In a message dated 4/19/2002 5:28:07 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Rick.Sylvia_at_ferguson.com writes: > Tell me - when you get the call to go rescue or recover a body from one of > these people, aren't you entering a "risk" situation yourself? Until > someone explains to me how I'm wrong, I've got to think that stupid people > doing stupid things are putting innocent people in harms way as well. > Therefore, it stands to reason that letting stupid people be stupid is > endangering innocent people. Yeah, Rick --- been there, done that. But when you're taking a SAR helo out in the middle of the night in the middle of the Atlantic, all you need to know is the number and any fix that's available. Visual is good. What you don't think about is whether this guy did something stupid or not to get in the water. It's not part of the profession. Yes, people who disregard the safety of others by taking unnecessary risk are involving the rescuers without a right to do so. The first CSAR rescue I made in Vietnam was an A-4 pilot who did something stupid: he checked his clock while flying form' on his lead, hit the lead, and had to take a silk descent. What was worse was that, as a big guy in a small cockpit, he decided to take all the survival stuff out of his flotation pack to save space. No radio, no strobe, no flares or smokes. Black as the inside of a dragon. He got lucky -- we got a glint from the reflective tape at a half mile. He shouldn't have made it -- he was too lucky. So, of course I agree with you. The pilot of a SAR or CSAR helo places his or her own life --- and the crew's, as well --- on the line to save a life. People who take risks with their lives take risks with ours -- and that ain't right! Jack Martin *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sat Apr 27 2002 - 12:57:25 PDT
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