I’m a big fan of After Action Reviews. Debriefs.
I think it’s a really valuable way of capturing the good’s, bad’s & ugly’s of an effort right after they’ve happened.
I’m pretty hard on myself. It’s a natural inclination. Probably part of being an engineer. Perfectionism is hard to avoid in my line of work.
I journal all the time. If you’ve scoured this website at any point, you’ll find lots of writings about my Franklin Planner. Suffice to say, it’s hard to have a website and NOT be writing about what you did. Or didn’t do. Or screwed up.
When it comes to debriefs, on a personal level, I’ll often do them alone. Just my own reconnaissance. AAR’s can be really purposeful when done with a team who was directly involved with an effort. But for them to be successful, the team’s cultural norms need to see the value in them. If people aren’t bought into the value of hot washing, then the effort just becomes time wasted.
Last night, I had the opportunity to do some live ground search and rescue (GSAR) training. In a cornfield. At night. In a downpour.
Get Some!!!
Context
You can read about it elsewhere on the site, but just for context, I’m a volunteer with the Plainfield Emergency Management Agency. We have a cadre made up of about 25 volunteers who provide emergency assistance to our police, fire & public works function in town. Many of our members are also part of our GSAR team, where we provide search & rescue functions for the Village and surrounding communities.
Although we’re all volunteers, the services we provide require us to be proficient & professional in our duties. Although the term “first responders” primarily means police officers, firefighters, paramedics and dispatchers, we are part of the team. We don’t get to run at the problems like our brothers & sisters in blue or bunker gear do, but our assistance on the periphery helps them focus their efforts on the problem at-hand.
For us to maintain a level of proficiency in our skills, we train. I am fortunate to be a member of a GSAR cadre that has strong leadership, people who are really passionate about what it is we do. Their willingness to share what they know and to create training scenarios for the team to practice helps everyone keep their skills sharp.
I’ll say it: All training is good training, particularly when when each individual person involved brings a desire and a willingness to want to get better.
Cornfield Search
We had the privilege of being invited back to the Leonard family farm in Wilmington, Illinois. The family members have strong ties to various area emergency service providers and understand the importance of training in rural environments. Everyone who participated in the training was very thankful that the family was willing to open up their home and their acreage to us for training.
Two years ago, we did search & rescue training in their cornfields during the day (you can read about that here). Last night, the conditions were ratcheted up a notch as we would be training at night.
Of course, Mother Nature always gets a vote – And last night, she voted for rain. So, if training in a cornfield at night wasn’t challenging enough, make the environment wet & sloppy and you’ve got yourself the makings of a great training evolution.
The Scenario
We had about 30 volunteers broken into 4 search teams, and the search base was manned with several search managers & volunteers.
The scenario: A woman went missing after chasing her lost dog into the corn. She presumably became disoriented and couldn’t find her way back home.
Each search team was given a sector of the cornfield for their primary search area. Our 8-member team was tasked to search essentially the same area as we searched last summer due east of the homestead.
The Search
It took our team a bit of sizing up and making a couple of search area end-to-end passes to understand how the cornrows were setup. Once we got into position and made our first search pass, it became very clear: The corn was wet. The weeds in the end rows were thick and wet. The ground was wet (but, surprisingly, pretty trackable). Oh, and it was raining. Not drizzling – It was raining.
Did I mention it was wet…??!!
Totally awesome!!
How Did We Do?
One of the challenges we had was figuring out how the cor nrows were setup. By the time we finished our first pass, it was dark out. The only way to SEE the rows was to be IN the rows. Once we confirmed the direction of the corn rows, we settled into a good rhythm.
Because of the low light conditions, we had to have one searcher in between each row of corn. Previously during the daytime search, we were able to be positioned in every other row since the visibility was such that you and your adjacent search partner could see the row in between you. But in the dark with only a headlamp or flashlight, there was no way to confidently see into the adjacent row.
I thought our team did very well. Looking at our CALTopo tracks, we covered quite a bit of ground in a short amount of time. Chris, who was our team lead, has decades of experience in search & rescue so we were very-well managed.
We were searching for about an hour when the search base called everyone in as thunder & lightning were reportedly in the area.
None of us wanted to pause our search! We had gotten into a good rhythm and could have covered a lot more ground. But of course, safety is paramount so we had to call it.
After Action’s & Notables
I’ll chronicle my personal notes here in no particular order. I’ll touch on the overall training, our team’s performance, and on my personal performance.
My Packout
I took quite a bit of time in the afternoon making a pass through all of my gear, making sure I had what I needed. With rain in the forecast and temperatures in the low 70’s, I was in that middle ground of how much to wear. I sprayed my boots and upper shell with Scotchgard. I grabbed my boot covers as well. I knew we’d likely be soaked given the search environment, so there wasn’t much sense in trying to over-think it.
I’ve got my chest rig carrying just essentials. I try not to “over-carry.” I think that my search kit includes what I might likely need and not a lot of extra gear (If you’re interested, you can see what I typically carry in the worksheet that I built in this article).
Getting to the Garage Early
Generally speaking, one of the more-stressful functions for me responding to our callouts is getting what I need loaded in whatever truck I’m assigned to and getting out the door. Certainly, with training exercises, I have time to get to the PEMA garage well-before our schedule roll-out times. I don’t like working in a rush.
Functioning in the Rain
Given the rain-soaked conditions, the wet corn, the high and sometimes very dense areas of overgrown weeds, I thought I/the team did a great job in navigating the search area.
Everything was so wet that trying to stay dry simply wasn’t on my radar: I knew I’d be drenched, no need to try to avoid it. I was wringing out my leather gloves quite often as you’re constantly using your hands to clear the corn leaves & weeds in front of your path.
The over-boots, just like they do for me at work, were perfect for the ground conditions. Surprisingly, the soil wasn’t as slick as I had expected it would be. Hot tip for any of you reading this: Anytime you’re putting your primary footwear into a slip-on boot, like a Muck Boot or a over-shoe like I wear, always use a grocery bag – It will allow you to easily slip out of your over-boots. If you’ve ever struggled with trying to pull a boot off of your regular boots, you can thank me later.
Visibility Is Reduced
One thing that stood out to me was the hindrance of visibility.
There were multiple factors at play, including the corn leaves, weed growth in between rows, the moist air combined with navigating light in the row being searched. During daytime hours, when artificial light wasn’t necessary, you could see pretty clearly down a row.
I don’t remember having to knock down as much mid-row weed growth in previous year’s search as we did this year. Part of that may simply be economics as farmers, this year, have been forced to reduce weed control applications due to the pricing of chemicals and diesel fuel. Ultimately, seeing at a distance down the row was limited to about 25 feet.
I ran with a single headlamp on my headlamp and wore my bifocal safety glasses. Obviously, the glasses became splashed from the wet leaves which compounded the issue.
The only real solution was keeping a slow but stead pace. As we were looking primarily for a lost human, given our row-to-row (basically shoulder-to-shoulder) proximity, we could move quickly. Ultimately, the conditions predicated our speed.
Other Odds & Ends
- Leather gloves are the way to go. Yes they got soaked. But yes, you can wring them out.
- Our group pacing could have been better. We had varying row-to-row conditions: Some rows & areas were wide open, while other had sporadic or dense weed grown that had to be traversed through. Ideally, search should be working in close proximity to each other.
- Protective eye wear was an absolute must. The visibility issues combined with the weeds and draping corn leaves had all of us getting every part of our faces & bodies getting slapped by vegetation. It was impossible to keep your face completely debris-free, there was always something needing to be cleared.
Close Out
All-in-all, it was a great training evolution. Certainly, working through challenging conditions in a controlled environment is what makes training valuable. Allen and the rest of the training planning cadre did a great job organizing everything. As one who’s primary function is to search and not manage a search, I have a lot of respect for those who have the experience & abilities to organize it all.
And of course, we owe a big thanks to the Leonard family for opening their home & property to us. They are such gracious hosts!!
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