dkmacin is right on the money. The term "quiet proffessionals" has been used often to describe the same sort of business. Having been in the biz for quite some time now (and I'm sure most other folks in the same line of work...dkmacin, etc..) I think I can make the statement that folks who do SAR or CSAR for any considerable length of time don't really see it as a job but maybe more of a calling. I know the guys at the unit are going to give me crap for saying a cheesy thing like that, but deep down they know it's true as well.
...and you're absolutely correct in saying that SAR missions up here in Alaska often go unreported and are typically glossed over. Part of the reason is that the local media has no concept of the planning and execution that goes into them, and even often report incorrect information when they DO report the missions. Hell, the REAL story of how difficult this particular mission was never really was conveyed or understood byt the locals reporting it, but that's another subject (media nowadays).
Bottom line is this was one of many "big" missions we did this year (and probably not the last) most of which got little to no attention:
Like the one where we searched for over 5 days/100 hours and finally found an obliterated PA-28 (pilot deceased), or the one where our HH-60 was hovering at the 13,000ft level of a mountain (60 degree slope) after it had dumped almost all of it's fuel (to lighten gross weight) with the PJ on the hoist and they had 10 mins to snag the injured mountain climber before the HH-60 would have had to hit the tanker (HC-130) or it would have ran out of fuel. Oh, the PJ still had to climb the rocks (with hoist attached) grab on to the climber whereupon he quickly snapped him in and both were yanked severely as the HH-60 pulled away and the slack in the hoist cable was drawn taught. Oh, and they both took Mr. Toad's wild ride flying through space as the HH-60 sped towards the HC-130 while the hoist was being winched in. Or like the current mission involving 4 CAP Squadrons, State Troopers, USCG, civilian volunteers, Army Guard and Air Guard t search for the mission Aero Commander (3 people onboard). Or.........you get the idea.
Like dkmacin said...it's not to sound like "ho hum, just another mission", but it is kinda like "ho hum, just another mission. Good job boys. See ya tomorrow."
It's not that you don't care about not getting any attention, or that you don't appreciate it on the few occasions that you do get it, but truthfully....we don't care about getting the attention. We care about saving lives...end of story...no digs, no thumping of chests, no gripes...just doing our job.
But it is fun and always something a little different ![Big Smile [:D]](/FSM/CS/emoticons/icon_smile_big.gif)
On the A/R capability for the USCG.....yeah, that has always amazed us up here dk. Especially since we get some many deep water "USCG assist missions" due to our A/R capability. It's also funny you mention Homeland Defense. For the current mission for the Aero Commander, we requested the USCG Homeland Defense boats out of Anchorage but D17 said they were'nt trained for SAR only Homeland Defense. That one about knocked me over!