One of the great things about teaching river rescue is that you get to travel around a bit and see different rivers and meet the people who work on them or who volunteer to help the people who get in trouble on them. For several years now I've been traveling up to the Swan River near Bigfork, Montana to train the Swan-Mission Search and Rescue Team. I enjoyed this last weekends training up there as much as I have eve enjoyed a class. The training was focused on scouting the rivers many strainers and logjams while focusing on entrapment techniques and scenarios. Led by Rod and Pat in rafts we took turns in their Oceanid Rescue Inflatable and floated about twenty miles of river over two days. What a beautiful part of Montana and a spectacular (and dangerous) river. There is a remarkable woman, Carol Field, who coordinates and fully participates in the training every year. If only every SAR Unit could have a Carol...she has lived in the area 43 years and worked at the school for over 30 as the clerk so she knows the territory and its people. She cooks meals and feeds all of the members at the monthly meetings, she volunteers at the fire department, is a hardcore sled head, loves to riverboard and run rescue pwc's and much more....Thanks to Carol for all of her dedication, time and skill and to all of the folks at SMSR. Keep up the good work.
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