Name: Chris
Role: Search Controller and Team Leader
Joined SusSAR: Spring 2002
Employment
I work as a market analyst for a major European company. My role includes looking at markets and competitors as well as identifying potential acquisition targets. The company is based in Crawley and I am lucky that my manager fully supports the ethos of the search team, allowing me to attend the majority of shouts when they occur during the working week. I graduated from the University of Brighton in 2006 gaining a degree in Business Studies.
Background & Outdoor Experiences
I did not have vast outdoor experience before I joined the SusSAR. I was a Scout and Venture Scout so I had a basic understanding and level of outdoor skill. The Unit has allowed me to become more comfortable in the outdoors and I have learnt a lot from other members within the Unit. As a result I now have a number of other outdoor interests including Geocaching, which involves both walking and searching.
Why I joined SusSAR
I initially found out about the Unit through a friend and thought that Search and Rescue sounded exciting, but more importantly worthwhile as well. I have always had a sense of community, probably gained during my time in the Scouting movement, and as such the Unit fitted into my ideas on helping others very well.
Steps to become operational
I initially joined as a Search Technician in 2002, I completed my Search Technicians course in 2002 and was, at the time, the youngest qualified Search Technician in the country. In 2003 I was invited to participate in team leader training and again became the youngest qualified Team Leader in ALSAR. Since then I have held positions on the fundraising and training team as well as Secretary. I am now the vice chair of the unit. I have taken my Search Controller qualification, but also continue to enjoy leading teams on the ground.
The time commitment and what I've enjoyed
The Unit does take up a large amount of my time, whether it be supporting fundraising events, general team running (in my role as vice chair) or exercises and searches. SusSAR is a community and as such everyone mucks in with the jobs that keep the Unit ticking over. The pleasure I get out of searching makes it all worthwhile and the satisfaction of locating a missing person is immeasurable and more than makes up for the occasional mundane jobs that we have to do to keep the unit functioning. Additionally I have learnt a number of new skills that I have been able to apply to my everyday life. There is no doubt that managing teams in a work environment is a lot easier when you have been a team leader in the middle of a forest, at night, in the rain looking for a missing person.