Name: John
Role: Team Leader and Bike Team
Joined SusSAR: Spring 2006
Employment
I work within our family Precision Engineering business based in Brighton.
We manufacture drill bushes, which are primarily used in the Aerospace
industry, although an increasing amount of our trade is now coming
from the Formula One Motor Racing Teams. Having said we manufacture
engineering products, I'm more the office type and primarily deal
with the accounts side of the company, but being a family business
we all tend to muck in with doing a bit of everything.
Background & Outdoor Experiences
With the exception of a year spent living and working in Paris, I
have lived in Eastbourne all my life and currently live on the new
harbour development. Being a 'townie' I have not had an awful lot
of outdoor experience that compares with what we do as a team. Many
moons ago as a kid I was in the Scouts and RAF cadets, so I guess
I can handle a map, putting up a tent, navigation and orienteering
etc!
Why I joined SusSAR
I stumbled across SusSAR really, rather than actively going out in
search (excuse the pun!) of the Unit. For a while I had been considering
becoming involved with some kind of volunteer organisation but hadn't
found the right challenge. I was then visiting the 999 Emergency Services
show in Eastbourne when I got chatting to the guys on the SusSAR stand.
They spoke about what the team did and invited me along if I was interested
to one of the regular training sessions.
Steps to become operational
As mentioned above, I was invited along to a new member's evening
(technical term for a 'pie and pint') where some of the members of
the unit came along to give an overview of what roles they played
within the team and their experiences. Following that evening, I was
invited along to attend the monthly training evening as a probationary
member. After I had attended 3 of these evenings, I was invited to
attend the search technician's training course, which is an assessment
weekend at the UK Lowland Search Institute, based in rural Wiltshire.
Having successfully completed this training and assessment weekend,
I then became an operational member within the team.
The time commitment and what I've enjoyed
There is one monthly training evening, which is hardly a great deal
of time for someone to commit to, plus obviously any time that we
spend out on a search. Also, from time to time we will carry out search
exercises to keep our search skills fine-tuned. Since joining the
team I have thoroughly enjoyed the camaraderie and banter within the
unit. There are also a number of fund-raising events we attend throughout
the year which is another good opportunity to catch up with others
in the team. In short, as with many things, what you get out of it
depends on how much you put in.