Happy Holidays!

Happy holidays and Merry Christmas to everyone. Med phase is officially done with all 16 of us successfully finishing our practical ambulance time without killing anyone (always a good thing). Working on the ambulance was a great experience that allowed us to actually apply the months of knowledge and to use the improvisation that SAR Techs are reknowned for. It was kind of crazy actually since we only learn to deal with a certain amount of injuries/illnesses when in reality there is sooo much more you have to be prepared to deal with. Common sense plays a huge role. I haven't talked to all of the guys but the general consensus from the paramedic preceptors that I had were that, they absolutely love getting the SAR students. A lot of them won't even precept the regular civilian paramedic students and only precept SAR Techs. My only complaint about the med phase as a whole was that we didn't get enough practical time. I'm sure the rest of the course would agree that they would like the time to become a better paramedic.

A lot of people have been asking me if the course is over now. Noooo way. We've just finished the medical portion. The medical aspect of it is by far the most important part of being a SAR Tech. Everything else is just a vehicle to get guys to a rescue scene and administer medical aid. That being said I don't know a single guy who has done this to be a paramedic. We do it to jump out of planes, climb mountains, and dive. And that's all the stuff we have coming for the rest of the year up until June. First up is Winter Ops and I honestly don't have a clue as to what I'm going to learn during that phase. After that is Arctic Ops. I look on that phase as a mixed bag. I'm super excited to just be going to the Arctic and learning survival up there but -50 celcius is bloody cold when you don't go inside at all and sleep in snow caves. Hahahha we'll see how it goes!

1/3 done!

So med phase is done with a 100% pass rate and everyone is now a qualified paramedic. The course is scattered throughout the island and mainland doing practical training with the BC ambulance service. I am really looking forward to this portion of the course. I'm stationed in Victoria for the duration of this phase which allows me to see Ewa everyday and sleep in my own bed. Some guys aren't so lucky as they are in Vancouver for 4 days, then Port Alberni for 4 days and then Victoria.

The final tests on this phase were as easy as can be. Not because they're actually easy but because the instructors ensure that by that time we are more than prepared for them. On the final written exam there wasn't even an A-, everyone passed with an A or higher. I think I've mentioned it before but this is a condensed version of the normal PCP course. The normal one is 5 months, and the SAR PCP course is 3 months but it is the same course. It speaks volumes the level of compentency the guys on this course have to be able to learn this much material AND be able to practically apply it in such a short amount of time.

The last day before we all disappeared to go on our ambulance phase we had a pre-Christmas party party since not all of us will be around come Christmas time. Check out the video:



After Christmas/New Years break we start to get into the good stuff. Winter ops. Arctic Survival. SAR diving. Freefall parachuting. Mountain ops. Man I can't believe this is a real job.

So close

Well medical phase is almost over. One more week until we're all fully qualified paramedics. After that we'll be doing a mandatory stint on the ambulances around the island. I'm really looking forward to that. We'll be able to really apply our procedures to actual people. The hospital ER time is good and all that, but that only allows us to practice a very limited amount of what it is a paramedic does. Hospitals are controlled environments where everything you could need is at your disposal. Paramedics work in the pre-hospital setting where other factors come in to play. Distance from a hospital, traffic, environment, equipment limitations, etc... And it goes without saying that as a SAR Tech all those complications are only compounded since you might be stuck on a mountain or in the arctic attending a patient for a week.

The past few weeks has all been in preparation for our finally series of tests. And as always there's a written test that accompanies the practical ones. These calls are the fun ones (at least when you're "pretending") because they make you think about what's wrong with the patient and how the treatment you're providing might affect them. For example you have an old fart who's smoked all his life and has bad emphysema which causes him to get short of breath. We can do something about that, but if he has a history of heart problems the drug we give for his shortness of breath could potentially cause undue strain on his ticker.

That's all I got for now. Here's a closing picture of Giles (the last guy you ever want delivering your child) practicing delivering a baby. Apparently he's expecting some nasty shit to go down because he's wearing every piece of protective equipment he could find.

ER time

So myself and three other guys (Tony, Christian, Phil on Saturday and, Mark on Sunday) just got back from Nanaimo after a weekend working in the hospital ER. All I can say is holy shit what an experience. For one it was just really cool to be able to apply some of the knowledge and skills we've learnt over the past few months on people who are truly ill opposed to super healthy SAR students.

We dealt with all sorts of injuries/illnesses from young girls crushed by horses, obstructed bowels, heart attacks, meningitis, narcotic overdose, logging accidents, tuberculosis, etc.... I was thrown up on a few times, one by a guy in SEVERE pain from an obstructed bowel and another time by a 61 year old female. She had a history of alcoholism and had some hematemesis (a fancy word for vomiting blood that I like to throw around). So yes I had a woman vomit blood on my hands and arms. Rad. We all got some experience starting IV's, giving fluids and drugs. Having now tried to start an IV on a senior I have a newfound respect for nurses. Most of them are utterly amazing at their jobs, but one thing I did notice is the sense of detachment that most of them have. I can understand how being saturated by people in pain or even on their death bed would instill that in you.

By far the most profound experience of the weekend involved a man we'll call patient X. This guy was messed up. He had a heart attack the previous day and after a CT scan it was found he had a giant aneurysm in his abdomen as well as a huge clood clot and a build up of plaque (atherosclerosis) in his aorta just below his kidneys. So all his major organs were still receiving blood but not his legs. His legs looked like they were dead. They were cold and ashen and he had no feeling below his belly button. X had said that he never goes to see the doctor. Anyway around 1615 later that day I went in their to see what was up and there was my two friends Christian and Mark doing CPR on this guy why nurses and doctors were running around the bed. My initial reaction was "holy shit........." I then put my gloves and looked for a place to observe the whole thing. Our clinician was pumped and so was I. He asked me if I wanted to give the guy chest compressions to which I said "fuck yeah". Anyway Christian had broken X's sternum in a couple places which is what usually happens if CPR is done right and actually allows for more effective compressions. The doctors established an IV in his femoral artery which was kinda useless I think since he was getting no circulation to his legs anyway and another one in his jugular vein which looked to be an extremely difficult procedure given that we were doing CPR on him. When I finally got up there to give him compressions I just zoned out at first concentrating on giving good compressions, but after I got the rythym of it I started to take it all in. I was looking at him and thinking to myself "this guy is dead, we're beating his heart and breathing for him is all". I did about 3 minutes of compressions on him and then they stopped to assess the patient. I switched out with Tony so he could have a crack at compressions. It wasn't to be though because the doctor called it. I beat X's last heart beat for him. We were all super excited and we went to talk about the whole thing and discuss what was happening and what we were all trying to do for him.

So unfourtunately X didn't pull through but it did have some definite benefits for us. Actually doing CPR in itself was a massive experience and a little more disspationately it was a good experience to see someone you've tried to help die. As a SAR Tech it is something we will deal with, but better deal with it now then on the side of an icy cliff.

I'll say it again and not for the last time. Best job in the world.

Christian Part 1

Getting tired......

What up. OK so quick update on the course. Thing are moving long at an increasingly rapid pace. We're into medical situations now and we (at least myself for sure) are getting saturated. With pre-hospital care as a paramedic you have a set of protocols that dictate how you treat someone based on certain criteria. At first it was pretty simple but as we move along there are more and more protocols to remember and it's starting to get hard for me to remember every little thing about them. You can only give Ventolin if they have a history of this but can't if they're allergic to it, or you can give ASA for chest pain if they don't have any of these 4 things and nitroglycerin if they don't have these 4 things and their blood pressure is above this. This is actually the easy stuff for me. I know that I can manage a patient fine in a practical setting regardless of what it is so long as we've been taught it. The problem I have is with the studying at night. I prioritize like so: practical is most important since in my mind premium care for you patient is vital. Whereas knowledge, ie. knowing what causes acute renal failure is secondary, since in my practical mind set I should only have to know the signs and symptoms of ARF and how to treat it. This causes a problem since I spend all my "spare" time concentrating on the practical aspect of this phase when I should be devoting the majority of it the theoretical portion as there is a lot more to cover.

Anyway the course is going fine. According to the instructors they haven't seen a course get out as early as us (which is still around 4:30-5:00PM) consistently in years. I have to admit it's pretty cool to be here and be a part of it. I was talking about this with my girlfriend last weekend when she asked me if we (the course) were generally a cocky group of guys and I had to explain to her why we aren't. In the Navy I'll openly admit that I was confident and borderline cocky and I think it was because of the environment I was in. The majority of the people aren't physically fit, let alone to my standards and less than half are proficient at their jobs let alone excellent. So someone who IS fit and DOES excel........ it's hard not to get an exaggerated opinion of oneself. But here on this course it's easy to stay humble because you are challenged every day. You are surrounded by people that are in better shape and more knowledgeable than yourself in any given aspect. The instructors are second to none and are critical of the students' performance at all times. And just in case we can't keep ourselves in line they constantly remind us "you're doing good........ BUT don't let up". It's weird to hear stuff like that from them but when it happens I feel like a dog whose been given a treat for good behaviour.

Anyway that's about it. Tomorrows another day and I need to get back to studying instead of procrastinating which is why this entry is so fuckin' long.

Peace.

Halfway pt. 2

So you probably watched the video by now and seen how Christians arm bled when I pulled the needle out. That was my bad of course since I didn't have any gauze ready to put over it. Besides that the course is going along swimmingly. It's hard to believe that we're already halfway through medical phase, 50% closer to being a paramedic, and a long ways off from being a SAR Tech. We still have para phase, dive phase, mountain ops, sea ops, winter ops (avalanche rescue) and of course, arctic ops. So all the cool shit is yet to come but it's important to realize that all that stuff is just a vehicle to get us to the scene so we can administer medical care. We should be starting our hospital time in local ER's in the next few weeks so that will give us some much needed practical experience. I'm already nervous about it though. It's easy to stick needles in SAR candidates since they will suffer through anything, but I imagine it's a different story when you're dealing with some crabby hag or drunk guy who's pissed off for a dumb reason. Typically nurses are extremely caring and understanding but I'm anxious to see what happens when you stick 16 intense dudes in that setting and let them play with needles and stuff.

So all in all everything is going as planned. The pic here is of selection back in Feb 08. If you recall we had to survive with no food for 4 days in the mountains north of Jasper. One of the tasks we had to do during that time was build a ground-to-air signal fire in the event you see an airplane. The smoke has to reach tree-top level in a minute or less or you fail. Good times that I'm glad I'll never have to do again!

Halfway through med phase update pt. 1

One more tick in the box.

Thanksgiving marks another part of the course behind us. The past 3 days has been spent testing the course on the medical knowledge we've accumulated so far. Wednesday was a written exam and Thursday and Friday were practical exams. We were tested on our ability to follow the patient assessment model for limb injuries (in this case a broken leg) as well as CPR and defibrillation. We've had plenty of time to practice and the tests were pretty easy by the time we actually did them. Everyone passed all the tests with no serious problems.

On a bright note Ewa is back from her 7 month deployment with the Navy. I drove down to Victoria to meet her when she got back and we spent the week up here in Comox at an oceanside cabin. She has a ton of pictures from Malaysia, Dubai, India, Japan, Spain, etc..... It looked like a pretty good deployment but I'm just glad she's back!

Vehicle Extrication

First IV

Entonox

A day in the life........

Med update

OK so we're into the thick of med phase now and it's all good. We're just doing some basic stuff right now to get the procedures to become a habit. I've done all of this before since I was lucky enough to get an advanced medical first response course. But this week we start to get into things I haven't covered before. Pain management using Entonox (laughing gas), which of course we have to understand it's effects in order to use effectively. So that means we will all be sucking back on some laughing gas and I will be sure to get some video footage of that. Also we start doing pharmacology and IV administration. I'm really looking forward to that. I've never put a needle in someone and then forced drugs directly into their bloodstream. Muuuuaaahahahha!

Also the picture below is of two guys (Geoff and Eric) while we were learning how to properly auscultate (fancy word for listen) to someones breathing. It just worked out that they were making the gayest faces ever when I took it. Add a caption and some bordering and walla! Magic.

1 month down, 10 more to go

Medical Phase

Well the start of the medical phase has begun. The regular Primary Care Paramedic course is 4 months long with another 3 months to do the practical portion in ambulances and in ER's. SAR Techs do the course in 3 months and have 10 days to do all the required practical work in the various hospitals and ams around the coast. RAD. After a lengthy period of time of since ground ops (Sunday) we show up to work on Monday and get issued a massive amount of books. That pic is the required reading for just one of us.


After that we were given an assignment due for tomorrow on top of the 3 hours of reading a night. Everyone was split into pair and had to do a presentation on a system of the body. Christian and I got the Digestive system. Zuko and his partner got the Reproductive system. The pic below is Zukes stellar vision of what the Gonads are all about.

HAI/Ground Ops

Another phase down. High Altitude Indoc in Winnipeg was pretty easy. The purpose of it was to understand how your body reacts under thin atmosphere and to recognize the signs and symptoms of hypoxia(shortage of oxygen), there are a lot of signs and people tend to have different one's which is why we all had to do it. Winnipeg sucks as far as I could tell, the only cool thing was taking limo's to and from the airport and hanging out in the executive lounge(it's good to be a SAR Tech). It's too spread out and it was just a boring phase so I imagine that had some impact. It was pretty cool though going to 30Kft (higher than Mt. Everest) in the hypobaric chamber and getting all fucked up.
After a week of that we took another plane to Edmonton, got on a private bus and drove to Jarvis Lake, the same place we did selection. We were told it would be a relaxing phase and a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun but relaxing........ hells no. The days start at 0700 and end anywhere between 2200 and 2230. And these aren't normal work days as most people would call them. SAR Tech work days differ slightly. For example, one day we spent building improvised stretchers and carrying people through swamps and bush for hours on end. Not cool, but extremely valuable training. Another day we had to search for a 17 year old boy with special needs who was also an insulin dependant diabetic. We started from the highway and worked our way in towards the lake. Once we got to the lake we received info that he was spotted on the island in the middle of the lake. Now Jarvis Lake is a high altitude, glacier fed lake and it's September, so it's effin' COLD. So we strip down and pack everything in our bivy bags and hit the water. Once on the other side we get dressed again, ruck up and continue the search. I happened to be in the front and found Johnny, a heavy mannequin. So now we have to construct a raft capable of keeping Johnny out of the water. It's kind of funny to see a group of axe wielding men on a beach with huge packs on, making a raft in their underwear. Everything worked out okay though and again it was an extremely valuable exercise. These are just a couple examples of what the week was like. Good training but it was a loooooong week and my body is feeling it now.

Clinical Sciences 200 done!

Well the first of many tests is done. For the past 2 weeks we've been trying to remember the information that would normally be taught to us over the period of a semester. Well today was the test day. Kind of significant since it's the first of many tests. Almost everybody passed though so it's all good. And for the one's that didn't, it's just a small matter of working on some weak areas before the re-test. The beauty of this course is that you take 16 guys, and no matter what you ask them to do or learn, they can do it.

This Sunday we leave for Winnipeg to do high altitude indoctrination for a week and then to Jarvis Lake to do ground ops.

The picture is of a SAR Tech ruck sack. Much better than the shit they give the guys in the Army. That's all the kit I'll be lugging around Jarvis Lake in ground ops. The other picture is of the guys just chillin' in our lounge.

Beach party

Course/family get together at Air Force beach. Good times.

Zukowski's zombie eyes.

This is the best job ever.

Well we're only halfway through the second week and this is officially the best job ever. Not only do we get to learn the coolest combination of skills in the world (ie. paramedic, skydiving, mountain climbing, etc.) but we also get treated really well, are given some sweet equipment, and get pro deals (50% off) on Helly Hansen, The North Face, Sierra Design, and Smith and Oakley glasses. Best job ever.

We started group PT which is run by the fitness staff. Needless to say it's pretty hard. We've done sprints up sand dunes while fireman carrying another man, crab walks up sand dunes, pool PT, you name it. The picture here is of a guy puking during pool PT. The course had to tread water for an hour straight while passing two 20 pound bricks around the circle, one clockwise and one counter-clockwise. Concurrently a guy had to break off of the group and do 25 pushups, a rope climb, and 15 chinups before rejoining the group and another guy leaving. And yes they have put a rope for us to climb and a chinup bar in the pool so you have to start out in the water. Good times had by all. Hopefully I'll be able to get some underwater shots of the guys bobbing for bricks this week.

Course Schedule

Pre study PCP and HAI/AMT
11 August - 22 August 08(pre-study) 25 August - 29 August 08 (HAI/AMT)
CFSSAR and CFSSAT at Winnipeg,Manitoba
The pre-study medical covers the anatomy and physiology portion of the primary care paramedic training. The high altitude indoctrination will include air medical considerations, physiology of flight and exposure to the effects of hypoxia.

Ground operations
30 August - 07 September 08
Jarvis Lake, Alberta
Theory and practical application of ground search techniques, search planning, man tracking and advanced navigation skills.

Primary Care Paramedic Program
08 September - 19 December 08
CFSSAR and Victoria BC
Twelves weeks of theory and practical training in pre-hospital emergency care covering anatomy, physiology and treatment of trauma and medical emergencies. Three weeks of in-hospital and ambulance practicums will follow the classroom theory.

Winter operations
05 - 09 January 09
CFSSAR
An introduction to winter back country travel and avalanche rescue techniques.

Arctic Operations
12 - 23 January 09
CFSSAR, Resolute Bay Det, Nunavut
Training and operations utilizing SAR Tech equipment in extreme arctic conditions.

Dive phase
26 January - 06 March 09
Fleet diving unit Esquimalt, CFSSAR and Helicopter egress
This phase is 6 weeks in duration and is conducted at the FDU, CFSSAR and Survival system in Dartmouth N.S. The SAR Student are going to be trained in the skills necessary to qualify as a SAR Tech Diver , including overturned vessel survivor extraction.

Sea Operations
09 March - 13 March and 23 - 27 March 09
CFSSAR
An introduction to sea survival, helicopter and fixed wing rescue procedures.

Parachute Operations
30 March - 15 may 09
Arizona and CFSSAR
Training in parachute operation's to include packing, inspecting, jumping and airmanship. Parachute descents will include both static line and freefall.

Mountain operation
18 - 29 May 09
Jasper, Alberta
An introduction to basic mountain climbing skills and rescue techniques on rock, snow and ice.


SAR Fundamentals and operational phase
31 May - 12 Jun 09
Jarvis Lake, Alberta
Ground search followed by operational type training putting into used all previous phases and skills. This is an assessment phase used to evaluate the individual on his performance and will be the deciding factor for the SAR Tech QL5A qualification.

Grad Week (Grad day 18 June 09)

15 - 19 June 09
CFSSAR

SAR Tech birthday bumps.

First Day

Well Course 42 has officially started. The day started off with an unofficial welcome by the course NCO. He told us what to expect from today and we shared some laughs. He basically told us to forget everything that happened on selection, meaning all the negative motivation, and that the instructors are there to ensure that we finish the course. That was good to hear. I spent the whole day waiting for an explosion that would leave us all panting and sweating. But it never came.

We did the SAR Tech PT test in the morning and as you can see in the picture, some of us even blew some chunks. The end of the day finished off with us doing our first of many sets of pushups. It was a good feeling. I'll try and get some footage of some random "extra-training" that we're sure to do tomorrow.

Pre PT test PT test.

The guys got together to run the PT test prior to the real thing on Tuesday. It consists of a 2.4km run, 31 pushups, 33 situps, 8 chinups, a 450m shuttle run at 20m intervals, and a 2X 6m rope climb. All of this needs to be done as fast as possible to a maximum time of 17 minutes. Believe me it is a hard test. Especially if you push yourself. Our course runs it anywhere from 13:30 to 15:00 minutes. Hardest 14 minutes of your life.

Finally arrived.

Well I finally made it up to Comox. Goddamn it was a tough go getting out of Esquimalt but it's finally done. The drive up was actually pretty nice considering it was blazing hot out and there's no a/c in the car. It's a fast highway. 110km/h speed limit which means I was going 140. I made it in just over 2 hours which is pretty good time. Only used a quarter tank of gas to. Perks of driving a Hyundai Accent.

The first thing I noticed is how small this base is. Navy bases are typically pretty small because our training area is the ocean. I guess the Air Force has the same concept with the sky. Nontheless I was suprised at how small it is. Much like I prefer small towns, I also prefer small bases. The reason is you can get to know people and make social connections. Another reason is the food is MUCH better here than any other base I've been on. I have yet to have a bad meal and some have been truly exceptional. Another perk is that the Canadian Forces School of Search and Rescue-CFSSAR- is right across the street and the gym is just behind that. Another good thing is that a friend of mine, Kevin Jones is posted here as the mess manager of the Junior Ranks mess. Kev is a 2nd class Petty Officer in the Navy and is the guy who helped me become a diver long ago when I started this quest to be a SAR Tech, so I owe him in a way. Aside from being just a great guy, he's also in charge of all the booze!

The rooms are okay. All the army guys have been complaining but compared to shacks in Esquimalt this might as well be the Hilton. There is this one guy who stays here. He's like a 45 year old Corporal and all he does is swear. He will be walking down the hall muttering "fuckin' cocksucker" and in the shower you can hear him swearing away. I swear to God I have not passed this guy or seen him once without hearing him mumble some kind of curse. On a different note, it's great to see the guys from selection again. Especially after spending 5 years in the Navy it's good to be around guys of like mind. I sometimes had problems keeping fit and healthy in the Navy due to the fact that everyone parties and no one works out. It's hard to keep motivated when you're saturated in that kind of environment. Shouldn't be a problem now. I'm in good shape but some of these guys put me to shame.

So right now most of the candidates are balls deep in paramedic text books trying to absorb as much as we can before the start of the PCP phase. Man this stuff is hard to retain.

Before I forget I would like to mention that Ewa and I hadn't been able to talk to each other due to some problems with my cell phone or something for about a month. I got a call tonight from her with the confession that she had been dialing the wrong number this entire time. No big suprise to anyone that knows Ewa. One of the many reasons why I love her.

The picture is in my 5 star room wearing a course shirt. Kinda lame I know but it felt good to wear something with a set of pararescue wings on it.

Almost there......

OK well it's been a very long wait but the time is allllmost here. After completing the prelim and waiting for messages for a period of months, I finally leave for Comox on the 21st of July. Despite my every effort to make this as fluid a transition as possible, I've been thwarted at every turn. I was one of the first guys to get an offer and I had my medicals done immediately. But my paperwork was lost somewhere in Toronto for 6 weeks resulting in: a late posting message which forced me to move back into barracks and; an inordinate amount of stress. Anyway no time for sob stories.

On the good side I am leaving Victoria in 3 days to go to Comox. I've been trying to secure accommodations in Comox so that I would not be forced to live in Barracks up there. As luck would have it, a good friend of mine was recently appointed accommodations supervisor up in Comox and he's been working to ensure I get the place I want. They have fully furnished one bedroom apartments available to military members up there but the waiting list is huge. Luckily Jonesy is in a position to put my name at the top of that list. It's very important I get this place because I cannot afford to live off base in an apartment downtown, both financially (I'm losing a substantial amount of money leaving the Navy) as well as time wise as it is a very intensive course and I don't want to be far away from the base. More importantly Ewa will be able to come and stay with me when she has the time without having to worry about a hotel or anything, whereas we would not be able to do that if I were in barracks.

I'll update this again after I get situated in Comox.

Arctic Rescue

Senior Citizens..........ugh.

Damn it I can't wait to move away from Victoria. It's common knowledge that I'm not a patient guy at the best of times. But today got to me for some reason. I was really tired from not sleeping well and training hard. Anyway Vic is a big tourist city, lots of asian tourists who cross the road like ducks.......... one at a time all in a line. Victoria is also the retirement capital of Canada which means lots of senior citizens. To get to my house I have to drive past Parliament and some other big tourist attractions, and I live in the part of the city with the highest amount of elderly. So what should take 10 minutes to drive home takes 40 because of the huge number of pedestrian traffic compounded by the fact that there is a crosswalk every hundred feet. I went to the Thrifty's near my house to get some groceries on the way home and found it full of white-haired, slow-moving old people. Now I am a respectful guy and will go out of my way to help an elderly person. But I had barely got in the door when an old man ran over my foot in his electric cart. And what pissed me off was he didn't notice and just kept on going.

After 30 minutes of dodging senile customers to get chicken, tuna, oatmeal, snack bars, yogurt, milk, cereal, and bread I finally made it to the checkout line, albeit dodging the odd senior driving their motorized cart like the late Dale Earnhardt. All I want to do is pay for this stuff, get an americano from starbucks and go home and chill. But then the fire alarm goes off. The tills shut down, the automatic doors stop working, and everything comes to a grinding halt. We are asked to evacuate the store. F!#$(%& hell! I just drop my little basket of goods and leave before I disconnect someone's oxygen. And it's like that EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Man that posting message can't come soon enough.

An up and a big down

Good news first I guess. My friend Coco recently received his offer to transfer to SAR Tech. Coco did the selection with me, he was the only other sailor besides myself, and is also from the same ship as I am. He was worried initially since I received my offer the 3rd of April. A month went by and Coco was convinced he wasn't getting selected. Apparently the powers that be, were sorting out some concerns about the laser eye surgery Coco had done. From what I understand there are two types of laser eye surgery. One type the doctor makes an incision in your eyeball and fixes it from the inside. This is unacceptable if you want to be a SAR Tech, pilot, diver, or any aircrew because there is a risk of something happening to your eye under increased (diving) or decreased (flying) pressure. SAR Techs experience both. The second type and the one Coco had, is a technique where they use a laser to shave your eyeball. They alter the shape of your eyeball which makes it focus differently I guess. So in addition to being an acceptable form of eye surgery for SAR Tech, it is also much safer in the long run due to the fact that your eyeball hasn't actually been opened up. Not everyone can have this surgery though since your eye needs to be a certain thickness for them to be able to shave part of it away. Also as you can imagine, it's quite expensive. Anyways the powers that be finally were happy with their findings in regards to Coco's eyes and sent him his offer. A huge relief for him for sure, but also to me as I would be going into the course with a friend I've know for 4 years.

The bad news is my girlfriend Ewa's father, Krzysztof Jan Koziol born May 17th 1955, died on Friday the 9th of May, sometime around 3:30pm. He was 52 years old. He was at work when it happened. It's unclear how it exactly happened, but it would appear that he was crushed by a falling tree. Kris (easier to say) was falling trees for the government, cutting the border between Canada and the US. It is a dangerous and physically demanding job, and only someone who has worked in the forestry/logging business can understand how hard it can be. I found out immediately and took steps to ensure Ewa, who was on deployment with the HMCS Protecteur was informed, and that she would be flown home to attend to this emergency. I then made arrangements to go to Surrey to help and support her mother and brother. If anyone had met Krzysztof they would know how much the guy liked to talk. When over at their house for Christmas, he and I were the only one's still awake the night of Dec 24th (or early morning on the 25th), and I remember him pulling out a bottle of whiskey. I got fucking hammered but I don't think he finished one glass because he was talking so much! He was a very intense individual who sacrificed a lot, and worked his ass off to get his family migrated to Canada. At the time people weren't allowed to migrate from Poland to North America. Understandably Poland has gone through it's share of hard times. Times that 99% of us can't imagine. Poland was all but written off the map by Russia and Austria from the 1700's up until the first World War. When WW1 came around there was a draft so to speak and all Poles were suddenly into the Russian, Austrian and German army. Almost all of the fighting on the eastern front in WW1 was done on Polish soil. At the end of WW1 Russia sought to conquer Europe, they fought the Polish army at Warsaw and were routed. Enter WW2. On Sept 1st 1939 Poland was invaded on 2 fronts by the Germans and Russians. Warsaw was taken Sept 17th and Poland surrendered Oct 5th. But consider that in that one month Poland caused more enemy casualties than both Britain and France combined in all of the year of 1940. This gives you an idea of what type of people the Polish are. Hitler declared that that the polish race was to be eliminated along with the jews, and Poland was the only country were aiding a jew was punishable by death. Despite all of this, there was not a single polish collaborator, unlike every other country occupied. Not one. I remember Krzysztof was very proud about that. Poland continued to fight (the term "give up" does not apply to these people) and was the only country to fight on every front in WW2. By the time the war was over, 5 and a half MILLION poles (50% christian/50% jewish) were killed in prison, death camps, raids, executions, or simply worked to death. The country lost 38% of its assets. Compare that to France's 1.5% or Britain's 0.8%. Despite "winning" that war the poles had lost. This attrition greatly weakened Polands strength, and who came knocking at the door at Warsaw ready to occupy "victorious" Poland? The now Soviet army steam rolled what was left of Polish defenses and moved in to occupy half of Polands territory. Things slowly worked themselves out and in 1990 the first non-communist Polish President was sworn in. Krzysztof was the epitome of a Pole. Hard working and determined to overcome any adversity. Around this time Kris left Poland to try and make a better life for his family. Like I said before I went off on that huge tangent about the history of Poland, you could not migrate from Poland to North America. Kris left his wife Grazyna, son Michal, and daughter Ewa to live in Greece by himself for two years. I remember him telling me how lonely he was one Christmas in Greece by himself, with nothing but a candle to keep him company. After two years in Greece he was allowed to come to Canada. He spent 5 years in Canada working to send money home and gain his citizenship which would allow him to have his family brought over to Canada. Hahaha one of my favourite stories from Ewa is her recapping how one day she was in a village of a few hundred people in Poland, and the next day she was in downtown Toronto. It gets especially good listening to her describe the event of seeing her first black person. Anyways Kris sacrificed a lot and worked his ass off to provide a good life full of opportunities for his family and I give him more credit and respect than anyone I've ever met. He loved the outdoors and never would have thought twice about working in a city. Everyone who knew Krzysztof well speaks of how he was always willing to help anyone no matter who it was. I spent Christmas at his house with Ewa and I asked why there was an empty place at the table. He explained that it was a tradition to keep an extra place in case any travelers happened by they would have a place at his table. Obviously that wasn't necessary in Surrey, but it was the idea of "taking care of each other" that mattered. If you would have known him and let him talk your ear off for a few hours I guarantee you would have walked away from that conversation with a better work ethic and sense of what it means to commit to something.

Waiting and saying goodbye

So after I got back to Victoria I immediately took 9 days of unauthorized leave. In some units (most notably the Army) I would have almost assuredly went to jail. But after I went back to work no one seemed to notice or care. The Navy is good for some things I guess. And the waiting began. I expected to see a message (if I got one at all) around the end of April. The 3^rd of April (it was a Thursday) I remember walking to see my supervisor and someone said “Hey! Congrats on your message!” I was like “what the fuck are you talking about?” They said “your offer is in”. I almost shit a chicken. I went to see the message myself and then almost did a backflip. I couldn’t believe it, it almost seemed surreal. To have worked so hard for so long and then have it come to fruition is a fantastic feeling.

At the same time Ewa (my girlfriend) was about to deploy to the gulf on the HMCS Protecteur for a 7 month tour. Not cool. Most couples never experience saying goodbye to a loved one while they go off to.... war, essentially for that length of time. I took some leave and she had some post deployment leave so I surprised her with a 3 night stay at a resort on Salt Spring Island. It was a nice relaxing way to spend some time with each other before being separated. Beautiful log chalet, as much hiking as we could handle, fishing, etc…. It was perfect. The highlight was after 3 days of rowing around the lake, Ewa managed to catch a 7 pound Rainbow trout. And like the idiot I sometimes am I forgot to bring a net so I had to wrestle the slippery bugger into the boat and beat him continuously off the seat until he died. Also of course I had never cleaned a fish. I knew the basics but hadn’t actually done it. The look on Ewa’s face as I violently tore the guts out of the fish was priceless.

Click the picture to see more

Salt Spring Island

So as it stands, I’m waiting for a posting message so I can get an idea of the time frame I’m working with here. I probably won’t update this again until I’m actually in Comox.

The Beginning

I'll start at point 1. For the last 4 years I've been committed to becoming a Search and Rescue Technician or SAR Tech. It's a military trade in the air force and possibly the best job in the world. SAR Techs are paramedics who skydive, scuba dive, ice/rock/mountain climb and whatever else it takes to get to a remote rescue scene. Not only that but they are also survival experts since they need to take care of the casualties in the case they can’t be extracted. It's a physically demanding outdoorsy job and as such, was difficult initially for me to decide how to proceed since I was and still currently am in the navy. First and foremost priority was to excel at my trade so my supervisors would have no ammo for denying me the things I really wanted. Then it was a ship's team diver course. A demanding 6 week course which I finished with little difficulty aside from some sore ankles, a written off crotch rocket, and some road rash (note: road rash is NOT cool when you wear a wetsuit all day). After that it was lay low and perform at work both in operations and diving, biding my time until I felt comfortable asking for something else. I had some time since you need at least 4 years of service before you can apply for SAR Tech. Next was a Medical First Response course which costs approximately $1300. But there is a stipulation saying that all military divers are to qualified to that level, so that was my in without paying for it. After that I tried to obtain a time waiver to disregard my lack of time served (I only had 3 years at this point), so that I could apply early. It was rejected and I had to go to Halifax for 4 months on a trades course. I was smart enough to obtain a time waiver for THAT however since the navy binds you to 2 years of obligatory service in that trade on completion of that course. While in Halifax I trained like a madman, emailed people getting letters of recommendation, got the necessary medical and fitness testing out of the way, and basically just tried to learn and do as much as possible to get selected for pre-selection. I soon returned to Victoria, did some civilian parachuting, finished compiling my file and had it sent to Ottawa.

After much waiting I found out via email that I was picked to attend the annual SAR Tech pre-selection held in Jarvis Lake, Alta. Pre-selection is no joke. If you're reading this and are considering becoming a SAR Tech, bring your A-game.

This is a good video to give you an idea of what a SAR Tech is and does;

RESCUE