Grad

When June 18th rolled around you couldn't take the smiles off our faces. This was the day we had been waiting for, for almost a year. We had spend most of the week doing admin to make leaving a little less complicated as well as getting ready for grad. One of these preparations was doing a practice freefall jump since the plan is always to skydive into your graduation parade. It was a great feeling to freefall again after doing static line jumps for 2 straight months. I understand that static line IS the way SAR Techs jump operationally and the importance of being proficient at it, but that doesn't make freefall any less fun! Unfortunately the weather wasn't co-operative on grad day and we weren't sure if we would be doing a freefall or static line jump. The first thing I seen when I arrived at the school that morning was the school CWO looking at the sky and I heard him mutter "good enough for a hop 'n pop" as he tossed his BOC rig on the truck.

We started with 5 guys doing full kit static line jumps from the Buffalo 3000' AGL so the crowd could see what we wear when we jump as well as the actual exits. The second group in the skyvan did a 4200' hop'n pop since we couldn't get the ceiling for anything higher. I was in this group and I have to admit it was a friggin' blast! When we started learning how to parachute we were jumping static line from 5000 feet and now here we were doing a freefall from almost 1000 feet lower! It was a rush. The last group of free fallers in the Buffalo managed to get up to 10,000 feet and do a legit freefall.

After landing we all 'high fived' and that stuff, field rolled our shoots and proceeded to the parade area. It is in my honest opinion that SAR Techs have the coolest grad in the forces. Your family is brought out to the seating area and they are flanked by a CC-115 Buffalo on their right and a CH-149 Cormorant on their left. The students and staff land their canopies 100 feet in front of them and parade less than 50 feet in front. We line up in 3 ranks, the first two being students with their blue berets and sans SAR wings. The third rank consists of SAR instructors. When you get called you march up to the reviewing officer, the Chief and, the course NCO where they give you your wings, orange beret and promote you.

All in all it was a pretty good day!

Ground Search/Final Ops

So immediately (like 12 hours after) Mountain Ops was done we made our way to Jarvis lake for the commencement of Ground Search. Strangely enough if you've ever seen the show Mantracker, this course is taught by the guy who taught the mantracker. It's a very boring course in which you learn how to ground search and if necessary, track people. Searching is pretty friggin' simple. It's a matter of walking abreast with other searchers looking "up,down, and all around" for anything that may provide a clue as to the direction/location of the target. Depending on how detailed you want the search to be, you modify it by adding more people, walking closer together and, walking slower. Easy stuff.

Tracking is another story altogether. Typically I (and most, if not all SAR Techs) learn how to do things proficiently and much quicker than the vast majority of people. But tracking is one skill I can say without a doubt would require me to do for years to become confident and competent at. Some signs are obvious. ie. a footprint. But when you get down to it you're looking for stuff you would not normally notice. A bent piece of grass, a loose rock, even so far as something you think you see but when you look at it objectively there's nothing visibly abnormal. I found this to be challenging and frustrating and am thankful that SAR Techs don't normally have to resort to this tactic. The idea is that there is always a sign. It might be a bootprint that matches the description of your quarry (such as danners) or it might be some chlorophyll from grass on a twig or rock that was smeared by the weight of a passing person. There is usually a distinct heel print or toe kick which allows you to measure the distance of stride. You then use this length, dependent on the terrain to find and compare other signs. Personally I didn't find it to be easy or efficient and was glad it only lasted a week.

Final Ops started after a day "off" in Jarivs Lake. Which (of course) consisted of us working our sacks off trying to get the last few camp projects done, because as sure as shit we were not going to get any spare time once final ops started. This resulted in probably the best looking and by far largest set of pararescue wings to grace the confines of the Jarvis Lake training for years to come. Once Final Ops started it was business as usual. We started off by refreshing our jumping skills by doing some confined area jumps. This was awesome because we got to jump into some new confined areas, and at most we only jumped into an area twice which meant almost every area was a new area to analyze and adapt to. At some point two guys forgot kit back at the camp while in the meantime the skyvan was on approach to take us up for the first lift at the airfield. To be clear (and watch out for this 43) that kit HAD been mustered and WAS in place to get loaded on the trucks, BUT one the staff (Kevin) was suspected of removing some of the gear. This resulted in a (suspectedly fictitious) snap show by the Chief and phase NCO. After the days training was finished we were mustered and given 5 minutes to run to the boat shed and change into our dry suits with fins. We then had to swim approx. 1600m, that we wisely decided to swim as a group. Meaning we could go slower and blame was implicated on the slowest person, who was, in this case working his bag off to try and not be the slowest guy. However on the 1600m back we were told it was an individual effort and we had to go as hard as we could. Ball-drag. A not-so-subtle reminder that despite the fact that it's been a year, the course is not over. Anyway to not give too much away to upcoming courses, final ops is a great time complete with reminders that "it's not over yet". The ability to improvise is paramount and you can and will be expected to do any and everything you have learned on the duration of the course. Good times had by all.

Mountain Ops

After paraphase the course drove to Jasper Ab. to commence our Mountain Ops phase. This was almost as highly anticipated as paraphase was. We were getting sick of jumping (if you can believe it!) and a lot of the guys on course are mountaineering types.

In Jasper we were taught by the very knowledgeable guys who run Rescue Dynamics www.rescuedynamics.ca/ The lead instructor used to hold the world record for longest highline back in the day. During this two weeks we were instructed on high-angle rock rescue which consists of learning how to rig rescue systems for people you may be climbing with or as a rescuer who gets to the scene. I wasn't savvy in all the climbing/mountaineering stuff and was completely floored at what you can do with some rope and a little bit of gear. We did everything from simply pulling people up cliffs using simple 3:1 prusik-minding pulley systems to pulling teams of 4 up with a patient in a stokes litter with a 9:1 PMP system and even crevice rescue. We learned how to build various types of anchors from bolts, trees and rock using cams, stoppers, nuts, etc..


After that we got into actual rock climbing. This was the best part of the phase. From just basic rock climbing on belay to traditional lead climbing on multi-pitch routes. It was a blast and we were disappointed that it was only for 3 days. One thing I would like to comment on was the pace of the course and the amount of material covered. There is a lot of stuff to learn on this phase and I'm almost sure that without the coursemates we had that were already very educated in regards to climbing and mountaineering, the course as a whole would not have done as well as it did. *As a side note: This is a huge reason Course 42 was able to accomplish the learning objectives as easily as it did. We were lucky enough to have at least 2 guys versed in every aspect of the course which made it way easier for the rest to absorb the information.* The only reason we really have to learn how to rock climb is to use it as a method of insertion to get to a rescue scene.


After rock climbing it was on to snow and ice. Unfortunately we didn't do any ice climbing. That will be covered on our team leader course. This phase was geared towards learning how to self-arrest if you were sliding down a steep embankment, how to rig a rescue system using various anchors from snow and ice, and how to travel on snow and glaciers. The end of the portion and mountain ops culminated in the ascent of Mt. Athabasca, a 11,500 footer. After an early 0130 wake up to beat the sun and potential avalanche hazard we drove to the Columbia ice fields (about an hour south of Jasper) to begin our ascent. I found it to be quite an easy climb with some gorgeous scenery. Utilizing crampons for the majority of the climb along with our mountaineering axe we (very) slowly made our way up. It was a pretty uneventful 5 hour trip to the summit but we were awarded by a stunning view of the ice fields and the Rockies as far as the eye could see, along with the feeling of accomplishment you get at the top of a mountain.


Off to Ground Search and Final Ops in good ol' Jarvis Lake.

Paraphase

Whelp paraphase is pretty much done. I don't think it could've been more eventful if we tried and I assure you we didn't. After returning from Arizona where we did our first static line jumps followed by 3 weeks of freefall (w00t!), we are now getting into the bread and butter of SAR Tech parachuting..... confined areas. A confined area is pretty much a small area (like half the size of a soccer field) surrounded on all sides by 200ft trees. If you're a skydiver and you think "no big deal" WRONG. It's totally different than any other sort of parachuting. Think about this. Static line jump from 1500ft, with a bush suit to protect you (orange suit in picture), tree let down device in case you get hung up in a tree (which is a very real possibility), SAR PELS (black pouch on front of jumper) filled with whatever you may need (clothing, medical kit, etc...) and then an approach into a confined area where you don't know which was the wind is blowing. And that's just training. Operationally you get dropped from 1000ft and there are no wind limits.

We've made some history by having the first ever hung-up SAR Tech. Meaning we were doing an intentional water jump into Comox lake in our drysuits and one of the guys got hung up (re:DRAGGED) out the back of the aircraft. He made the proper signal that he was conscious and was subsequently cut away. His reserve had some difficulty opening and did not fully develop. Thankfully we were over water since he still hit the lake hard enough to sustain some injury. If it was over ground he might not be jumping anymore.

We've also had a jumper land in a tree. It's quite a sight to see someone parachute into a tree. Thankfully his canopy got anchored in some branches about 150ft up. He kept his composure and did his tree let down procedure and all was well. Unfortunately when a Cormorant helicopter was sent the following day to retrieve the parachute, the downwash blew over someone's shed in the nearby vicinity.

As it stands now we jump until the end of the week and then on Saturday we head to Jasper to start mountain ops for 2 weeks. Immediately after that we proceed to Jarvis lake to conduct final ops. Final ops is the culmination of our training for the last year. We'll be searching from air and ground, parachuting, diving, extracting, and of course providing medical aid to the many casualties we are sure to find.

Halfway through Paraphase

So the course is currently in Eloy, Arizona for one month of parachuting. We are just over halfway done with our time here and so far it's been a total blast. It seems horrible to complain about it after all of the really cold places we've had to go train in but I'm going to anyway. It's HOT here. Ridiculously hot. For example today at 1600 it +43 degrees celcius in the sun. Not cool when you have to wear black jump suits over top of your clothes. Regardless of the heat this is the most fun we've had on a phase yet. Sadly some guys have gotten hurt. One of our course mates, Mark, dislocated his shoulder during his first free fall jump of the course. He managed to get stable in freefall, deploy his canopy and bring it in for a standup landing using only his right arm. Apparently have your parachute deploy with a dislocated shoulder is an unpleasant experience. A couple of other guys have gotten hurt as well but nothing serious enough to dictate sending them back to Comox like Mark.

The basis for all of this jumping so far is to be able to accurately land within a given area. Sa ya while the freefall and all that is a blast the important thing to learn is to fly the canopy accurately. I appear to be quite good at freefalling and am picking it up fast. I almost already have my A COP (certificate of proficiency) and I only have 22 freefalls (not including static line).

Another good note is that the staff is starting to loosen up and be somewhat cool. Here's a pic of the two who're running this phase.

Some cool stuff

So the past week has had us doing some pretty cool stuff. We had the chance to anthron (kind of like rappelling) from helicopters, hoist from and to helicopters from moving boats, and to fly and drop stuff from the CC-115 Buffalo. All in all pretty damn cool. Here it is in video.

Sea Survival

Being from the navy I didn't think too much about doing another sea survival course but I must say the air force course is much better than the naval sea survival. For us it was focused on hitting the water under canopy. Assuming your parachute was dragging you through the water you had to be able to successfully get out of your harness which isn't as easy as it sounds. They simulated this by suspending you 10 feet off the back of a boat, dropping you without warning into the ocean and dragging you at 5-6 knots through the water. You then have to stabilize yourself in the water and get out of your harness. Once that's done you have to inflate your one-man life raft and carry out your survival pattern.

The multi-man portion was good also. They took us out into the ocean, piled us all below deck and 8 at a time we would hurry topside and jump off the boat as if it was sinking. Each group had a ten man life raft. We had to get everyone inside and again do the survival pattern. Inflate the 'ceiling' of the raft, bail out the water, check for leaks, start making fresh water, etc. Staff simulates a storm by speeding by you and swamping your raft with waves. Pretty boring stuff actually. Some guys were starting to get a little ill at the end of it (myself included). Out of all the survival training I've done so far, this is the one I would like to do the least in a real situation.

Helo Egress

So HUET (helicopter underwater egress training) took place in Dartmouth Nova Scotia concurrently with OTVSE. Half the course would go to HUET and the other half stayed to do OTV. The HUET trainer was not only a good time but also a very good training experience. The idea behind it is that when a helo hits the water there's a decent chance of it rolling over due to the weight of the engines and transmission which are located on the top of the aircraft. This training is intended for you to be able to deal with the situation, locate your emergency breathing system (EBS), disconnect from your hard point and escape before the a/c sinks. There are many accountings of helo's crashing in the water, both miitary and civilian, with survivors and non-survivors in both (including SAR Techs). Out of the reports I've read on these accidents almost 100% of the survivors credit this training with them still being alive. It made me realize how serious this can potentially be when I know that SAR Techs have died in this type of incident despite being HUET trained.

OTVSE

Dive Phase

Dive phase is done. The past 4 weeks were spent at the Fleet Diving Unit (Pacific) at the Navy base in Victoria, BC. I was not looking forward to this phase. Having already done the Ship's Team Diver course when I was in the Navy I had a pretty good idea of what it was going to be like. Thankfully the SAR Tech dive course was not run like the STD course even though it is a very similar course. The PT was a little harder on this course but the days weren't as long and there wasn't anywhere near as much cock. That had to do with the calibre of the guys. These guys are all fast learners and we're used to strict timings so that helped keep the staff off of our ass as much as possible.

We learned the basics of military diving and getting comfortable in the water and using the kit. We spent some time getting familiar with the burpee as well as the dreaded morning swim. There is a tradition at FDU that every course in house has to race the clearance diver course. The race consists of a 2400m run followed by a 1000m swim. If you get below 8 minutes on the run or 14 minutes on the swim your name goes on a plaque in the training building. Myself, Jeff and Giles managed to get under the 8 minutes for the run and we weren't able to get anyone under 14 on the swim although Zuko and Christophe came close. Since the times are taken as a team average and we have 16 guys whereas the CD's only have 9 it was pretty much a forgone conclusion that we were going to lose the race which is exactly what happened. The CD's have wetsuits that are much quicker to put on and they've been on course for 6 months so they've had a lot of practice. I was the first guy into the changeroom to get into my wetsuit but 7 clearance divers were in the water before me. Their entire course was in the water and swimming by the time Auger was but he managed to pass all of them on the swim for a first place finish. It's the first time I've ever heard of someone other than a clearance diver winning the race.

The rest of the course consisted of deep diving, towed diver searches and crab fishing. The towed diver search is when the diver gets on a sled that looks like a plane and is towed behind a boat. It has wings and you can go up, down do barrel rolls or whatever. It's fun but it's pretty tiring since you have to hang on while being towed underwater. The crab fishing was a blast. I've never done it before and it was pretty fun to find them buried in the ocean floor and then catch them as they run away or try and pinch you.

Next week we go back up to Comox to start Over Turned Vessel Extraction. That's the bread and butter of SAR Tech diving. What we've been doing up until now is getting proficient with the gear. OTV will have us penetrating capsized vessels and pulling survivors out. I'm super pumped about the idea of going inside a sinking ship, finding people and bringing them out. Should be a blast.

Arctic Survival Video

Arctic Survival

Well 42 is fresh back from Resolute, Nunavut after doing some survival training in the Arctic. Resolute is about 600km south of the north pole. It started out on a good note being that all the Herc's were tasked out so we were able to charter a 737 to take us up there. In-flight meals and some sleep go a long way.

After getting to Resolute we marched to the Narwhal hotel where we would be staying for a few night. All the kit was shipped over on palettes by forklift. After getting the hotel brief and sorting out some kit we ate supper and proceeded outside to learn some stuff. Arctic lanterns which can be used as a signal (basically a pylon of snow with a candle in it), are surprisingly bright. Especially in a place where the sun does not shine. We spent two nights in the Narwhal with the days spent outside learning how to build makeshift shelters and basically just spending time outside trying to get used to the environment. The snow up there is extremely dry. It's just too cold. But because of the wind it gets packed very solidly and feels like styrofoam. It can be cut like wood into blocks or whatever you want. It's very strong providing you aren't too rough with it.

On the third day we walked out to Crystal City which is a detachment of CFSSAR to begin Arctic survival. Following the survival pattern which is first aid, shelter, fire, signals, food, water. We began to construct snow walls to put our SAR tents in. What a pain in the ass. It takes well over 100 snow blocks to have enough to shield your tent from the wind. The tent is also extremely cold to sleep in up there. That being said it should only be used as a temporary shelter. If you're going to be up there for more than 24 hours you should think about constructing something more permanent such as a snow cave or igloo. Which brings us to day two. Snow caves. At the start of every morning we go for walks with the inuit to learn. Navigation by stars and snowdrifts depanding on prevailing winds, what type of snow is good to melt and drink, and even how to dodge polar bears charges. The snow cave took all day to dig and since it needs to be quite confined in order to provide some insulation, most of that digging gets done in very awkward positions. The snowcave was the warmest (relatively speaking of course...... nothing is warm up there) or all the shelters, but it was uncomfortably small. Try getting out of a dual layer sleeping bag and bivy bag without waking your buddy in a space just big enough for the both of you and only about a meter high, than having to crawl down a tunnel to pee into a block of snow (called a kovik) and then having to climb back up and into your bag again.

We stayed two nights in the caves. I slept about 12 hours the second night. The instructors told us a storm was coming and to get into our caves and just get some down time. An exercise to see how comfortable we would be if we had to stay an extended period of time in the shelter which is exactly what you would do in a survival situation. It was okay. Then it was on to the construction of igloos. We watched the inuit build an igloo and then immediately build our own. I love the way this course is run! You watch a demo and then immediately turn around and employ it to make sure you've absorbed the info. Best be a quick learner on this course. Anyway the igloos were by far the easiest shelter to make. Less grunt work but way more skill required. I would have like to have had the time to build a couple more just to get it down. Turns out the igloo provides a little bit more room but Matt & I's was cold. I don't think we took the time to properly insulate the inside. Although most of the guys were cold in the igloo so maybe it wouldn't have helped.

The morning after the night in the igloo a storm hit. It was crazy. 70km/h winds dropped the temp to around -50 C. Our morning walk and days activities were cancelled and we were told to just stay inside the igloos. Eventually the exercise ended and we went back to the Narwhal hotel but due to the weather out plane couldn't land so we got stuck up in Resolute for 3 extra days. That was fine since we all needed the downtime prior to dive phase but it would've been better spent at home with our families.

Winter Ops

Another phase down. That makes 3 so far since Ground Ops doesn't count since we're technically not done it yet. This phase was mostly geared towards moving in the backcountry, as well as identifying avalanche probability areas and avalanche rescue. This training includes downhill skiing, alpine touring skiing, winter living in a camp setting (vice survival setting as on selection), avalanche skills training and avalanche rescue. The brunt of the course was geared toward the avalanche skills training course. We can now dig snow profiles and identify strong temperature gradients which cause faceting (this is bad), and can conduct a series of tests to more accurately assess the weak layers in the snow pack and and what level they will fail at. We also did a lot of training with avalanche rescues using the 3 minimum things you should carry into the backcountry, those being a shovel, probe and, transceiver. Phil Friolet was the fastest with a time of 1:17. So in just over a minute he was able to locate a casualty and dig them out in an area about 25m wide and 50m long. Everyone was well under the max of 5 minutes which is reassuring since you typically have 15-20 mintues assuming you don't carry any gucci shit that will prolong your survival time.

For myself the best part of it was the camp routine stuff. Having come from the navy I had never spent anytime in the field let alone in the field during winter. So to see how things should be or how they could potentially be done was a good learning experience for me. The highlight for myself was getting to sleep in a quinzhee which is basically a snow cave. The instructors said "who wants to sleep in a quinzhee?" I raised my hand but at the same time was thinking 'what the fuck is a quinzhee?' Anyway we built it by digging down, putting everyone's rucksacks in the middle as to reduce the amount of snow we would have to dig out and piling a shitload of snow on top and packing it down. We kind of over did it since in the end the walls were about a metre thick when they really only need to be 30cm. Regardless I was fucking cooking inside of that thing. I started out with long underwear top and bottom, fleece top and bottom and a toque inside my dual layer sleeping bag. Within an hour I was just down to the long underwear, no toque and my head and one arm were out of the sleeping bag. A good confidence builder for me to see how well snow insulates.

Anyway that's another phase down and next up is the Arctic phase. It is a survival course and as such they don't tell us anyhing except what to bring. Everything else is about reacting. One thing I do know is that it's going to be fucking cold. This is a picture of the 3 of us who didn't puss out and sleep in tents.

A days itinerary

This is an itinerary of a normal day for me on this course. This is nowhere near the most hectic day we've had so keep that in mind that this is totally a normal day.

0600-Wake up. Brush teeth. Shit, shower, shave. Get dressed. Put on Metallica on iTunes. Check email.
0635-Go eat breakfast.
0710-Go to the school. Do 10 chinups. (Chinups are mandatory whenever you enter or leave CFSSAR as a student). Once inside gaggle around until bus arrives.
0815-Bus is late. Finally depart CFSSAR to Mt. Washington for a day of training on the ski hill.
0910-Arrive at the hill. Receive skis, boots, and poles.
1000-Mandatory ski lesson.
1030-Released from ski lesson to ski freely.
1145-Lunch
1205-Ski
1500-Return equipment
1530-Bus arrives. Depart back to CFSSAR.
1615-Arrive at CFSSAR. Go inside to drop off kit.
1616-Do 40 enforced chinups for not doing any on the way in.
1625-Start sorting out the days kit as well as tomorrows kit.
1630-Interrupted to forcibly lift broken snowmobile on to trailer.
1635-Resume kit management.
1645-Run to post office to get package since they close at 1700. Do 10 chinups.
1650-Return from post office. Do 10 chinups.
1655-Receive kit list for the next days trip into the back country on alpine touring skis.
1715-Do 42 pushups.
1720-Leave school. Do 10 chinups.
1720-Brush teeth. Shower. Get into civies.
1735-Throw laundry in washer.
1740-Go eat supper.
1810-Put wash in dryer.
1820-Go to school. Do 10 chinups.
1830-Start sorting out kit for the next few days, as well as the following 2 weeks in the arctic on a survival course, and organizing for dive phase which follows the arctic. Am met by 5 other students doing the exact same thing.
2015-Leave school. Do 10 chinups.
2020-Remove laundry from dryer. Fold and put away.
2030-Call loving girlfriend. Hear about how she misses me and how she made juice with beets in it.
2045-Study for next days exam on avalanches.
2130-Brush teeth. Take a whiz. Wash hands.
2135-Go to sleep.