Partial load out from this morning's ham radio event.
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Partial load out from this morning's ham radio event. Fully loaded first aid kit (my son's tactical backpack choice, I would have gone full neon), Weed whacker (unnecessary, there was a nice clearing for me to park), water (definitely handed a few out to the desperate walkers at the end...), jump box, duct tape. In the "auto" box a full kit for offroad ie strap, jumpers, tire repair kit, fuses, multimeter, zip ties... folding shovel, axe. In "health" the most important thing being toilet paper, lol. Also paper towels, etc. #preparedness #hamradio
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Partial load out from this morning's ham radio event. Fully loaded first aid kit (my son's tactical backpack choice, I would have gone full neon), Weed whacker (unnecessary, there was a nice clearing for me to park), water (definitely handed a few out to the desperate walkers at the end...), jump box, duct tape. In the "auto" box a full kit for offroad ie strap, jumpers, tire repair kit, fuses, multimeter, zip ties... folding shovel, axe. In "health" the most important thing being toilet paper, lol. Also paper towels, etc. #preparedness #hamradio
Secondary radio setup, was backup if I had any issues with the handheld. #hamradio
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Secondary radio setup, was backup if I had any issues with the handheld. #hamradio
Maybe I am just old, but black tools and black radios and black bags inside other black bags with black things inside those black bags is NUTs. I mean, it's trendy among first responders and the "bros" but WE ARE NOT INVADING AFGHANISTAN IN TACTICAL BLACK AND FAST ROPING FROM HELICOPTERS, people. We're trying to find stuff fast. YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR STUFF. Stupid CAMO and all black tacti-cool stuff is... stupid. #random #rant
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Maybe I am just old, but black tools and black radios and black bags inside other black bags with black things inside those black bags is NUTs. I mean, it's trendy among first responders and the "bros" but WE ARE NOT INVADING AFGHANISTAN IN TACTICAL BLACK AND FAST ROPING FROM HELICOPTERS, people. We're trying to find stuff fast. YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR STUFF. Stupid CAMO and all black tacti-cool stuff is... stupid. #random #rant
@ai6yr My SAR unit is switching to black radios because that's what was readily available (our previous generation radios were bright orange 1990s vintagr BK wildland firefighting models).
But we have a general prohibition on excessively military looking gear including anything camo. Red is common but blue is growing in popularity because according to the local navy SAR crews it's very visible from the air... Red and orange don't contrast well against fall leaves but if you're looking down from the sky very few things are bright blue.
My helmet, pack, and chest rig are all various shades of blue for this reason
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@ai6yr My SAR unit is switching to black radios because that's what was readily available (our previous generation radios were bright orange 1990s vintagr BK wildland firefighting models).
But we have a general prohibition on excessively military looking gear including anything camo. Red is common but blue is growing in popularity because according to the local navy SAR crews it's very visible from the air... Red and orange don't contrast well against fall leaves but if you're looking down from the sky very few things are bright blue.
My helmet, pack, and chest rig are all various shades of blue for this reason
@azonenberg @ai6yr at least in the PNW what consistently pops in the woods is blue and hot pink
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@azonenberg @ai6yr at least in the PNW what consistently pops in the woods is blue and hot pink
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@azonenberg @sarae @ai6yr Though all my climbing gear is marked with pink electrical tape or pink nailpolish. (Climbers code their carabiners etc. so at the end of the day people can figure out which is whose, and in my circle only this daddy of daughters used pink.) I even own a pink rope.
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@azonenberg @sarae @ai6yr Though all my climbing gear is marked with pink electrical tape or pink nailpolish. (Climbers code their carabiners etc. so at the end of the day people can figure out which is whose, and in my circle only this daddy of daughters used pink.) I even own a pink rope.
@msbellows @azonenberg @ai6yr dudes don't steal your shit when it's pink!
also one can get a surprising array of things at a steep discount when they're pink, I used to have some great pink low top hiking shoes and now I have a raspberry pink down jacket that I got for about 1/3 of retail
great belay jacket, I am like 90% less likely to get the fuckin rope dropped on me when I'm wearing it
this is also why I've got turquoise hiking shoes now -- easy to see and half price at Sierra
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@msbellows @azonenberg @ai6yr dudes don't steal your shit when it's pink!
also one can get a surprising array of things at a steep discount when they're pink, I used to have some great pink low top hiking shoes and now I have a raspberry pink down jacket that I got for about 1/3 of retail
great belay jacket, I am like 90% less likely to get the fuckin rope dropped on me when I'm wearing it
this is also why I've got turquoise hiking shoes now -- easy to see and half price at Sierra
@sarae @msbellows @azonenberg @ai6yr Also, I have still not decided whether, when walking down the street, if I see someone wearing camouflage clothes, whether to bump into them deliberately, or whether it is kinder to tell them it isn't working!
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@sarae @msbellows @azonenberg @ai6yr Also, I have still not decided whether, when walking down the street, if I see someone wearing camouflage clothes, whether to bump into them deliberately, or whether it is kinder to tell them it isn't working!
@UkeleleEric @sarae @msbellows @ai6yr Lol.
Yeah when I'm out with SAR I'm trying to be seen so I dress more like... this (I'm the one in the red raincoat and blue pack/chest rig, just behind the folks carrying the subject in the litter. This was from a rescue we did last June and is the most recent on-duty photo of myself I was able to find in our press releases)
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@UkeleleEric @sarae @msbellows @ai6yr Lol.
Yeah when I'm out with SAR I'm trying to be seen so I dress more like... this (I'm the one in the red raincoat and blue pack/chest rig, just behind the folks carrying the subject in the litter. This was from a rescue we did last June and is the most recent on-duty photo of myself I was able to find in our press releases)
@azonenberg @UkeleleEric @sarae @msbellows That looks wet!!
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@azonenberg @UkeleleEric @sarae @msbellows That looks wet!!
@ai6yr @UkeleleEric @sarae @msbellows It was, lol. This was like 9AM and I'm pretty sure was raining most of the night (we deployed some time around 11PM the night before) but stopped around sunrise.
But we're in the PNW, rain is just something we expect on any call and are trained and equipped to deal with.
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@ai6yr @UkeleleEric @sarae @msbellows It was, lol. This was like 9AM and I'm pretty sure was raining most of the night (we deployed some time around 11PM the night before) but stopped around sunrise.
But we're in the PNW, rain is just something we expect on any call and are trained and equipped to deal with.
@azonenberg @UkeleleEric @sarae @msbellows How do you not end up soaked after an hour? Apparently the rain gear we're buying/using here is just not cutting it. (rain pants/rain jackets... soaking through, even though waterproofed--and not sweat).
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@azonenberg @UkeleleEric @sarae @msbellows How do you not end up soaked after an hour? Apparently the rain gear we're buying/using here is just not cutting it. (rain pants/rain jackets... soaking through, even though waterproofed--and not sweat).
@ai6yr @UkeleleEric @sarae @msbellows You gotta get the right stuff and set up your layers properly (wearing synthetics so you can stay warm even if you sweat or some soaks through).
One of the biggest things we do during our winter training season is just giving trainees the opportunity to be out in the woods being rained on and slogging through soaking-wet brush. Sure, we have land navigation and first aid etc problems for them to do during that time.
But we need to absolutely douse you in water for hours on end and make sure you can stay warm, dry, and mission capable if you take ten hours of searching before finding your soaking wet, hypothermic, hopefully still breathing subject. If you're just as cold and wet, you're no good to them.
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@ai6yr @UkeleleEric @sarae @msbellows You gotta get the right stuff and set up your layers properly (wearing synthetics so you can stay warm even if you sweat or some soaks through).
One of the biggest things we do during our winter training season is just giving trainees the opportunity to be out in the woods being rained on and slogging through soaking-wet brush. Sure, we have land navigation and first aid etc problems for them to do during that time.
But we need to absolutely douse you in water for hours on end and make sure you can stay warm, dry, and mission capable if you take ten hours of searching before finding your soaking wet, hypothermic, hopefully still breathing subject. If you're just as cold and wet, you're no good to them.
@ai6yr @UkeleleEric @sarae @msbellows Every year out of a class of 20-something trainees, we have to pull a few out of the field because their gear isn't performing and it's no longer safe to leave them out there.
This doesn't automatically fail/DQ the trainee, we're testing the gear just as much as them. Depending on the nature of the issue and how far along in the weekend we are we might send them home, give them a few hours to follow training staff around in a truck and dry off then put them back out in the field, or swap some of their wet gear out for loaner gear brought by the training staff.
Of course, we expect this to be a one-time issue, you have until the next training to buy something better. If you come back to the next training in the same inadequate rain gear folks won't be happy with you.
But one of the big points of training is to be a safe environment to fail - you're never THAT far from a road if we need to evacuate you because you're getting dangerously cold and wet, there's not a real person out there in danger expecting you to come save them, etc. We want to push you and your gear to the limit and find and fix problems before they cause issues on a real rescue.
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@ai6yr @UkeleleEric @sarae @msbellows Every year out of a class of 20-something trainees, we have to pull a few out of the field because their gear isn't performing and it's no longer safe to leave them out there.
This doesn't automatically fail/DQ the trainee, we're testing the gear just as much as them. Depending on the nature of the issue and how far along in the weekend we are we might send them home, give them a few hours to follow training staff around in a truck and dry off then put them back out in the field, or swap some of their wet gear out for loaner gear brought by the training staff.
Of course, we expect this to be a one-time issue, you have until the next training to buy something better. If you come back to the next training in the same inadequate rain gear folks won't be happy with you.
But one of the big points of training is to be a safe environment to fail - you're never THAT far from a road if we need to evacuate you because you're getting dangerously cold and wet, there's not a real person out there in danger expecting you to come save them, etc. We want to push you and your gear to the limit and find and fix problems before they cause issues on a real rescue.
@ai6yr @UkeleleEric @sarae @msbellows And if you *do* manage to stay reasonably warm and dry in the toughest weather and environments we can find, you now have the confidence in yourself and your gear to push through when things get tough and lives *are* actually on the line
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