This website is all about Course 43 journey through the process, of becoming Search And Rescue for the Canadian forces. This year, we are 13 Lucky Members to attend the 2009-2010 course coming from all 3 elements (Navy, Air Force, Army).

RESCUE!

Over the last 2 weeks , we were in Jasper learning multiple new skills oriented toward the mountain.

We started with a few days of basic top rope rock climbing and anchor building, then we mouved on with lead climbing and finished the first week with Multiple pitch climbing with gear and no bolts… that was fun

After that we went on crevasse rescue , avalanche refresher and we went up to 11500 Ft on top of Mt Athabasca… that was a blast… We got the perfect conditions  to climb ,  witch made it quite a bit easier.

We finished the 2nd week with lowering\ raising system with pullys to be able to bring  the stoke liter to injured peoples stuck in the mountain.

It was a great phase and tones of new skills learned….

2 more weeks and it’s done now

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Today we did a quick stop at our Course NCO new house (temporary new house let say).
It was funny at first to see the setup, but in fact, it’s perfect… right on the edge of the ocean, no neighbor and big ass trees.

Here is a pic of that wicked trailer

Once again, a Wicked Phase !

We went for 3 weeks in eloy , Arizona to build our skydiving skills. We started with some static line jumps for a few days, then 2h of Wind tunnel and then moved on to free fall to get more jumps per day (static line is a Bit”/ to pack).

We had one on one coach training for the duration of the jump camp, how can you beat that? All the jump’s were filmed and debriefed after. It was the perfect learning opportunity… it could of not been any better. Long days for sure, but so worth it at the end

We build confidence in our canopy control , and now once back in comox we will start the real SAR para jump… That mean’s static line , 2500Ft (for training) and land in a confined area… Can’t wait !

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WouuuuuHouuuuu!!!  Hoisting was a blast!!

So this week we did all sort of hoisting from the Cormorant Helicopter on land and sea. It was a great intro to what await us in the unit once we are done training. We also did some search on the Buffalo airplane and practice drop (message bundle, med Kit, etc)

hoisting to a moving boat was something pretty damn cool

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On to Para Phase now , that should be interesting also

Wow what a awesome training experiance that was…

So we went in Dartmouth Nova Scotia, for a week of Helicopter Egress training given by the Survival System Limited Guy’s. They basically ditch an airframe in the water , roll it upside down in the water and you egress from it …

Let me tell you that this training will definitely make a difference and save CF Aircrew lives if we crash at sea. They got this brand new facility with full on Rain, Thunder, Wind , Massive waves … you name it , they can simulate it.

This training was a blast.

Thanks again to Survival System Limited!

Ohhhhh…. In the Navy….

Well i’m a bit late but here it is…

We have finished learning diving with the navy in Victoria 2 weeks ago and it was a lot of fun…. oops I mean not a lot of fun haha. PT every morning, then a quick change in wetsuit (2-3 if we were too slow) and then a nice swim without glove… what a blast heh! We learned how to dive with lead boots and signals on the rope at first , and then moved on with team’s of 2 and a float. Let me tell you it suck’s to have so much rope everywhere.

Anyway, it’s now done and we actually had some fun the last week of training with more relax timing and fun dives

On to Egress training next in Halifax !! That should be a BLAST!!

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We, Course 43,  just came back from the Resolute, Nunavut and you guessed it… it was cold…we got temperatures lower than -50°C during the exercise,  which means don’t stick your tongue on a metal post 

We had an awesome Inuit instructor named Simon that showed us how to survive out there and how to build igloos, snow caves and snow trenches. After making the igloo, I’m still amazed to see that thing holds up so nicely. It can even hold 4 dudes on top without breaking (That was Course43`s scientific experiment before leaving… we are just that much into science haha) Just remember though: it WONT hold a dude that jumps from one to another…. lessons learned, trust US! We are professional 

Even with the -50°C and lower, it was a good test of the equipment. We now know for sure that the boots are not warm enough hahaha. Ask Alex (AKA Frost bite toe) if he would like better boots the next time he goes there  . The rest of the equipment, however, is more than adequate. Sleeping bag was toasty even without any heat source.

So on that note, I will go enjoy my only day off, skiing the powder at Mt Washington before leaving for Victoria on the Dive course Sunday.

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It’s been a while since i have updated , sorry about that… Missing time or motivation LOL.

We all came back from Christmas leave fresh and rested (NOT) with a nice PT Test waiting for us at 7am… Thanks for that CFSSAR .

With the medical phase done, we moved on to some more physical training. This week was Winter OPS, witch consist of skiing, alpine touring and avalanche training. All in all it was fun, it’s just too bad the weather turned to shi% and everyting frose, then the rain started…Oh well, it was still fun to be outside

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Man oh MAN!! We are finally done with the paramedic phase!!! Witch mean’s we are off to some well deserved holidays .

Some with cooler destination than other (IE: Hawaii, Mexico Vs Greenwood, Edmonton…)

All in all Winnipeg was a great place to learn the basic of life support. We got tons of interesting calls …Cardiac, Diabetic, Shooting, Stabbing, Fight, Drug Overdose name it we had it.

We are, i think, all looking forward to the upcoming phases now.

This Saturday we had an awesome Halloween/Birthday party at Brad and Mische’s place (Thanks again for everything, you guys are the best)

So we had every type of costume imaginable, from the Bay Watch lifeguard (That can’t swim in real life) to the pregnant nun with fake boobies , Dog the Bounty Hunter, Big fake Boobs, Gorrila, Dick in a box incarnation and ton’s of other nice ones.

And off course, a few too many drinks that night for everyone witch made it so fun… Jägerbomb

Here is a few pic of that night:

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