This summer we have had some excellent tracks with new people wanting to get lost for us: Joe Oravec and his two grandsons who were visiting, Dennis Howe has started to help, and we met a Humane Society volunteer at Green Valley park walking shelter dogs who gets lost for us. Kathy B, Kelly, Pat, Dave P and Herb’s wife Linda and son Mike, and Co’s sister Carol have all helped so it’s been a banner year for lost people. This is very helpful for Ringo who shows the same enthusiasm searching for strangers as he does for people he knows.

There were a couple of memorable searches. At Ted’s house we sent out Co and Carol on a split track. Ringo found Co, greeted her and I told him “You’re not done yet – track.” He picked up his head and continued until he found Carol. Then we went up the street on another split track: Ringo found Herb and basically the same thing happened; he greeted Herb and then continued on to find Mike, Herb’s son. There was a large pile of boulders between two houses –we’re moving east on Longhorn – and out of my peripheral vision I see a flash of orange between the rocks. Ringo headed into the area between the two houses and then leaped up the boulders – about 12 feet high. Then he came down practically on top of Mike, who didn’t know Ringo was up above him until Herb and I started laughing.

But one of the best moments was with Joe Oravec’s grandson, who is called Little Joe. We were tracking at Herb’s house in Pine and Ringo had a good search finding Little Joe. Then Herb suggested we let Little Joe handle Ringo. So we did, and Herb, Ted and I followed Joe and Ringo up a steep road looking for Pat. I told Joe just let Ringo go, which he did. Ringo got off a little at an intersection, but I instructed Joe how to redirect which he did just fine. Then Ringo wanted to go up a driveway and searched around a bit, then changed his mind and came back, went down a slope into a vacant lot and found Pat.

We found out later that Pat had gone up that driveway looking for a place to hide before she went into the vacant lot. We took a photo of Ringo and Little Joe together.

Chill the puppy is doing well too – showing so much enthusiasm that a 6 month old pup is able to drag around a 6 foot tall man – Greg – until he and all the rest of us are out of breath tracking with the pup. He’s showing great potential. Lewis’ reliability on the refind/recall is proving to be accurate every time he searches.

Susan

SQUAD OBJECTIVES:

The purpose and objectives of the Squad shall be:

A. To maintain a fully trained and qualified volunteer team on call 24 hours a day to perform search and rescue operations; and

B. To provide professional assistance on search and rescue missions, and recovery of injured or accident victims as requested by the Gila County Sheriff’s Department.
 

ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS: (Note: changes are shown in bold)

A.   All members are required to attend a Search and Rescue Academy within one year of being accepted as a member, per GCSO.  Extensions may be granted on an individual bases at the Board’s discretion.
 

B.   Members wishing to remain on active status must attend at least three official Squad functions per quarter of the calendar year, as well as two training exercises per six months of the calendar year.
 

C.   Members who wish to remain on reserve status must attend at least one official Squad function per quarter of the calendar year as well as one training exercise per six months of the calendar year.
 

D.   Technical Rope Team members must attend at least two rope-training exercises, or missions, per six months of the calendar year. Technical Rope Rescue Team members must demonstrate continued proficiency by completing an annual skills checklist.
 

E.   Mantrackers must attend at least one classroom training per year and three field trainings, or missions, per year to maintain certification.

F.      Swiftwater Rescue Team members must attend at least one swiftwater training exercises, or mission, per year.
 
Swiftwater Rescue Team members must demonstrate continued proficiency by completing an annual skills checklist.

September 2011 Training

8 September (Thurs) – Rope Rescue Knots, Bends, and Hitches – Time: After General Membership meeting – Instructor: Roger Miotto – Bring rope, webbing, carabiner and prussik.  Intended for annual skills check-off of rope team members.  Others welcome.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

13 September (Tues) – Rope and Swiftwater Rescue – Time: 1500 – Place: Green Valley Lakes, stage area – Instructor: Roger Miotto

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14 September (Wed) – Navigation – Time: 1800 – Place: Pine Narrows – Instructor: Jim Oelerich

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

17 September (Sat) - Rope Rescue – Time: 0800 – Place: Box Canyon, Boy Scout Camp area – Instructor:  Roger Miotto

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

18 September (Sun) – Tracking (Certification candidates only) - Time: 1500 – Place: Pine Narrows – Instructors:  Kim Donau and Ed Floyd

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

20 and 22 September (Tuesday & Thursday) – Litter training with Mounted Posse – Time: 1800 – Place: Event Center – Instructor:  Rod Cronk

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

25 September (Sun) – Swiftwater Rescue – Time:  0730 (meet at Walmart parking lot for carpooling) – Place:  Saguaro Lake Ranch – Instructor: Roger Miotto

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

15 and16 October (Sat and Sun) – SAR Academy - Time: 0800 – Place: TBD – Instructors: Ira Gibel, Terry Hudgens, Dave Pirtle, Bill Pitterle, Adam Shepard. (Bring compass)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

29 and 30 October; 5 and 6 November (Sat and Sun) – Rope training class for Rope Team member applicants    – Time:  0800 – Place: Squad Building – Instructor: Roger Miotto – Note: After successful completion of this course, applicants must attend 3 rope training exercises within 4 months to become certified.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Requested Training Sessions

If you would like to volunteer to run a training session, or if you have a training session request, contact any Board member, or Morris Brown 

Squad Web Site:  www.trsar.org

Very Strange Mystery Photo

We're hoping someone in the squad can identify what is in this photograph.
Any ideas about what was captured on this game camera would be appreciated

Send info to Vice Commander or Webmaster.