SAR teams pay close attention to detail

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Mike Meares
  • 96th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFPN) --  The military teaches all Airmen to pay close attention to every detail, but for search and recovery teams, attention to detail is not just important, it is a way of life.

If an accident were to happen involving Airmen, the team would be called into action. The team, consisting of at least 26 Airmen, would search the aftermath of the accident for anything that does not belong.

“If something happens, this team goes out and locates any remains or personal affects left by the accident,” said Senior Airman Ryan Leveille, noncommissioned officer in charge of the 96th Services Squadron team here.

Each team includes a team leader, a recorder, a plotter, a staker and several flankers. The leader designates where the rest of the team will begin the search. Once the team is in a line and spread out about two feet apart, the team begins searching. The leader will control the search line with the word “step.”

With each step, the team’s Airmen search the ground around them looking for anything.

“The No. 1 thing in our job is attention to detail,” Airman Leveille said. “We must find everything the first time out.”

As the team advances across a search area, they will record anything they find and mark it with a stake or marker of some sort. The plotter will then mark the finding on a map of the area.

The team has to be “perfect” during an Air Force mortuary case, said Lt. Col. John Williams, 96th Services Squadron commander.

“We strive to be 100 percent error-free,” Colonel Williams said. “It has to be perfect before we close the case. We don’t want to find something two to three months down the road and reopen the mourning process.”

In striving to be error free, the team will not stop a search until the area has been thoroughly reviewed. The team will search the ground in every direction to make sure nothing is missed.

“We expect perfection,” Colonel Williams said.