Any profession that requires advance skills in dealing with human life such as doctors, nurses, paramedics, and EMTs, requires a life-time commitment to their practice. This is the same for anyone seeking to be a rope rescue technician – it is a career commitment, it will require years of dedicated practice combined with actual rescues. There is no quick way to get there; only practice, practice, practice, and more practice…if your skills are not committed to muscle memory than you have not practiced enough.
A true rope rescue technician does not play within a box; a true rope rescue technician has no boundaries when it comes to rigging skills and/or imagination. The true rope rescue technician will be able to open his or her skills toolbox and immediately put to use the right skills combinations to get the job done in the quickest, safety means possible.
Overlooked, yet arguably just as important, a true rope rescue technician must have some semblance of physical conditioning. This is the sad truth in this country; the United States is one of the most out of shape societies on the planet. Technical rescue is a physically demanding job, no excuse; no labor/management compromise will ever change this fact. You can tie all the knots in the world; if you can’t get to the scene in a timely fashion, you may become more of a liability than an asset.
_Pat Rhodes-











#1 by Chris Parietti on August 6, 2012 - 4:11 pm
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We have some Rescue Technician courses we run here in the Northeastern US…pro-board courses. One of the things we tell our students is that we as instructors consider ourselves “aspiring” rescue technicians, meaning, you really never know it all, you should be constantly learning. A certification does not make you a “rescue technician”.
#2 by Pat Rhodes on August 6, 2012 - 10:58 pm
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Chris, excellent points…we are ALL students. When we quit being students, then its time to look for another profession! Amen to your comment about Certificates.
#3 by Bill Loenhorst on August 7, 2012 - 12:37 pm
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Great point about imagination; when we use ours in concert with the 10 commandments of catastrophic failure and in concert with the cool standardizations (muscle memory) that have evolved over the last 15 years, lives are saved.
Good point to about being in shape too:
I was a round shaped rope tech last winter, but thanks to a Daniel Plan system have become straight shaped again and my knee does not hurt anymore during rescues and such…
Bill Loenhorst
San Gorgonio Search & Rescue
#4 by firefighting courses on August 24, 2012 - 10:03 pm
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#5 by Tarra Halen on April 3, 2013 - 7:19 am
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I haven’t checked in here for some time because I thought it was getting boring, but the last several posts are good quality so I guess I’ll add you back to my daily bloglist. You deserve it friend
#6 by Rescue Response Gear on April 3, 2013 - 11:07 am
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Hi Tarra, thanks for the great honor. I hear your thoughts.