Anyone, Anytime, Anywere. Words to live by when you are a Search and Rescue volunteer.Fifteen years my dad spent as a Search and Rescue volunteer. Fifteen years of stories I thought I'd only read in books. Fifteen years of putting his life on the line to make sure others had loved ones returned or at least a little bit of closure. Many Christmas Eves, New Year's Eves, and most other holidays, he was called out, away from his family, to help other families. None of us resented it. We have always been proud of his service.The volunteers trained an average of 10 hours a month. They trained on an under water sonar boat, trained in back country first aide. He was scuba certified, a master diver. One hundred seventy-five dives under his belt.The scuba training helped them with seventy-five to eighty recoveries of drowning victims, there were only about three that they sadly never found.They trained with life flight. He jumped, in full scuba gear, from a helicopter. First 10 ft, then 20 ft, then two jumps at 40 ft, at twenty knots forward. They also trained, and used in live action, 4 wheelers, horses, snowmobiles, and choppers.One January he had 21 snowmobile call-outs. His team was called out to several avalanches where they dug people out. He said that they often brought dogs out but were led to spots where they dug down 20 ft, and never found anyone. Generally they found people by probing in a pattern.Almost every New Year's Eve, for many years, he was called out to help people on snowmobiles who were lost in the back country, often at 11,000-12,000 ft. elevation, 14 below 0, blizzard, no visibility. One time they found man alive, who had dug a hole under his snowmobile and fell asleep under there.Another time two guys were lost on snowmobiles. Gone three days. On the second day they found the snowmobiles. At the end of the third day the team used choppers (the weather had been too bad the first two days for choppers to fly) and spotted the men crawling on their hands and knees in 5 ft. of snow. The men said that they planned to die that night if not found.When people were lost, stuck or had crashed in the mountains they found them alive only about sixty percent of the time. Oftentimes the freezing victims would take their clothes off, fold them up, and nicely set them somewhere. Apparently when you are about to freeze to death you start to feel warm and euphoric, which results in such actions.One guy they were searching for, left his snowmobile and started hiking back down his own trail, they found footprints in his tracks and followed them. They found him with his shirt off and he started running from them. Dad and one of his teammates (John Provost) had to chase him down on their snowmobiles and bulldog him. He was almost frozen, drunk and delirious.I remember a story in the early years of my Dad finding a drowning victim (a teen) and then having to face the family for a moment before the social workers dragged him away. Telling them, in order to do their job, they had to detach themselves or it would break them. It took a bit of time, I remember, for him to move on from that image.One of His favorite memories is when an 18 wheeler went off the road in Provo Canyon, Utah into Deer Creek Reservoir with seven hundred and fifty turkeys on board. They had to dive into the lake and hook up the cages and lift them out with a crane then hook and pull the truck out with the crane and two semi tow trucks. Seven hundred drowned. Fifty made it. It was pretty entertaining to watch on TV as well.
Another funny story was when his team found some snowmobile riders stranded in the mountains above their own cabin near Midway, Utah. They got them down, safe and sound, and dropped them off at their cabin. With all their gear on they never actually saw each other's faces. About two months later Dad, Mom and their friends, John and Paula Provost (John had been on the search also), went on a cruise. They decided to go to church in San Juan, Puerto Rico where they bumped into another two couples that had a story about getting stuck on their snowmobiles above their cabin near Midway, Utah. You can guess the rest of the story but they were also on the same cruise. What a small world.
I learned a little from his service too. Find something that serves others and brings you a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. Be willing to sacrifice your time and energy for others. Never swim in jeans. Ever. Many of the drowning victims were in jeans. When doing activities in the back country, don't go alone. Always give someone back home an idea of where you'll be. Follow guidelines and restrictions. Try not to leave your vehicle, they are easier to find than people.
