New CAPR 60-3 effective 17 Aug 09

[RiverAux]

I'm disappointed that they still haven't specifically defined what they mean by "urban search and rescue" when describing activities that can only take place with NHQ permission.  I ASSume they're talking about crawling around in collapsed buildings, but one could easily interpret that to include lost person SAR inside a city. 

[Tubacap]

Urban Search and Rescue (USaR) is a specific type of SAR which you did elude to you in your post.  Usually it's a "Task Force 1" in whatever state that you are in that does this type of work.

[PHall]

USAR is a very specialized type of Search and Rescue that CAP is neither trained or equipped to do.
About the only USAR tasks CAP could provide assistance with is to provide aerial pictiures and maybe help with crowd control.
This is what CAP did after the Northridge Earthquake.

[ricks]

I think that communications is a good avenue for USAR. At least I imagine it would be. One of the most dangerous things I saw in the army was urban combat. The number one reason it was so dangerous was that our comms degraded significantly in urban settings. It would be a good benefit to have a CAP airframe acting as eyes and ears for the ground search teams. I don't know how it would work when crawling under buildings. I luckly never had that experience.
So Airborne Photography and Communications.

[RADIOMAN015]

Regarding CERT training, remember it means "Community Emergency Response Team".  So there is an organization in each community, or in some instances it might be even county wide, or could even be a combination of just a few small communities.  See this for more information:
http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/

The communities determine what these teams will be used for & than the appropriate training is given.  Would seem to me that if CAP members have an interest in CERT than they would join the local team in their community & get the training, rather than this being a CAP member performing this CERT mission.   Especially if there's only a very small group of CAP members that have an interest in this.

Also from a command & control perspective, can CAP in any community really generate enough members to respond after a natural disaster to be a separate team     Generally as far as community team size it can be around 25 to 60 people or so.  IF there's only 3 CAP members that respond than what separate segment of the mission can 3 people do?

Interestingly in one of our rural counties in our response area, most of the team members got their amateur radio license (technical class level) and the team got a grant to buy 30+ Yaesu FT60R portables, so that emergency comms are using amateur radio frequencies (local club repeaters as well as simplex).  So IF you are a CAP member (or group of members), joining this team, there would be an expectation that you would be able to operate on amateur radio frequencies.   HOWEVER, current CAP rules state that CAP members can't use amateur radio frequencies when signed in on CAP missions .   
RM
               

[MichaelAGates]

I added my CERT - Community Emergency Response Team and National Inland SAR Planning Course information into eservices. After both were listed as Active Status, I noticed that only CERT is showing up on the 101 Card right now. So, if anyone else has seen this, you might not be alone. I am also wondering if having them on the card will ever mean anything. I know they are still relatively new items for CAP qualifications, but one must wonder where this will all go.

[Short Field]

Having it entered in the Ops Quals section allows people to run reports to find out who in their unit(s) have the required training.   

I was very surprised to find two senior people in our Wing had completed the Inland SAR Planning Course.  They have hide having any knowledge of SAR Plannning extremely well.   

[wuzafuzz]

Also from a command & control perspective, can CAP in any community really generate enough members to respond after a natural disaster to be a separate team

In some cases yes.  Last year we fielded a few hundred CAP members (fuzzy on the numbers, but it was a lot) after a tornado tore through a local town.  We pulled them from all over the state, so treating a Wing as one team might make sense.  YMMV.

So IF you are a CAP member (or group of members), joining this team, there would be an expectation that you would be able to operate on amateur radio frequencies.   HOWEVER, current CAP rules state that CAP members can't use amateur radio frequencies when signed in on CAP missions .   
RM           

Definitely a consideration if joining existing CERT's.  If CAP chooses to field a CAP specific CERT assumption would be to use CAP communications resources and liaise with other teams as needed.

Not sure how this would fit in the overall scheme of things.  It might have served us well last year.  CERT training might ensure our folks are properly trained for said missions as opposed to simply calling all ES qualified folks.  Good from an ORM perspective IMHO.  Having said that, when we were called we responded and did a good job, even without CERT training.

[MichaelAGates]

CERT Classroom Courses

All have students courses and Instructor Courses.

Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT)
www.citizencorps.gov/cert

Campus Community Emergency Response Team (C-CERT)
http://www.c-cert.msu.edu/

Teen CERT
http://teencert.org/


CERT Online Courses

Search and Rescue Tutorial
http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/SandR/default.htm

"Introduction to Community Emergency Response Teams", IS-317
http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/IS317/

[wuzafuzz]

The test for IS-317 is almost ridiculously easy after working through the course material.

[Short Field]

The test for IS-317 is almost ridiculously easy after working through the course material.

Fits right in with most CAP tests.    

[SARDOC]

Urban Search and Rescue (USaR) is a specific type of SAR which you did elude to you in your post.  Usually it's a "Task Force 1" in whatever state that you are in that does this type of work.

Not All States Have a FEMA USAR Task Force and Some States have 2 or More....So you may have a Task Force 2 or 3...etc..

USAR is a specialized Highly Technical kind of rescue done by Primarily Fire Department associated FEMA teams...Usually involving Collapsed Structures (ie. World Trade Center, Murrah Federal Building as well as large are searchs like Gulfport MS after Katrina)