In March the unit
began looking for a name. Several ideas were put forth & “Rubble Rats”
floated to the surface. This idea was a combination of the rubble the unit was
training to search through & the “Tunnel Rats” of Vietnam, which due to
service of others in the ASDF the members of the unit had met & had a great amount of
respect for. Patches were designed & a logo was created. Flight jackets were
issued for “Off-Duty” wear to each member who had completed five training “Hops”
or days. The flight jacket were akin to a high school letter jacket.
In the training
arena the unit was entering into a trial and error portion. The SAR program was
being hammered out weekend after weekend, month after month. Rappelling was
worked on & a “Stokes Liter” was purchased to train with. Donated equipment
kept coming in. Members became experts at “packaging” patients on backboards
and in the Stokes. We added a “Scoop” stretcher & two “Kendrick Extrication Devices” (KEDs) to the inventory. The Morgan County Fair Board heard of the
units efforts and allowed training on the Fair Grounds in exchange for help
with work projects. An area at the Fair Grounds where two converted Cotton
Trailers sat was transformed into a simulated mobile home park where a number
of training situations were run. A 24 hour training hop was added in which unit
members were kept busy for 18 hours then began simulated search and rescue
operations. Classes were added including local Civil Engineers talking about
concrete structural failures and where beams would crack. Builders talked about
how wooden structures would fail. A Geology professor from Calhoun gave a
lecture on the geological formations in Alabama and the seismic activity that
could be expected. It was not enough to know that structures would fail but how. A
new term was added to training: “Secondary Seismic Impact”, which is movement on
a damaged structure. The whole time the
unit was pouring through books & the internet to find more information. We
lacked funding to cross the line into nationally certified training, but kept driving on. To handle the equipment the Company purchased a equipment trailer. It
did not take long to overload it.
In the medical
training area 2LT Wright went to EMT school & began a short tenure at Decatur
EMS to learn the EMS business from the inside. SSG Graham was the Operation
Manager. All members were CPR certified to Health Care Provider status. It was
about this time the Battalion recognized the Platoon as medics. We provided
personnel to each External Support Mission (ESM) to ensure safety for the ASDF personnel. We wrote a “Rehab”
protocol which is still used several years later which includes hydrating &
resting personnel. During this time we provided personnel assistance during several
cases of heat exposure & one accidental overdose.
SGT Adam
Parker was brought onboard about this time, which brought or number of EMTs up to five. Squads were
set up with seven personnel:
1.) Leader
1.) Medic
5.) Rescue Techs