Happy New Year everyone, I hope your holiday season went well and safe.
Reflecting back on 2013, it was a great year for all of us in SAR. The new SAR Standards were finished, printed and handed out. Funding was made available for the AEMT program for the necessary equipment with no cost to the participating units. The new Heart Bar Training Facility was opened for trainings and events. This is a facility that we all should be proud of. Funds were raised to purchase an arena and corrals for the training facility and were installed. The Hiplink Callout System was uploaded and is being worked on to provide a better system for our callouts. The PR Trailer was completed and used on many occasions during the last part of the year. BSAR was moved successfully from the old site at Glen Helen and was opened for the fall class with great reviews. Funds were also raised to purchase GPS’s and Compasses to be used on loan by the BSAR students.
Along with those successful projects during the year, many of use were involved with the Director’s Breakfast, Commanders/Coordinators Meeting, the Sheriff’s Rodeo, the Sheriff’s 10K Run, Gift of Love and SAR City. All of those events were huge successes because of your participation and for the second straight year the Wish List was able to provide equipment to your SAR units. A big thank you must go out to the department and to all of the staff at Volunteer Forces for their assistance, funding, approvals, tireless efforts and hard work to complete these projects with and for us…. THANK YOU.
The ICS Team made up of our SAR volunteers, were also very successful in their operations this year as they were called upon to assist and/or run numerous countywide callouts. The ICS Team was also successful in becoming a recognized unit by the department to be used as a support unit for future SAR operations when needed.
However, more importantly, our SAR members worked very hard to remain certified in their respective fields. PVS, TRBC, HARMS, OHV, 1st Aid/CPR and the BSAR SAR Skill Re-certs were at the highest level than they have been in years. These certifications and the updating of our members skills resulted in many successful callouts during the past year. Congratulations to all of our members who worked so hard to maintain these skills and thank you to all members who participated in the numerous SAR callout operations that resulted in finds during the year.
2013 was a very successful year on all fronts! Thanks for the team effort by the Department, Volunteer Forces, the SAR Council and to each and everyone of you and your Units. THANK YOU for your dedication and support! We may belong to our individual SAR Units, but remember… that we all are members of one…. SAR TEAM!
The upcoming year, 2014, is going to be another fine year for our SAR community. We will once again have a Wish List, participate in the events listed above and continue to grow and train to be the best SAR Team in the U.S and for sure the state of California. Myself and the other members of the SAR Council are looking forward to representing you and your units to the Department and Volunteer Forces. If you have any ideas, thoughts or suggestions, please let us know and we will make sure they are at least discussed and reviewed. On a personal note, I am looking forward to working with and for each and every one of you during this upcoming year.
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UP COMING EVENTS AND TRAININGS
DIRECTOR”S BREAKFAST: This event was just held on January 4th. I would like to thank all of the SAR Unit Commanders for attending. Hopefully with the new format they were able to come away with some ideas on how to make this year better for themselves and your units. Sheriff McMahon, Assistant Sheriff Cochran and Captain Wickum joined us for breakfast and we would like to thank them for attending.
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ICS TEAM: A meeting of the ICS personnel will be held this coming Tuesday, January 14th, it will be held at headquarters and will start at 6 p.m. If you are interested in being part of this team/unit, please contact myself or Dep John Woods at VF’s for more information on the qualifications, certifications and application process.
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MSAR COMMITTEE MEETING: There will be a meeting of the committee prior to the SAR Council Meeting at headquarters at 6 p.m. Please have 2 representative from each mounted/posse unit in attendance. Chairman Hap Hatch will be collecting contact information and discussing some minor changes and housekeeping issues in regards to HARM’s. Morongo, West Valley, Apple Valley, East Valley and Big Bear Posse’s need to attend this meeting.
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INLAND EMPIRE SAR COUNCIL MEETING: The first meeting of the year of the Council will be held on Wednesday, January 15th. Once again it will be held at headquarters and will be called to order at 7 p.m. This is open to your unit reps and all members of your unit if they wish to attend. This first meeting of the year is very important for you to attend because there will be a lot of information about the upcoming year that will be presented. Hope to see you there.
COMMANDERS/COORDINATORS MEETING: This meeting, which is for our Unit Commanders and Unit Coordinators, is also open to your entire board of directors to attend. There will be a general session for all participants and then individual officer training for your board members. It will be held on Saturday, January 25th at the Hilton on Hospitality in San Bernardino. Doors will open at 8 a.m. Please attend, once again the information and training will be invaluable.
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Again, the entire Board of Directors of the SAR Council, Frank Kams, Diana Poe, Ron Pesch, Wes Poboy and myself are looking forward to working with you during the year.
If we can be of any assistance to you and/or your SAR unit please, please let us know.
It’s a new year, let us go forward with our SAR careers and remember our mission; we volunteer our time…. SO THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE…… Thank you and always remember to…Be Safe