Ground Teams:Lessons Learned

[ol'fido]

I don't do Ground Team anymore but I did for most of my first 25 years in CAP. Along the way, I would like to think I learned a thing or two about GT, SAR, and Missions in general. I would like to pass on a few of my learned lessons and encourage everyone else on here to do the same. When I joined CT one of my incentives was to get the pulse of CAP as I hadn't really done anything other than summer encampment for a few years. I wanted to use CT as a learning tool and I think that is what most people want out of CT. They really don't want to debate over uniforms and regulations. They want to find information that isn't readily available anywhere else.

So I am going to start with a couple of my nuggets of wisdom and encourage everyone to add theirs. Try to keep them kinda short and sweet and don't dogpile somebody else's Lesson Learned. His reality may be different from your own.

1) DON'T RUSH!- You know how it is. You get that call, text, or e mail that a mission has been opened and the adrenaline starts pumping. You start rushing around the house getting your gear together. You try to throw in a bunch of other stuff "just in case". Finally, you rush off into the middle of the night(usually) to meet your fellow team members. Then you rush to get the briefing info and get out in the field as soon as possible. But the reality is that haste does make waste. We are more prone to mistakes and forgetfulness when we are in a hurry. CAP is not a "lights and siren first responder" group. Move deliberately and with purpose. Don't dawdle and don't put yourself in the middle of a Chinese fire drill either.

2) DON'T GET GADGETITIS OR BE A GEAR GEEK- CAP in their wisdom has provided you with recommended gear list(24 and 72 hr Kits). I don't agree with everything on it but it is a good starting point for the new GT member. After a while you will learn what works and what doesn't. Don't go out and spend hundreds of dollars at REI or Northface when fifty bucks at Wally World will do the trick. Don't get wrapped up in the "coolness" factor of a piece of gear either. Just because you saw it on a Navy SEAL or "Border Wars" doesn't mean it is suitable for GT operations.

Next??....

[lordmonar]

Your most important piece of gear is your BOOTS.

Get a good pair for the terrain and weather conditions you will most likey be seeing.
Break them in BEFORE you get the call.
Take care of them...keep them polished, clean off the mud as soon as in you can (like when you are still in the field) and keep them out of the water as much as possible.

[SARDOC]

Your most important piece of gear is your BOOTS.

Get a good pair for the terrain and weather conditions you will most likey be seeing.
Break them in BEFORE you get the call.
Take care of them...keep them polished, clean off the mud as soon as in you can (like when you are still in the field) and keep them out of the water as much as possible.

Best Advice Ever!

[CT074CC]

Stay calm and work together.  We had some huge personality differences in our squadron fro quite some time.  However, we always paid attention to our training.  We'd always ask, why do we keep doing this training, we are never going to use it.  Well, one day, when we least expected it, we did.  And because we paid attention in the training, our differences were automatically put aside, and we focused one the mission.  It paid off.  Just don't ever think or presume your training is for nothing.  You may not use it for a year, maybe even ten years; but when you use it, you'll be glad you practiced, practiced, practiced!

Another note is this.  We can train to the cows come home on all the technical aspects of SAR/GT and be really good at it.  However, I think another point we often miss is mental conditioning.  How far can we go?  Are we mentally prepared for what we might find?  Are we able to handle police officers or other emergency personnel doubting our competence?  Can you keep your cool under pressure?  Can you handle the bombardment of media questions, etc..?

[ol'fido]

3) KNOW YOUR TURF- Me and the wife went for one our drives tonight. Even before I got married, one of my favorite things to do was to "run the roads". I have been up or down probably every public road or trail in my county. I also drove a lot of the back roads in this part of the state and studied the Delorme to boot. I am pretty familiar with Southern Illinois. I know where the local airports are. I know where the grass strips and crop duster strips are. It helps when you get briefed on a SARSAT hit and know there is a guy that flies Homebuilts off his pasture near there. It also gets you used to seeing something on the map and translating it to what your seeing on the road a lot better than when all your doing is listening to "Turn left in 1/4 mile".

[Walkman]

Your most important piece of gear is your BOOTS.

Get a good pair for the terrain and weather conditions you will most likey be seeing.
Break them in BEFORE you get the call.
Take care of them...keep them polished, clean off the mud as soon as in you can (like when you are still in the field) and keep them out of the water as much as possible.

+100

[Senior]

Every leader should explain the "big picture" of ES in your area to your subordinates.  I was told years ago that in Missouri we don't have that many missing aircraft searches.  We do have some ramp searches.  It still holds true what I was told twenty plus years ago WIWAC.  I participated(with sadness) in my first real missing aircraft search this year.  No survivors unfortunately.  I realized on  this real mission that someone is out there needing our help.  It is very sobering.

I learned in the Army and it holds true in ES/DR that the mission above all else has to be accomplished as efficiently and safely as possible.
It is NOT about YOU as an individual, but a team.  Also, I learned in the Army that you can be replaced.

Regarding gear.  Start simple and as cheap as possible.  I would get the best pair of boots(as mentioned above) that you can afford, a good multi tool(not the one with the most tools).  I would get the rest on ebay.  Do your research and ask what other people are using.

Educate yourself about ES, communications,safety and related topics.  Use google to find links to other SAR organizations, etc..  Learning never ends.

[RADIOMAN015]

CAP does need to take advantage of all technical equipment that will assist with searching.  A perfect example is GPS.  Anyone deploying without this equipment is at a distinct disadvantage.  Most air support by other agencies is going to require accurate pin point information, a map & a compass with an approximatel location isn't what they are looking for. 

Also, mandatory night training (for a special qualification)with appropriate lighting.  Those L shaped flash light aren't all that is needed.  There's a lot different lighting devices/bulbs, etc that provided stronger illumination that are much smaller in size.  CAP day time operation only precludes GT's from really being effective.

Furthermore, CAP's needs to get agreements (and or have members) that have snowmobiles and 4 wheel ATV's that can used to get quickly to potential sites.   The biggest fear that I have is a plane crash in a snow storm where no CAP aircraft can be launched, so it's ground UDF only and there's deep snow in the potential crash area.     

We need to ensure we train with other ES organizations in our "response areas".  They need to know us personally, so there's mutual trust, and we need to stay within "our box" in the scheme of things.

Lastly, with any trauma there's the "golden hour" rule.   Anyone in CAP, in ANY ES position needs to be READY TO GO at all times.  The goal should be to be into the field as quickly/safely as possible.     As everyone knows the aero side
s goal is to try to get in the air in less than 2 hours, many can do it in an hour.  Usually we are going to need a plane up first to try to narrow the search area.

Fortunately (and also unfortunately) we don't have too many ground team missions (and UDF missions) in our wing, but one has to remain sharp by at least participating in ground team training exercises, local & wing.

RN 

[Eclipse]

CAP does not deploy during the "golden hour".  It takes longer than that just to get the initial call.

Even if a resource spins up within 60 minutes of the first call-up, they are already outside the hour.  In the SARSAT days
you were generally in the 2nd to 3rd hour before you got called.

[ol'fido]

4)TRAIN BEYOND THE STANDARD- What I see these days is a lot of people worried about getting their tasks signed off from the task guides for GT/UDF. Once they get these signed off the go "Done!" and sit around inventoring their gear. YOU NEVER STOP TRAINING. It's unlikely but if you ever get into a survival situation on a mission and you rely on just what was given in the task guide, you will definitely be in the hurt locker. You need, for example, to constantly practice firemaking under all conditions. This is a core outdoor and survival skill. Also, many of the skills you need are perishable. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Go beyond the skills in the task guide. It's hard to overtrain.

[Eclipse]

^ Agree 100%

[RADIOMAN015]

4)TRAIN BEYOND THE STANDARD- What I see these days is a lot of people worried about getting their tasks signed off from the task guides for GT/UDF. Once they get these signed off the go "Done!" and sit around inventoring their gear. YOU NEVER STOP TRAINING. It's unlikely but if you ever get into a survival situation on a mission and you rely on just what was given in the task guide, you will definitely be in the hurt locker. You need, for example, to constantly practice firemaking under all conditions. This is a core outdoor and survival skill. Also, many of the skills you need are perishable. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Go beyond the skills in the task guide. It's hard to overtrain.

I think you are asking for too much.  We need to ensure that personnel in ANY ES capacity continue to meet the standard.   IF the standard needs to be raised than that should be looked at also.  I've found in CAP that there's a fair amount of people seniors (as well as some cadets) that has a lot of ES qualifications, BUT when you peel back what their real knowledge is, it is barely satisfactory.  Also IF ANYONE is not training AT LEAST MONTHLY in their ES skills that needs to be looked at.  I've seen cadet NESA graduates, unable to perform adequately on real missions, which I attribute to the lack of follow on training.  Just because you graduate from NESA (or any other course) that doesn't make you the expert.  Total agree on at least monthly training.
   
In my wing the number of people that come forward for monthly training SAREX missions is troubling.  As I've said before IF you are pilot using CAP aircraft for "flying around" I think it's a reasonable expectation that you will be involved in ES (working your way to SAR pilot via mission scanner, observer and other mission base support & field team involvement).
RM   

[RiverAux]

The Coast Guard Commandant talked about this issue in his 2011 direction:

Proficiency is our Standard. "Proficiency" is "a thorough competence derived from training and practice" (Webster's). "Qualified" is the first step to proficiency, but repeated experience and practice are necessary to ensure it, particularly with highly perishable operational skills. Our personnel system, doctrine and policies must support the development and honing of proficiency in specialty.

[fyrfitrmedic]

4)TRAIN BEYOND THE STANDARD- What I see these days is a lot of people worried about getting their tasks signed off from the task guides for GT/UDF. Once they get these signed off the go "Done!" and sit around inventoring their gear. YOU NEVER STOP TRAINING. It's unlikely but if you ever get into a survival situation on a mission and you rely on just what was given in the task guide, you will definitely be in the hurt locker. You need, for example, to constantly practice firemaking under all conditions. This is a core outdoor and survival skill. Also, many of the skills you need are perishable. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Go beyond the skills in the task guide. It's hard to overtrain.

+1

Useful training that engages the personnel is a must.

In 30+ years I've been to way too many poorly-planned and poorly executed SAREXs,and I've seen way too many cancelled or rescheduled because the weather wasn't CAVU.

+1000 in re: "shelf life" of skills. I see too much of this in fire and EMS and it's something that doesn't get looked at adequately in CAP, IMHO.

[ol'fido]

5)CHECK AROUND THE AIRPORT CAREFULLY- On a missing aircraft search, check the wooded areas within one(1) mile of the airport carefully. Planes don't usually fall out of the sky in mid-flight. Nine times out of ten something went wrong during the landing or takeoff cycle. If you are a GBD, one of the first things you can do is send a ground team out to accomplish this unless there is CREDIBLE information that would cause you to search elsewhere. During a mission here in Benton in 2007, CAP aircraft were taxiing, landing, and taking off withing 100 yards of the crash site. The aircraft had crashed into thick woods on the west side of the runway on takeoff with very little damage to the trees. A Ground Team had to get within yards of the site to see any wreckage.

[coudano]

If you are a team leader or an assistant team leader,
use your whole team.

If you are unable to do that, then you are either doing too much
or you need to reduce the size of your team

or both.


Sitting in the back of the van staring at the seat, and never getting to do anything...   sucks.
It might be exciting for the 2 people doing everything, but not so much for the rest of the team.


--These days I pretty much just drive, monitor safety, and stupid check the person who is actually managing the search; quite often a cadet.  Of course sometimes that isn't practical/expedient, and you have to get more directive, but as your team gets more competent, back off and let them work.   all of them...

[ol'fido]

6)PAY ATTENTION TO THE RADAR TRACK- If your IC can get the radar track of the missing aircraft pay close attention to the location radar contact was lost and the direction of travel at the time. Yes, I know that an aircraft could drop below the ATC radar and go for many miles. But of several REDCAPs I have been on for missing aircraft at least two were found at or near where radar contact was lost.

[Dracosbane]

7)  Don't forget Mr. Murphy likes to tag along in the van. 

8 )  Don't be afraid to speak up, even for the little things.  Better to check out a irrelevant clue than miss a relevant clue.

9)  Check your gear regularly, before you need it.  Don't just let it sit after your last mission.  If you don't check your gear after the last time you use it until the next time you need it, you'll find yourself missing that critical piece of gear, and rushing around trying to find it or out in the field without it.

[EmergencyManager6]

6)PAY ATTENTION TO THE RADAR TRACK- If your IC can get the radar track of the missing aircraft pay close attention to the location radar contact was lost and the direction of travel at the time. Yes, I know that an aircraft could drop below the ATC radar and go for many miles. But of several REDCAPs I have been on for missing aircraft at least two were found at or near where radar contact was lost.

NTAP data is only a tool!  treat it as such.  there are no promises or guarantees with NTAP data.

[Parsifal]

The Coast Guard Commandant talked about this issue in his 2011 direction:

Proficiency is our Standard. "Proficiency" is "a thorough competence derived from training and practice" (Webster's). "Qualified" is the first step to proficiency, but repeated experience and practice are necessary to ensure it, particularly with highly perishable operational skills. Our personnel system, doctrine and policies must support the development and honing of proficiency in specialty.

The issue of leadership and technical proficiency has been on my mind frequently. On paper, I'm qualified in many specialties, and expected to serve in leadership roles, but I hardly consider myself proficient. The same is probably true of many individuals and teams. But how do you (as an individual and team) become proficient when ES training is conducted infrequently and on a piece-meal basis...SAREXes are cancelled...we receive qualification training but little fieldwork and refresher training afterwards...and so forth? There is only so much an individual alone can do to maintain and improve his skills. Before rejoining, I left CAP a dozen years ago with similar concerns and unspoken complaints. I wonder if others feel the same or have completely different perspectives based on their experience.

I agree with RM's recommendation that ES training be conducted monthly.  There are many other good suggestions in this discussion as well.