Moose-country 'rescue' mania

  • Published
  • By Capt. Jeff Noel
  • Canadian Forces 17 Wing Public Affairs
MANITOBA, Canada --  Alberta Canada's Peace River Valley was anything but peaceful as Combat Rescue Reservists from Cocoa Beach, Fla. flanked their hulking HC-130P/N Hercules turbo-prop rescue aircraft in a multi-national exercise with more than two-hundred civilian and military participants from throughout Canada and the United States in SAREX Grand Prairie 2010.

The Reservists, from the 920th Rescue Wing, Patrick Air Force Base, drill with their Canadian counterparts twice yearly to collaborate on the minutia of saving lives.

"It (the exercise) was definitely larger then we had originally planned," said Capt Keith Miller, an air combat systems officer with 435 'Chinthe' Transport and Rescue Squadron and Search and Rescue Exercise Coordinator. "But the scope and diversity added immensely to the exercise."

Hosted by Winnipeg's 435 Squadron, the exercise aimed at honing the squadrons ability to coordinate and conduct a major search and rescue mission from a deployed location, was held in the Grande Prairie, Alberta area from May 14 - 18, 2010.

When asked why Grande Prairie was selected as the site for the SAREX, 435 Squadrons Deputy Commanding Officer Maj. Glenn Northrup stated that," based in Winnipeg, obviously in the middle of the prairies, we try to take every chance we can to get near the mountains because there are certain challenges associated with performing search-and-rescue operations in mountains."

In addition to the Florida Rescue Reservists and their two "Hercs," Winnipeg-based search headquarters staff, aircrews, maintenance and support personnel, and two CC-130 Hercules aircraft, participants included aircrews, maintenance personnel, pararescuemen (also known as PJ's); an aircrew and a CC-138 Twin Otter from 440 'Vampire' Squadron from Yellowknife, N.W.T.; Civil Air Search and Rescue Association members and ten aircraft from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia; personnel and two helicopters from the Alberta Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society, as well as personnel and equipment from the Grande Prairie Technical Search and Rescue Association, Grande Prairie EMS and Weyerhaeuser Canada.

"We have been associated with 435 Squadron for quite a while now and get together regularly to exchange best practices and ideas," said USAFR Lt. Col. Daniel Byers, 39th RQS (920th RQW) Chief, Current Operations.

The exercise was divided into two distinct phases. The first phase consisted of an actual aerial search scenario that provided practice for an appointed Search Master and their staff to experience a full-scale search operation first-hand as well as the aircrews.
The second phase involved rescue training for Canadian Forces Search and Rescue Technicians (SAR Techs), USAFR PJ's, STARS and Grande Prairie TSR.

This (second) phase said Sgt. Randy McOrmond, a SAR Tech with 435 Squadron and second phase Coordinator, "was very challenging because it included SAR Tech's and PJ's parachuting into confined areas, assessing the injuries of a simulated casualty, stabilizing them, then evacuating them so they can be (simulated) transferred to EMS and hospital staff."

SAREX is part of the annual training cycle conducted by all Canadian Air Force Search and Rescue Squadrons, culminating with the National SAREX which will be hosted this year by 19 Wing Comox, B.C.

"Due to their extreme operating conditions, the Canadians and U.S. Air Force Reservists are among the virtuoso Rescuers in the world. This exercise gives them a chance to develop the most effective tricks of the trade and unite their techniques and tactics to become even better," said Col. Robert Dunn, 920th Rescue Wing Commander.

The 920th Rescue Wing is the most called upon unit in the Air Force Reserve. Its mission is combat search and rescue, civilian search and rescue and astronaut shuttle and rocket launch support.

For more information on becoming a pararescueman with the Air Force Reserve's 920th Rescue Wing, please visit:

http://www.920rqw.afrc.af.mil/units/920threscuewingrecruiting/index.asp

Also, for more information about 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron, please visit:

www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/17w-17e/sqns-escs/page-eng.asp?id=412