page_title: Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service
section_title: Training
hierarchical_section_title: Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service / Training
caption_attribution_description: English: RAF Mountain Rescue equipment displayed at the Leuchars Airshow, 2012
context_page_description: The Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service provides the UK military's only all-weather search and rescue asset for the United Kingdom. Royal Air Force mountain rescue teams were first organised during World War II to rescue aircrew from the large number of aircraft crashes then occurring due to minor navigational errors in conjunction with bad weather and resulting poor visibility when flying in the vicinity of high ground. The practice at the time was to organise ad-hoc rescue parties from station medical sections and other ground personnel.
  Experience demonstrated that this could be dangerous. While the mountains of the United Kingdom are not very tall, they contain much formerly glaciated terrain with steep cliffs, talus slopes, high peaks and cirque basins, and generally experience a sub-Arctic climate at relatively low altitudes. Snow and high winds, sometimes in excess of 100 mph, are possible any month of the year. Rescue operations in these conditions require personnel with specialised mountaineering training and equipment.
context_section_description: All RAF MRT members are volunteers. RAFMRS team members are known as "M.R. Troops" or just "Troops." Traditionally, team membership is reserved for enlisted men and women; although officers may serve as either Mountain Rescue Team liaison Officers (MRTLO) or as a Troop, NB this is not at all the same thing as being the team leader but simply a mechanism linking the Team to the station's executives. The position of Team Leader is reserved for a senior NCO, generally a seasoned veteran. For some, service on a team is a primary duty, and they are known as the Permanent Staff or PS. For others, it is a part-time activity in addition to their normal RAF trade or branch for which they are granted relief from other normal secondary duties, such as guard duty.
  Most training is done "on the hill", the term for mountaineering training days. The MRS has a training syllabus that must be completed by each 'Troop'. New troops are considered "novices." After personnel have completed the first part of the syllabus they sit a practical and theory test to become 'part trained' and this permits the wearing of the mountain rescue badge on the right fore-sleeve of dress uniform and the RAF blue jumper, one of only two special service badges recognized for RAF enlisted men, the other being the badge of a qualified marksman. Walking, mountain navigation, high-angle rescue techniques, rock climbing, and winter mountaineering are the primary training activities, which are carried out in all weathers. After the 'part trained' section 'troops' then complete 'Trained' and 'Party Leader' status both having theory and practical tests. Alongside these core elements RAF MRS also have 'Intermediate and Immediate Emergency Care Provider' (IEC), 'Rock Leader', 'Rock Instructor', 'Winter Leader' and 'Winter Instructor'.
  A regular 'Troop' is expected to spend upwards of 30 weekends a year training on the hill. Many Himalayan expeditions have been mounted, and troops and ex-troops have participated in other organizations' expeditions. In 1970, ex RAF Kinloss troop Ian Clough died when a serac collapsed on him while descending Annapurna on an expedition with Chris Bonington. Other sites for expeditions have included Alaska's Denali, the first RAF single service ascent of Mt. Everest in 2001, and Antarctica, where troops have volunteered for British Antarctic Survey duties.
  Each year the service runs several courses to ensure that personnel are sufficiently qualified and bring forward new 'Troops'. These courses include Summer and Winter mountaineering courses where the focus is on training lead climbers, Technical  Rescue courses focusing on new techniques and a Party Leader course. A special course is held when needed every few years to train team leaders.
caption: RAF mountain rescue equipment displayed at the Leuchars Airshow, 2012
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