1SRG conducts internal training sessions in conjunction with local teams and also conducts international training on request for other organizations.
April 2003 - present - 1SRG is working with FOCUS, an NGO dedicated to disaster prevention, mitigation, and preparation, to assess the state of SAR resources in Tajikistan and determine how best to improve SAR and disaster response in the local context. Ultimately, our project will outfit Tajikistani SAR teams with modern equipment and training that can be supported and continued locally. This may mean training to Russian standards; it certainly means focusing on different solutions for communications and disaster response than we would deploy in the West. This project is a partnership where learning takes place on all sides.
More details can be found here.
March, 2001 (Training) - Turkey - Provided 9 days of training to ORDOS
(A formal writeup is available here.)
ORDOS, a Turkish rescue team, contacted 1SRG in early 2000 to determine if we could develop a training course that would provide them with intensive instruction in a variety of areas relating to wilderness search and rescue. Discussions determined their level of expertise, the nature of their operating environment, and which modules would be most appropriate.
In March of 2001, 6 1SRG members presented a nine day course covering search management, swiftwater rescue, cave rescue, canine medical, canine wilderness area search, and tracking and wrapped up the training with a mock search scenario that tied all of the elements together.
The material was presented in an intense survey format and care was taken to ensure that the students understood that this class was designed to introduce them to the various elements and did not constitute a formal certification course in any of the areas.
The training was extremely well received, the mock search scenario was very
educational, and the experience contributed significant information for conducting
similar efforts in the future.
May, 2001 (Training) - Turkey - Provided two weeks of canine SAR
training, donated SAR canine.
One of the members of the initial ORDOS training in Turkey was a canine handler. A superb rapport grew between the handler and the 1SRG instructors. The group felt that the handler was very committed to developing wilderness canine search capabilities and Laura Rathe decided to donate one of her trained trailing SAR canines to ORDOS and the handler.
Laura and Wayne Rathe spent two weeks in Turkey working with the handler and canine to ensure that they could work together as a team and that the required foundation existed for them to develop on their own. They also participated as observers in a local search.
Again, the training was very well received by the handler and by the media.
Winter Skills Training - February 16-18, 2001
WHAT: 1SRG Mountain Division Winter Training
WHEN: February 16-18, 2001
WHERE: Big Mountain Ski Resort, Whitefish Montana (nearest airport is in Kalispell Montana 15 miles away)
WHY: To bring together the 1SRG Mountain Division persons for winter training/get to know you and to invite all you other warm blooded people to join us for a great weekend of people/dog training. Would also like to take this opportunity to invite potential 1-SRG members for an invaluable weekend of training.
The gear list is available here as HTML or here as a downloadable Word document.
