D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
June 2008
Hot on the Trail
Tagging along with Search and Rescue on a "mock mission" training exercise that turns out to be more like the real deal.
Story and photos by Donna Clayton Lawder
Her face hidden behind sunglasses, salt-and-pepper hair peeking out from under her blue baseball cap, Frankie Benoist sounds the official alarm to the dozen or so people assembled in a dirt parking area off Crumbley Road, just north of Fort Bayard: "Media on the ground!" she hollers in a voice that belies her smallish stature and friendly appearance. All conversation stops and heads shoot up to acknowledge the announcement. "The Media" feels herself blushing at all the attention.
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Two searchers look for tracks, trying
to ascertain if the "missing person" in a training exercise
has left the roadway. |
"I have to let them all know you are here," Benoist (pronounced Ben-WAH) says with a smile. "If this were a real mission, I'd have to make sure the crew knows that the press is here. You can't afford to have a searcher say something like, 'Oh, I'll bet this guy's dead by now,' and have that leak out through the media, perhaps even to the victim's family."
Dressed in a gray jacket, a big black radio hanging off the back pocket of her jeans, Benoist is the very embodiment of authority this morning. This is a "mock mission" — a full-scale training exercise — for the Grant County Search and Rescue (SAR) team, a highly trained, all-volunteer body of men and women charged with finding people who get lost or get into trouble in the local wilderness.
Folks in every kind of outdoor dress and gear stand around in small clutches, in the center of the dirt lot ringed by their pickup trucks and jeeps. Some appear to be checking their equipment, while others look over maps and chat.
"I created this particular training mission," Benoist says. "We do this two times a year. It keeps us professional."
She says she's expecting at least a dozen people to show up today, with search experience ranging from zilch to years of service. She's worked with SAR as a rescuer and coordinator for some 30 years, and has served as the group's president, as well.
"We try to pick places where people tend to get lost and also where it's possible and convenient for the most teams to meet," she says of today's training location. "We like having Dona Ana team members up here. We also go down there, and these teams also help each other out on real searches, too." Several members from Dona Ana County Search and Rescue have carpooled up from Las Cruces, joining the Grant County team this morning.
The trailhead parking lot has the feel of a military base this morning — and in fact, this is the official "base camp" for the day's training operation. One man hands out gear from the back of a pickup truck; another spreads out numerous maps on a card table and marks them, using a compass, ruler and red pen.
Dave Kuthe, the operations section chief for this morning's mission, pores over logbooks spread out over the hood of a pickup truck. He calls out names, checking that he has all the required info on everyone participating in the drill.
"The 'call-out' for this mission was initiated last night," Benoist explains. "All certified team members on the list were contacted. Our goal is to make this as real as possible. The team members should have food and water and their usual gear, just like they would on a real search. They'll use the radios and keep in touch with base camp, because that's good practice, to use their skills and equipment, and it keeps everybody sharp."
Asked if there is an actual person for whom the teams will search the wilderness, Benoist laughs. "Oh, yes, he's out there getting 'lost' for us right now."
Benoist says the "newbies" — inexperienced volunteers — who have shown up for today's mock mission will be paired with SAR veterans. In the center of the clearing, Don Perkins, a SAR volunteer with more than 15 years of experience, matches up a newcomer, Diana Schwartz, with experienced SAR member Marc Levesque, both of Silver City. Perkins checks that they have enough snacks, food and water to sustain themselves in case they are out in the field for a length of time. Mock missions usually run three hours or so, but can run longer, Benoist says.
"They should prepare for this like it's the real thing," she adds. This turns out to be oddly prophetic.
Today's mission, Benoist says, will offer the volunteers a chance to practice their tracking, GPS and even emergency medical skills. All volunteers must learn and be certified in emergency medical procedures — such as advanced first aid and CPR — and there are also EMTs and medical doctors on the volunteer roster. Other training runs focus on "packaging people," Benoist says — that is, getting a victim secured in a wheeled litter and transporting him out of the wilderness. There also are "special teams": volunteers trained in whitewater rescue or in "technical" rescues that involve skills like rapelling off mountainsides.
"Today we have a lot of 'ground pounders,'" Benoist says. These are the volunteers who follow tracks and clues and pound the trails, trying to find somebody lost in the wilderness. SAR participated in such high-profile searches over the past couple years for Carolyn Dorn (found alive by hikers after 40 days in the Gila wilderness) and Arsalan Serajian (found dead near the Gila Cliff Dwellings, an apparent suicide).
"This training," Benoist continues, "will help ICS (Incident Command Systems) know the members' skills and help them pick team leaders for real missions. They'll think, 'Oh, I know this person from a similar rescue as a training mission. They would be a good team leader possibility for this real life mission.'"
Benoist goes down the long SAR-related chain of command. Turns out there are a lot of layers of duties and responsibilities, all clearly spelled out.
"The incident commander is usually the first at the scene," she says. There are four levels of incident commanders, and when a person reaches "Level One," he or she becomes an area commander. The area commander is "sort of an on-call supervisor," Benoist says, who's empowered to order special equipment.
Benoist is an operations supervisor. She'll communicate with the search teams by radio from the base camp today. The command structure, she says, also includes an operations section chief who directs the teams, a logistics section chief who secures resources for the teams and a planning section chief who looks at the whole picture and decides what has to happen with the mission.
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