Arrowsmith Search & Rescue.
Self Assessment Guide/Application.
We appreciate your interest in becoming a member of our organization. If after completing this Self Assessment Guide you decide to submit it, a panel will review it to help select prospective candidates for a limited number of seats in our training program. If you wish to join Arrowsmith Search and Rescue in another role, please let us know as we also accept members for our Operational Support Team (OST) and auxiliary membership. Please email: membership@arrowsmithsar.ca or phone 250-752-7774 for more information on the OST or auxiliary membership.
ASAR is responsible for Search and Rescue (SAR) activities on Vancouver Island from Nanoose Bay to Cook Creek, from Cathedral Grove to Jeddah Island. In addition to search tasks, many hours are spent on training, planning, administration, fundraising and public education. ASAR members are unpaid professionals and are held to lofty standards of training with an emphasis on safety.
The process to join Arrowsmith Search and Rescue (ASAR) is very similar to interviewing for a paid job. There are several stages involved: application, self-assessment questionnaire; attending various interviews, aptitude assessments and then the essential training courses. This is not an attendance program where everyone passes. You will be graded on a variety of academic and practical skills performance. You must pass in order to become certified.
Be aware that we are not going to downplay any of the challenges that are the realities of what we do. The role of an ASAR member is physically and psychologically difficult, time consuming and sometimes extremely dangerous. It can be a thankless job where you may be involved with things you are not permitted to openly speak about. In essence, SAR is a lifestyle; consequently, following is a document that is designed to help you determine whether you want to pursue a relationship with ASAR.
As you read the Guide and respond to the questions, we ask that you take very seriously the details and answer as honestly as you can. If you decide that ASAR is not for you, do not submit your personal completed Guide, we thank you for taking the time to complete the Guide and wish you well. (Alternatively, you may wish to become involved with the Operational Support Team, email membership@arrowsmithsar.ca or call 250-752-7774 for further information.) However, if you decide to take the plunge and submit the Guide, a panel of experienced members will review your responses and will contact you within a short time.
Before you proceed to the Guide, you may be wondering why we want you to complete the Guide. Firstly, we want you to make an informed decision based on a realistic understanding of just how difficult our tasks are, and that you are willing and able to contribute a minimum of five years to ASAR. (The financial cost, as well as the time and effort ASAR trainers dedicate to candidate intake and training is a substantial investment to bring a candidate into ASAR and have the candidate trained to the mini mum competency required before being assigned to searches or rescues.) Secondly, we want to make sure that we will be a good fit for you just as much as you must be a good fit for us. Thirdly, we are not looking for heroes or badge collectors. We seek out people who:
- Do their very best, even when no one else is watching;
- Are good followers and potential leaders;
- Are physically fit and emotionally sound;
- Know their limits and are willing to safely push them;
- Have the ability to learn, retain and correctly employ what has been taught or learned and to keep learning;
- Have the maturity to make sound, rational decisions during times of heightened stress while concurrently paying attention to detail;
- Have drive, dedication and strength with the will to give 100 percent whenever called upon.
Note: The person that has the so-called “Type-A Personality” usually does well in SAR.
One final piece before you get into the Guide. The route from applicant to certified GSAR specialist is an ongoing assessment involving interviews, field exercises, classroom instruction, practical skills evaluation and other formal training courses (the GSAR Program of Courses). During your training and thereafter, you will be expected to train and participate throughout the year in all weather conditions. Bottom line: the training and assessments never stop!
“We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.”
– Archilochus – Greek Lyric Poet c. 680 – c. 645 BC
In a nutshell this means –
… the ability to succeed is not based on some type of Godly superpower someone is born with such that they can simply expect to succeed knowing it will happen due to their exceptional abilities. Success is based on the human ability to train to the point that when faced with a critical situation someone has practiced responses so many times, that it has become an immediate reaction occurring without thought.
