Then certain team members, who are branch leaders on our phone tree, call the people assigned to their branch. Members who can deploy leave a message on the hotline, and a few minutes later the pager-holder reviews the messages and provides a headcount to the mission management. CSAR requires an Orientation, generally less than an hour, which is offered to candidates after they have attended three CSAR functions. For the first six months, you must always be partnered with a CSAR member on any field assignment. We averaged 45 missions in 1995 and 1996, and 33 missions in the 1 year period between August 1998 and August 1999.
Most missions occur on weekend nights.
Attendance is optional, but team members are expected to give SAR activities a high priority. CSAR responds statewide. Each individual can decide whether to respond to any particular mission. Usually about half our missions are in the Albuquerque area. Generally a search is conducted using local teams for the first 12 hours and then more-distant teams are called.