KMRT’s Training Officer Diary: Search Exercise Sunday 25 July 2010
If you go into the woods today
Mist, drizzle and low cloud rolled over Windgather Rocks as I approached the remote RV (rendez-vous point) for today’s exercise. Not quite the weather I had ordered (thick fog, torrential rain) but it would be sufficient to set the mood for the day.
The scenario for today’s exercise was a straight forward MISPER (missing person) search. But as I’m not one for making it easy I threw in dense forest with lashings of steep hilly terrain for added interest.
As the team arrived and search parties formed, the exercise story unfolded. A local middle aged female suffering stress and depression with a history of drug and alcohol use had gone missing some 36 hrs earlier. Other teams had been out searching prior to Kinder’s deployment. The area Kinder had been tasked to search would prove tough going for the limited resources available, but hopefully we’d be successful.
Deputy Leader Howard was quickly organising search parties and areas to be covered. There were three sections deployed: K1, K2 and K3. It wasn’t a large area; however it was a densely forested area with several steep sided gullies and boggy terrain. (I got the feeling I wasn’t going to be Mr Popular again!)
As one of the exercise organisers, I had a rough idea where the casualty was (but I didn’t know the exact location – Steve and Lynn kept this a secret even from me) so it allowed me to be deployed as part of K1. Our first area consisted of a combination of open moor and dense forest. Ideal for line searching. After several sweep searches (each member attracting thousands of flies especially in the thick of the forest) we eventually cleared the area and returned to the RV point to be re assigned another area.
As it transpired, K2 and K3 weren’t fairing any better. K2 split into two smaller parties to cover the perimeter of their search area and tried to penetrate as far into the densely felled forest as possible. Going was tough, and all sections were lucky if they actually covered 40% of the area. If this was a ‘for real’ incident, then we’d be returning to the area, either in greater numbers or hopefully with the aid of SARDA (search dog association).
K1’s second area was more demanding than the first. Déjà-vu set in as we followed the same route out of RV to the next search area. The steep sided gullies covered in yet more dense trees and thick mud made progress slow. Eventually we came across a small man made ‘pond’ and metal road not indicated on the map. Luckily Pete’s GPS/Map gave us a good indication of where we were and allowed us to maintain a good search formation. Shortly after arriving at this location we were re-tasked to concentrate on the river area running through the forest. Similarly the other Kinder parties had been re-directed to search specific areas following additional information which had come to light about a possible ‘exercise casualty’ sighting.
Eventually some discarded clothing was located, which resulted in a concentrated search around a specific location, but to no avail. Continuing our search pattern, it was evident that several members were hearing definite shouts for help. A further reorganising and rendezvous with the other sections allowed yet another targeted search. This time with a positive result. The semi-conscious casualty was located and casualty care/first aid administered by Ryan and Adi. Lynn proved to be an excellent casualty and very capable of playing the role of a disorientated confused misper.
I’d planned to end the exercise once diagnosis and treatment had been carried out. However, casualty evacuation planning was in full swing with Darren and Colin having already been dispatched with stretcher and extra equipment – it seemed a shame to call it day just yet (well, I was getting enough stick for such a horrendous search area I though I may as well let things carry on a bit further). With the swift arrival of the extra gear everyone was put out of their misery. Job well done. Let’s hope we don’t have to cover this terrain at night in winter (now there’s a thought for next time).
Phil Ridley, KMRT Training Officer
