Well that was really fun.........

Well that was fun.

Today we went to Muscatatuck, this is a search(in all forms) playground .Let me explain, information about the venue is available on.http://www.mutc.in.ng.mil/     so I am not giving away secrets

This is Disneyland for those who search, and want to improve search skills, not only for the SAR community but police and military.

We were given a tour of the facility, you can practice water rescue on a sunken village!!!!  

 

 

 

 

 

Practice open search on hug areas of hills and variable terrain

Practice building search (and various agencies do) for everything from IEDs to small concealed hides, some of the roads includes exploding vehicles.

The ability to collapse, and raise a multi storey car park for the purpose of search and dog search for hrd is very impressive.

 

 

This is a great venue …….a bit far to travel but  

Day off..

Today was a day off, I have noticed as have those around me that snow appears to follow me wherever go ,this clearly does not bode well for the great British summer ,but that’s another story.

So off to Columbus, Indiana: to be fair not at its best in 6 inches of snow and many places closed due to the weather but nice enough to visit, Few interesting pics taken.

Took a trip out to some waterfalls, and then to see something quintessentially American: covered bridges.

                                                           

These were nice in the snow and as a lot of places were shut due to the snow one of the only things to see…..

Apparently  its going to get better ,the chap on the weather channel said ,no time frame given

hectic times....

Since my running with coyotes, it’s been pretty hectic.

A visit to the Indianapolis government centre in central Indianapolis was good.

Very interesting to see the emergency planning operations centre, which has not only a base station but at least 3 mobiles as well, this can be used for anything from a missing persons search to major disaster, and has been.

A days training with the Indianapolis dog section was an experience, different situations that they work under and are required to deal with require different skills from both handler and dog.

 

Search and Rescue - a better response ?: Search and Rescue - a better response ?: First wee...

Search and Rescue - a better response ?: Search and Rescue - a better response ?: First wee...: Search and Rescue - a better response ?: First weekend at Camp Attebury : This is the first chance after a hectic weekend I have had a chanc...

We dont have this problem

Last night, went to meet Mid-West Search h and rescue team, in a lovely park just outside Indianapolis.

http://www.midwestsearchdogs.org/index.html

Bit chilly yes, they had set out several scenario areas, which were being worked by different team.

Went into a large open search area and watched a team work very well, supported by a land search team

They also ran 2 HRD search areas.

Now the reason for the title may become apparent about now, there are in this park lots of deer, there are lots everywhere here, but then came the coyotes, we don’t have that problem..  

Where we were based was apparently the scavenging area that they like to use and they just wanted us to move on, however running a trail/track with a dog towards a pack (and there was) of coyotes may not be everyone’s idea of fun.  Challenging conditions for all yes but this is what is practically there search areas so they train with it .

The search training begins at 18:30 and we left there just before 23:00 a good evenings training.

I am meeting up with this team again in a few weeks …may even be warmer.

Search and Rescue - a better response ?: First weekend at Camp Attebury

Search and Rescue - a better response ?: First weekend at Camp Attebury: This is the first chance after a hectic weekend I have had a chance to write anything. Camp Atterbury:   bit bigger than I thought 30...

First weekend at Camp Attebury

This is the first chance after a hectic weekend I have had a chance to write anything.

Camp Atterbury:  bit bigger than I thought 300,000 acres is big, home to the Indiana state guard and reserve training.

Also as mentioned home to the Dept. of Homeland Security Search and Rescue Centre for Indiana.

I am lucky enough to be here for around 3 weeks (was originally one but my Canada problem prompted this as an option)

The SAR centre is a great facility and provides training for SAR –State/County wide .Police training facilities for SAWT teams and specialist search .Government agencies in search and disaster management, so a huge raft of activities.

This weekend has been a Basic/inter trailing dog course.

About 12 attendees from various depts. including Police, Fire and Rescue and the voluntary sector.

Run in near sub-zero temps, which I am being blamed for bringing) but some very good training done and lessons learnt.

The next few days will be an opportunity to really find out how the location works what can we learn from it , could a place such as this exist in the UK ?