Search and rescue - real search and rescue - is scary. It's stressful. It's intense. The idea of urgently having to find someone, stabilize them, and evacuate them before they take their last breath is not something to be taken lightly. Finding a dead body and helping to return that person to their family and give them a sense of comfort and closure requires overcoming some of our most basic and strongest fears.

Everyone knows that there is not a life at stake during the school. "The only way to simulate the stress of a real search mission is to limit the amount of time that the student has to complete the everyday tasks. They are hurried as they get up and dressed in the morning. They are hurried as they retrieve equipment from their supply tents and set up and prepare meals. Within the first couple of days the students become more familiar with their gear, how to pack their day-gear so as to minimize time doing the little things like finding can openers and eating utensils.They are hurried as they get in line to move to a new location. Remember, every additional minute that it takes for a team to get organized is one less minute that the victim has to live. It doesn't matter if you can compute lat/long, UTM, or operate an ELT with your eyes closed, if you can't get ready in a timely fashion the victim may die.

Hawk Mountain Ranger School presents challenges from the first minutes of the activity. Personal comfort is displaced by the need to complete the mission. This idea of "service before self" is infectious and stays with the student for years.

That explains the staff's use of "intense motivation" in the early part of the school. As each squadron develop into more of a team the level of pressure put on them becomes less necessary. This usually coincides with the FTX. The squadron rappels and overcomes fears together, students often encouraging each other through the experience. Emphasis is placed on the fact that they are training to save another life.

When the squadron returns from the field there is a noticable difference in every aspect of their behavior. Now they don't have to be told to think of their other teammates. The level of productivity is markedly increased. There seems to be nothing that they can't do.

Then they graduate and feel very proud of their accomplishments. Hopefully, they will return to their squadrons and work to train teams at home.

Meet Captain Bill Gibbons, CAP

I have been involved in CAP for all of my life; my family has a history of an association with CAP in Pennsylvania and especially Philadelphia.

I formally joined in 1977 and served as a cadet with Squadron 103. I attended National COS and the USAFA Survival Course. I was a Mitchell Recipient and earned my Expert Ranger (#141) in 1981. As a squadron we won three Ranger Competitions in a row and represented PAWG at the NER SAR Competition. I and six of my teammates have received a "Find" And "Life Saving" Citations associated with our rescue of a hunter who fell into a mine shaft.

My philosophy on SAR and SAR training is to be prepared for the worst and be ready to go. I believe that confidence is learned but enthusiasm is not.

Professionally I spent six years with area Organ Procurement Organization as the Organ Preservation Technician of surgical organs for transplant. This involved being the vital link between the tragedy of one family and the miracle of another. I am currently a cardiovascular perfusionist; I operate the Heart-Lung Bypass Machine during open-heart surgery procedures. By choice or destiny, I have chosen professions that have continued the "...so that others may live." standard.

I seek out training that can be applied to SAR situations. Serving as a Ropes Instructor gives me the ability to help teams mature as SAR professionals. Individuals often learn more about themselves in the few instants that it takes to transition over an edge during their first rappel than they previously had learned up to that point.

I take what we do seriously. In order to challenge our younger members and maintain their interest, their squadrons will get them involved in SAR. With that they will travel to wilderness environments to train and operate. We are more likely to encounter injuries and perform evacuations of one of our own than of any "civilian". Our skills as leaders should be developed to the point of being able to provide care and evacuations with only the personnel available because there won't be time to mobilize a full mission.