Inland Search and Rescue Planning Course

[smj58501]

I attended the Inland Search and Rescue Planning Course back in Oct of 1999 when it was offered in my state (back then it was called the Inland SAR Coordination Course). I found the course extremely beneficial, especially the mathematically-based search planning principles. The course must have some degree of endoresement from CAP and CAP-USAF since the organization continues to push attendance, and USAF evaluators at exercises I have attended asked how many have gone (they also get real excited when they see my National Search and Rescue School patch)

While others from my Wing have attended this course at one time or another, the principles taught in the Inland Search and Rescue Planning Course are not being applied. This is puzzling sometimes since the Wing encourages attendance. I would like to do a sit down sometime on this topic with our leadership, but before I do I was hoping to get some feedback from others on this board on the following:

1. If you have attended, what was your opinion of what was taught? Useful?

2. Has your Sqdn/ Wing incorporated the principles taught at the Inland Search and Rescue Planning Course? Are they working?

3. If you brought the Inland Search and Rescue Planning Course principles to your organization, how did you "crack the nut", i.e. sell it in such a way that your organization's leadership was willing to implement it.

4. How did you implement the principles taught in the course in your organization?

5. Have you trained other non-graduates on the principles taught in Inland Search and Rescue Planning Course? What challenges did you face? If you were successful, what pointers do you have?

Any other thoughts you have would be appreciated. Thx!

[CAPSeahawk8]

I attended the course in may and found it to be an outstanding course for IC's to take. The search algorithms taught are very useful if you have enough data to go by. I have been paced on several large scale missions as the PSC because of my knowledge gained at the course. I believe that the plans helped locate one target and eliminated alot of wasted time on another. As far as implementing the program we are sending several of our new IC/T through the course and that well sit well with the fresh minds.

Capt Andy Wiggs
ES Training Officer/NC Wing
CV/Group 3 NC Wing
DOS/Group 3 NC Wing

[smj58501]

I attended the course in may and found it to be an outstanding course for IC's to take. The search algorithms taught are very useful if you have enough data to go by. I have been paced on several large scale missions as the PSC because of my knowledge gained at the course. I believe that the plans helped locate one target and eliminated alot of wasted time on another. As far as implementing the program we are sending several of our new IC/T through the course and that well sit well with the fresh minds.

Capt Andy Wiggs
ES Training Officer/NC Wing
CV/Group 3 NC Wing
DOS/Group 3 NC Wing

Thank you! Thats the sort of feedback I was seeking. Has anyone else gone? What are your thoughts?

[Al Sayre]

Well, I got back from the course Friday.  I found it very interesting and informative, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting.  For those who haven't been, it isn't really a course on how to be an IC, although it gives a lot of good info if you are one. 

It really deals with the in depth planning that needs to be done if all of the things we normally do up front don't/didn't work.  A lot of statistical data is provided, and you learn the methodologies (both air and ground) for performing a focused search based on the statistical likelyhood of success.  The course also provides a lot of additional reading material that I am still wading through. 

One other point is that the course is not CAP-centric.  The course brings together people from multiple agencies and gives us a chance to share our common experiences, and allows those of us who are usually stuck in CAPland how the other agencies work and gives us a chance to work together.  This networking can go a long way toward improving (or establishing) CAP's image with these other organizations.  Our class had members from Mississippi- Emergency Management Agency, Highway Patrol, Bureau of Investigations, Bureau of Narcotics, Bureau of Parks Fish and Wildlife, in addition to CAP members from MS, LA and WA Wings.  We also managed to recruit 2 or 3 new CAP members from these agencies while we were there. 

Overall, a very good class and experience, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is involved with Emergency Services Management. 

Thanks to the AFRCC for bringing this course to us, and thanks to all who participated!

[RiverAux]

Old thread, but I'm interested in the same questions that the original poster asked.  Has anyone been to the course in the last few years? 

[Mustang]

I'm two days into the course right now, the training has been excellent--well worth the time.  Lt Col Clarke really knows his stuff and presents it very well.  I really applaud the course's emphasis, planning has been a seriously underemphasized activity in many of the CAP SAR operations I've been part of over the years. 

I agree that the course isn't intended to train ICs, it's designed to produce highly knowledgeable mission planners and Planning Section Chiefs. Of course, ICs will greatly benefit from attending, but no wing should make the mistake of sending *only* ICs.

My wing commander is also attending, we've already begun discussions on how to best share this knowledge within the wing.

[bosshawk]

I took the course at Camp San Luis in San Luis Obispo, CA about four or five years ago.  There were five CAWG members in the class of probably 25 or 30.  I have to say that only two of the CAWG members were ICs and one of those is dead.  I doubt that the other has ever used a single item put forth in the course.  I can say pretty definitely that I have never seen a single principle taught in the course  used in any search mission that I have seen in CAWG.  Since I am not an IC , but am a PSC, I have not used any of those techniques in the limited number of searches that I have participated in.

I thought that the course was very well done: just that CAP doesn't seem to use the items taught.  I did meet some LE folks in the class and have worked searches with them on a number of occasions.  It helps in establishing credibility.

[CommGeek]

i found Inland SAR School to be extremely valuable...  I attended a few years ago before 'Bones' retired.  We have used the methodologies several times and it has led to successful searches, and finds in our Wing.  After attending the course , you look back at the SQTR for Planning Section Chief and realize that CAP's planning function is extremely sub-standard, and that CAP really dosent even  scratch the surface when it comes to search management.

I have always wondered why IC's and PCS's use certain track spacing, and variables on a  search.  Until you go to SAR School , you really dont have any idea why...

I agree that in order to be a decent PSC you need this course.

[Mustang]

I can say pretty definitely that I have never seen a single principle taught in the course  used in any search mission that I have seen in CAWG.  Since I am not an IC , but am a PSC, I have not used any of those techniques in the limited number of searches that I have participated in. ....  I thought that the course was very well done: just that CAP doesn't seem to use the items taught. 

So why not start a new trend? Having been a member of CAWG from 97-04, I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this question, but virtually everything I've been taught in the course over the past three days **could** be employed tomorrow on a CAP-run search mission.  It's all compatible with existing CAP policies, and in fact, I'd argue that it's how the Air Force *wants* us to conduct our SAR ops.

I think most of us can agree on the wisdom of working smarter, not harder.  We may also agree that the biggest barrier to incorporating new ways of doing business often comes down to getting out of our own way.

As a related aside, last year's motorglider crash between Tonopah and Modesto was used as a brief case study during "Air Day" yesterday, with the bottom line being that Air Search Area Definition methodology--probability-based determination of search areas--would've concentrated search efforts in a more efficient/effective manner and in the area where the motorglider was ultimately found by the Nellis HH-60 crew.  Food for thought.

[RiverAux]

After attending the course , you look back at the SQTR for Planning Section Chief and realize that CAP's planning function is extremely sub-standard, and that CAP really dosent even  scratch the surface when it comes to search management.

I wouldn't disagree that our particular PSC training needs to be upgraded, but keep in mind that they do have to take the more advanced ICS courses.  I think that in the last few years our Wing has really grasped the importance of the PSC as an important position in its own right, but quite frankly we don't have enough large scale multi-day missions to really get everybody in a planning groove.  Hard to really do any serious planning on a typical 1 day SAREX.  You can hit the high points, but thats about it. 

[Mustang]

I wouldn't disagree that our particular PSC training needs to be upgraded, but keep in mind that they do have to take the more advanced ICS courses.

One point we've been taught is that ICS was not developed with SAR in mind. 

I think that in the last few years our Wing has really grasped the importance of the PSC as an important position in its own right, but quite frankly we don't have enough large scale multi-day missions to really get everybody in a planning groove.  Hard to really do any serious planning on a typical 1 day SAREX.  You can hit the high points, but thats about it.

Well that's the great thing about tabletop exercises: they can flex your Planning Section's muscle without involving a single aircrew or ground team. Such exercises could be--and maybe even should be--the mechanism that comes up with what aircrews and ground teams will search during an all-hands SAREX.

[CommGeek]

Remember that ICS does not teach tactics or strategy. ICS is purely a framework  soo all organizations can work together.  ICS does NOT teach anything on how to become an IC, PSC, or any other position specific training.  It drives me nuts that CAP will offer an IC school , and cover nothing more than ICS 300 and 400.

SAR School teaches the tactics and strategy for SAR planners....and just breaks the surface.

We are working to conduct a weekend long condensed SAR course based on the Inland SAR curriculum for all our IC's and PSC's. 

You have to answer the question...Why are we searching in this spot? how did we decided on that spot?  What method do we search it.  The simple, typical CAP answer is 2 mile track spacing  " thats the way we always do it'. 

Also the POD charts on the 104 do no good. The crew should not be evaluating thier POD / POS.....  its mathematics....not what the crew says they covered.

[bosshawk]

Quick question: how many Wings actually do PSC training?  I have been in CAWG almost 18 years and have never even heard of a PSC training course.  I know for a fact that the folks who run most of CAWGs missions(and there are VERY few of them) probably haven't even heard of the Inland SAR Course.

[isuhawkeye]

I briefly ran a mission base staff school that was heavy on the planning section.  it was a two day program that wa sscenario driven.  we ran four brief time compressed functional exercises with lecture inbetween. 

[RiverAux]

I was just pointing out that the requirements go beyond the CAP specific training on our SQTRs. 

[Mustang]

Also the POD charts on the 104 do no good. The crew should not be evaluating thier POD / POS.....  its mathematics....not what the crew says they covered.

And, shocker of shockers, the National SAR School folks now teach that POD is calculated BEFORE the sortie, not afterward!  *gasp*

Our class concluded academics yesterday, today was Day One of a tabletop exercise, which is going pretty well.  Can't wait for an opportunity to start using this stuff on an actual mission.

[Short Field]

Quick question: how many Wings actually do PSC training? 

In too many wings, PSC is just a useless step between AOBD and IC that needs to be signed off as quick as possible so the member can go on to IC. 

I have also never seen the CA Wing or any others use the search methodologies on a search or even practice them on a SAREX.   

[Eclipse]

Quick question: how many Wings actually do PSC training? 

In too many wings, PSC is just a useless step between AOBD and IC that needs to be signed off as quick as possible so the member can go on to IC. 

I wish I could disagree, but far too many PSC's don't even know what their job is.

OPS is about now, Planning is about next (using info from now and just was).  If the PSC is involved in launching sorties or tactics, they are doing it wrong.  I am a strong advocate of having Planning physically separated from the operational components to insure they are not bogged down in now.

I would say that if there is one lesson you can take from Inland SAR and the various ICS classes, its "What is your lane, and how to stay within it..."

[RiverAux]

Wondering if there were any more recent graduates of this course that could comment on the course content and how it is (or isn't) being applied in CAP. 

[Eclipse]

We'll be hosting it in April, I can comment after that...

[Capt_Redfox30]

I completed this course in September 2011 I thought it was good training.  I was the only CAP member there so, CAP was mentioned a lot in the training and the "final" we had to plan a mission and we had aircraft as a resource, since I have never been in planning or been an AOBD, I really couldn't help out with that part, but I thought it was good, lots of it, I don't know if I will ever use it, all the math equations, but good training none the less.  Wish I could help explain more, but if you do planning for a living it would be good training for everyone. 

[Eclipse]

Are we talking about the 5-day weekday class or the 2-day weekend class?

[RiverAux]

5 day class.  2 day is the SAR Management Course.

[Eclipse]

OK - that is now referred to as the Basic Inland SAR Course (BISC).
That's the one we're hosting in April.