Job Responsibilities
I am a Search and rescue Technician in the Canadian Forces and
as such have the following qualifications: Paramedic,
parachutist (Freefall and Static Line), scuba diver, mountain
climber, survival expert, fixed wing operations to include
aerial delivery, visual searching and parachuting into any sort
of terrain day or night anywhere in Canada, helicopter
operations to include hoisting to and from land, water and
vessels. My secondary duties include scheduling, personal
equipment maintenance and medical equipment maintenance, but at
any time could extend to diving equipment maintenance, parachute
equpment maintenance, planning of training, trials, standards
and evaluations and public relations. My primary flying duties
take up 30 hrs a week and my secondary duties take up 10 hours a
week.
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Job Requirements
To become a Search and Rescue Technicien in the Canadian Armed
Forces, successful applicants must first have been in the
military for four years in a job related trade. Once selected
for a two week try-out, members are assembled in a selected
location and compete against 23 others for twelve positions.
The try out is composed of various fields of evaluations such as
the ability to work in stressful situations as a team or as an
individual, physical endurance in times of food and sleep
deprivation, navigation, survival, escape and evasion and
problem solving. Each individual candidate is graded daily by
one instructor. At the end of the trial, 14 evaluations have
been completed by all of the instructors and must be justified
and fall within an average with the other evaluations. All
skills are instructed prior to being evaluated so all candidates
have an even chance at success. The instructors are all very
experienced in all aspects of the try out.
Once accepted into the occupation, the course is 12 months long.
The course consists of the following modules: Medical, scuba
diving, arctic survival, winter survival, summer survival, sea
survival, parachuting, crisis scene management, man tracking,
flying in a fixed wing aircraft and aerial delivery, flying in a
rotary wing aircraft and the inseriton into land, water and
vessel, high altitude indoctrination, aerial photography and
weapons skills. At all levels, physical fitness is graded and
failure to meet the standard is grounds for dismissal from the
program.
Once the candidate has completed preliminary training, he is
sent to a Rescue unit where he embarks on a 5 year on the job
training program including advanced medical, aerial delivery,
diving, mounitain climbing and leadership components. Only
members who are deemed ready for advancement and supervisory
status finish the final year of the OJT process.
Once members have finished the OJT process, they are granted the
status of Team Leader. After this point, Team Leaders can apply
and are granted based on rating, various advancement courses
ahead of their peers. In the end however, all members recieve
the same training as all must be able to function as members of
the search and rescue team with the same skills and abilities.
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Uppers
The best part of my job is that at the end of the day, you are able to say that
you had the opportunity to make somebody's day better and perhaps you may have
even saved their life. In this case, you have returned home somebody's dad or
mom or husband or wife and that is the biggest upper that any job can provide.
Hard work and making a difference in someone's life. In addition to this, being
in our line of work, parachuting, scuba diving and mountain climbing is not all
that hard to take either.
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Downers
The worst parts of our job are the uncertainty of what lies
ahead because of that pager that is on your waist 24hours a day,
the associated risks with flying, parachuting, mountain cimbing,
hoisting onto unstable ships in tossing seas and the worst is
dealing with the ones where you didn't make a difference, and
still lives were lost, no matter how well you did your job.
That is always there to accompany you to sleep at night.
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Lifestyle
Only those who are used to instability and who are extremely flexible should
ever consider this job. The work hours are fixed as long as no one is in
distress. Duty starts at 430 pm the day previous to being on either the hercules
aircraft or cormorant helicopter. At this time, you are on the pager from home
until 7am the next morning. From 7am unitl 430pm, you fly and train in the
various disciplines as mentioned above. However, if there is a callout as we
call it, you will divert from whatever you are doing to assist. This could be
the evening before while at the dinner table, in the middle of the night or even
five minutes before landing to end your shift. Distress gives no quarter to the
timetables of those who will come to save. Once you deploy from an aircraft to
conduct a rescue, it could be days before you come home. That can be very hard
on family life. A strong wife and understanding family is critical in this line
of work.
Being in this line of work and dealing with good ones and bad ones usually means
that you and all you work with creat a pretty close bond and this forms grounds
for very good social events. Canadian forces Search and Rescue Techniciens are
known for their imaginative get togethers filled with themes, awesome food and
warm company. To be in this line of work and to operate safely, all must be in
extremely good shape. Physical fitness is an integral part of your life not just
in the workplace. This of course is done on your own time so you must be
motivated, a self starter and capable of working on your own. Pride plays a big
part in our job also as being military, you wear a uniform and have alot of
equipment to look after. There are lots of training trips where you travel away
for several days at a time with the aircraft and stay in hotels and eat in
restaurants.This is excellent for crew cohesion, solid training with good lessons
learned and esprit de corps.
In summary, you must be flexible, positive, and motivated.
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Compensation
The military looks after it's members very well. The starting
salary for a corporal (the base rank of Search and Rescue
Technicien "SARTECH'S") is about 58000 canadian. As with all
military personel, your medical and that of your family's is
almost completely subsidized. You are under a contract so you
have job security and in the event of injury, agencies are in
place to make sure that you are compensated and looked after if
you are unable to carry on working or retire with injuries
sustained while in the line of duty. As a Sartech, you
recieve "specialist level two" allowance and risk pay. These two
combined bring your salary up to about 66000 a year. No bonuses
or stock options. Job advancement is almost automatic as long
as you work hard and have good work ethic.
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Advice to Jobseekers
If you enjoy an adventerous lifestyle, are flexible, self
motivated, in good shape and really get a high from helping
people, we need you on our team! It often seems hard to get
there but keep motivated, don't let anyone tell you can't do it,
and remember that you can do anything you set your heart to.
You are your best career advisor. This trade is open to male and
female and has as prerequisites the rank of corporal with four
years experience.
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