to report on the excellent turnout for the
tracking training held on the 20th and 21st.
19 Squad members, along with three county Deputies and two members
of the Payson P.D. attended. We have received positive comments from
Under Sheriff, Tom Melcher, and Police Lt, Don Engler, along with
their appreciation for being included. Speaking of training, Les has
a line search exercise set for May 4 on Houston Mesa (if the forest
is still open). This is probably the most important, common and
useful technique we can offer if done properly. Anyone with two legs
and eyes can learn; however, there are disciplines and proper
techniques involved, so we are hoping for a very large
participation. Also don’t forget AZ SAR training in Prescott on May
10-11-12!
As Commander, I hope you will all join me in welcoming Deputy
Colt White to our Squad family. Colt has been assigned as Assistant
SAR Coordinator by the Sheriff’s Office. Colt’s knowledge of and
background in Northern Gila Co. will make him a definite asset to
Search and Rescue. With Sgt. Hudgens to train him in the technical
aspects of search and rescue operations, I believe we can look
forward to Colt’s many future successes.
The last item that I want to address is fund-raising. While
ticket sales are strong at the events and public venues, individual
member ticket sales are down from last year. If each member sold
only10 tickets we would realize another $4,500. If you haven’t got
10 friends to which you can sell, try selling them to strangers!
Remember that it is this income that allows us to buy and maintain
our necessary equipment, provide for training, and be the kind of
Squad the County deserves.
Jim, TR4
Don’t forget; the meetings are early this
month, May 7th for the Board
And May 9th for the General Meeting
Arizona SAR Leaders &
Legends
Jane Boyles
PREFACE
Over the years, I have met many outstanding leaders in Search and
Rescue. These men and women were just doing the job that they were
trained for. Behind the scenes I have had the opportunity to see the
extra human qualities that make these people special in Search and
Rescue. The compassion, the unselfishness, the attention to detail,
the training, the organization and just as important; the sharing of
their knowledge, are the qualifications that make these people
outstanding, in my opinion. My comments are general. It does not
matter where they grew up, where they were educated, or even where
they lived. What matters is that each of them made a difference in
the lives of others; those they worked with and those whose lives
were affected by the incident at the time of the activity. Thoughts
of these leaders bring back memories of a job well done every time
we gathered to complete a mission assigned. May these comments
inspire each one of you who read them to go the extra mile "THAT
OTHERS MAY LIVE." (Motto of NASAR- National Association of Search
and Rescue)
Jane
Al Shoenstene, Maricopa County
When I first met Al, our son, John, was a Boy Scout in the only
Phoenix scout group sanctioned to be involved in Search and Rescue.
As part of this group, he did "ride-a-longs" with the Maricopa
County deputies. John's favorite was Deputy Shoenstene. On Saturday
nights I would take him out to the precinct to spend time with
Deputy Shoenstene. They would patrol the northern portion of
Maricopa county, running checks in the washes for stolen cars and
other "cool stuff" to a fifteen-year old. Al was the best mentor a
teenager could have.
You see Al was only about 5'5" tall, but he stood ten feet tall
in the eyes of those who worked with him. Not only was he
conscientious, dependable, honorable and a gentleman, he lived up to
the reputation of a "good cop". Al went on to become the Search and
Rescue Coordinator for Maricopa county. It was an absolute joy to
work with him as he treated everyone with respect and in turn was
respected. He put up with no nonsense from anyone. All searches were
run with the utmost professionalism. Planning was done and paperwork
was completed on time. He made sure I learned it all. One week we
were attending a NASAR conference and he walked up to me and said,
"Why aren't you upstairs in class?" I told him I was not a sworn
officer. "Well, come with me" he said, so I went through the class
with the guys. We had lunch with one of the Fire Chiefs from New
York who later went on to be involved in the World Trade Center
bombings. He had been a featured speaker at the main meeting of the
conference.
Al drove a sedan. He was not going to ride in a rough suburban on
searches. We went on one search where the command was set up at the
end of a very rocky road. When Al appeared on the scene, within an
hour command was moved back to a smooth road. He was the commander!
That search turned out to be very interesting as one of the
hunting party had a warrant out for him and guess who took this guy
to jail? Little Al.
Another time we were hunting for human remains off Table Mesa
road north of Phoenix. John called in that he had found a controlled
substance growing. Al told him to bring it in.
So down the road comes John with a marijuana plant in a
flower-pot with the jug of water used to help it grow. Al just
roared when he realized he had one lonely plant in a blue pot.
One time I was filling out the necessary paperwork at the
precinct to be allowed to drive a county patrol vehicle. Al said to
come on into his office and sit at the desk to get it done. While I
was concentrating, I heard a very distinct rattle. In a box behind
the desk was the longest rattler I have ever seen. He knew my
dislike of snakes and was standing in the doorway where he could see
me just waiting for my reaction. I would not have let him know I was
terrified if my life depended on it. No way would he get the best of
me.
We were having a debriefing one time at a Multi agency training
and he looked over the guys and said, "Come on, we have a fire".
Seems the signal fire from one of the "lost" had gotten out of hand
when the chopper dropped in to pick him up. The wash of the props
had fanned it up good. He led the troops across the brushy hill
shovel in hand.
Soon after that Little Al was diagnosed with cancer. His
treatment kept him going about a year. He tried to put up a front,
but he was struggling to handle the long hours necessary for a
search shift.
Sadly, Little Al lost the battle. The services were probably the
toughest I have ever gone to. The church was filled with his friends
from around the country. Many of them were deputies from other
counties that I had worked with. Big, tough, good guys all with a
tear in their eye for Little Al who still stood ten feet tall. A
legend in his time.
(Editors note: Jane has volunteered to do this series for us so
you may get a broader perspective of the SAR mission and it's
Leaders. Each month one person who has been instrumental in SAR will
be spotlighted. Thanks Jane, for sharing.)
TR16 Cliff Sage
has been in charge of the Highway Cleanup for
a couple years and has done an excellent job of organizing this
effort. In between actual group efforts, Cliff can occasionally be
seen picking up large items that were dropped on the road. He takes
great pride in our section looking nice.
Thanks, Cliff, for being a First
Rate Member.
Don Peters, TR30
Don was born in Santa Cruz, California. He spent 6 years in the
Military Police (Army).
He has lived many places, including Lake Tahoe,NV, Idaho, and 18
years in Phoenix.
Don married his lovely wife, Patt, 42 years ago. They moved to
Payson to get out of the heat and for Patt’s health. They have two
daughters, Yvonne and Kerry, and 4 grandchildren.
Early in Dons working career he was a National Park Ranger and
was on a Professional Ski Patrol. The majority of his work has been
as a Mortgage Banker.
Don enjoys hunting, fishing and camping. He found TRSAR at the
Pine Fair and has been with the squad since November ’98. The Squad
is lucky to have Don. He has been responsible for the Squads
Fund-Raiser for the past three years. This is not an easy job and
requires many hours of his time as well as Patt’s.
Training Schedule
4-May (Sat) Line Search Training – 0800 hrs – FR 1161 and Houston
Mesa Road – just south of Shoofly Ruins (in charge: Les Hulse)
______________________________________________________________________________________
10,11,12-May AZ SAR Training – Prescott – Yavapines Campground
14-May (Tue) Navigation Training – 1830 hrs – Tonto Natural
Bridge Road (in charge: Jim Oelerich)
| 15-May (Wed)
First Aid Training – 1800 hrs – Ira Gibel’s house (in charge:
Ira Gibel) |
18-May (Sat) Ropes Training – time and location TBA (in charge:
Chris Christy)
1-Jun (Sat) Mock Mission – time and location TBA (in charge: Les
Hulse)
5-Jun (Wed) Night Tracking – time and location TBA (in charge:
Les Hulse)
8-Jun (Sat) ATV/ Trailbike Training – 0900 hrs – Pumpkin Center
Store (in charge: John Avery) Sierra Anchas area – bring water,
lunch, GPS, warm clothes, etc. – squad ATV and bikes available for
use (contact J. Avery in advance) – full 8-hour day *
15-Jun (Sat) Ropes Training – time and location TBA (in charge:
Chris Christy)
| 12-Jun (Wed) Adult CPR
Training – 1900 hrs – Ira Gibel’s house (in charge: Ira Gibel) |
| 17-Jul (Wed) CPR
Re-certification Training – 1900 hrs – Ira Gibel’s house (in
charge: Ira Gibel) |
| Sign-up required to attend
this training |
* See following notes:
 | To reserve use of squad ATV or trailbike, contact John Avery
at 928-476-2106 or 480-892-4424 |
| To use trailbikes: gloves, boots, helmet, and eye protection
required. Denim jacket on ATV required. |
| Forest closure may cancel this training. |
John Boyles
This is a story about a hunting trip that was suppose to be
relaxing that turned out to be a search at a high level.
In the mid 60's I became involved with a small fire company in
Chugiak Alaska. By involved I mean that I was a medic, driver,
engineer, president, fund raiser, and almost worn out. At the time I
was a foreman in a civilian paint shop on Elmendorf AFB in
Anchorage. So I needed to get away for a while.
A hunt for Dall Sheep would be the right thing to ease my
stresses. The mountains near my home were close enough to hike to
and I had done that several times before. It was only 22 miles to
the glaciers that fed the streams running down our valley. Usually
that's what I would have done this time. But thinking that I would
stay longer I would need more stuff. So a little more of this and a
little more of that and my 40-pound pack was nearer to 60. I had all
the essentials to survive for weeks if the bears didn't get me. But
I really needed a buddy. My buddy’s name was "Bauldy". He was big
and ate grass. Bauldy was a big old horse that had a mind of his own
and it was often tuned to going back to the barn. His owner was one
of the volunteer guys in the fire company. I could keep him as long
as I wanted, no problem. He needed the exercise.
So with Bauldy all loaded up and me on top, I bid my wife and
kids "so long" and took off. At first impression I thought we might
make most of the trip to the mountains on the first day. Wrong! that
would have been if we were on a flat bridle path in a park. All of
this path was up hill and soft and muddy. The climb was very hard on
the old horse so I walked a lot to make it easier. The walking eased
the pain on my rear too.
Late August in Alaska is not summer. At night it froze and the
days weren't very warm as we were quite close to the top of the
mountains and the glaciers. Large patches of snow were in all of the
gullies. Streams ran all the time and there was plenty grass for
Bauldy.
Bauldy didn't like bears and they came much too close for his
liking, so I tried at night to keep a little twig fire going to
comfort him. That's hard to do when the nearest trees are miles away
and the best fuel is soggy wet stems of the blueberries. After three
days on top hunting and staying awake at night to make him feel safe
I started home. Down hill was just the thing that he wanted.
During one of our frequent stops, think it was for lunch, I heard
an H-21 helo flying up and down in a small side valley off of the
main stream and way south of where I was. I knew right away that
someone was either lost or hurt. The Air force did most of the
search and rescue work .In those days there were no cell phones,
GPS, or even hand held VHF radios. "Walkie-talkies " CB's were used
by some teams, some times. If I hadn't been tired, out of food, and
with a worn down horse I would have gone over to help. Knowing that
it would take just a day to get where they were searching, so
without knowing, who, what, and why, I had no choice but to continue
on down the mountain to home.
About a mile and a half from home I stopped at a gas station that
was run by a friend who was a volunteer fireman. I ask him why he
wasn't up there helping at whatever was going on. He said "Where
have you been? They're looking for you." (In the wrong place?) Yep!
wrong place. Since I worked for the Air Force I knew a lot of phone
numbers. So I went to the payphone out by the road and called SAR at
Elmendorf and told them that I was at the Chevron Gas Station in
Peters Creek, and that I was fine and the horse too.
Almost before I could hang up and get out of the booth, that H-21
came roaring over me and Bauldy, only a couple hundred feet up. Now
Bauldy never rode in one of those "Flying Bananas" and he was in no
mood to have them buzz by that low. After getting Bauldy settled
down and trying to gather up my stuff that hadn't been stomped to
shreds, I finally gave them my thanks with a one-finger salute.
When I got home, my lovely wife thought I should have been home
the night before. Wrong! I had planned to stay out till Thurs. not
Tues.
Searches have evolved to a much more effective function now. But
you can see that the problems of communication and equipment, are
still with us as much now as almost forty years ago. --------
Johnny
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