This is a little information on the person in the Kayak...
Volunteers may not be experts in all aspects of every possible rescue situation, but the fact is that they are doing what very few people in a given area are willing to do, much less are capable of doing.Quote:
Detective Roger Knight and Volunteer Rescue Diver Chris Jundt were awarded the Medal of Valor – On August 4, 2005, Detective Knight and Diver Chris Jundt both entered the Spokane River at Plantes Ferry Park in an attempt to rescue a male drowning victim. The cold water and swift current placed both at risk of injury or loss of their own lives. Despite the peril, they unselfishly accepted that risk in an attempt to save the life of a Spokane County citizen.
For their immediate acts of bravery and heroism that rose above those normally expected in the line of duty, and for display of extreme courage by placing their own lives in immediate peril in order to preserve a human life, Detective Roger Knight and Rescue Diver Chris Jundt are awarded the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Medal of Valor.
Armchair quarterbacking comes easy to some. The intelligent discussions here are welcome and instructive. Nasty comments from others who apparently can do no wrong, are not.
Literally, within seconds on a scene, decisions must be made for better or for worse. We learn from every incident. There are good days where there is plenty of support for things like crowd control and technical rope rescues, and there are bad days when only a few rescuers show and the attempt is made.
When watching a video it is easy to slip into a educational mode and point out what may or may not have been done.
The fact is that as a volunteer group we don't train daily to become experts in the field of swift water rescue. Unfortunately we don't have that luxury. Although many of us would love to do this, we all have our own full-time jobs and most of us have full-time families too.
We are professionally trained, and a professional group, that do what we can to save the lives of the people in our community that get into trouble within the surrounding water.
The man that leads us, although not always the most calm individual ;) , places the safety of our team above all else.
I have been on the team for over four years, and this team has been on more rescues then I can even remember. During this time we have been instrumental in not only saving countless lives, but also help put criminals away through evidence recovery, provide closure to families with body recoveries, and prevent people from getting injured from falling through the ice by providing animal rescues.
The next time you feel the need to call a rescue team "asshats" why don't you take a deep breath and look in the mirror to see if you're really proud of who you have become.
