In a departure from my normal blog where I make observations on leadership, the human condition (?), or just the things I find amusing, I wanted to share a news article about a group of which I am very proud, our regional US&R response team. Some members of the team are also loyal Nation participants and I wanted to publicly declare my congratualtions for a job well done.

In South Carolina we have one state-wide Type 1 US&R task force (as described by the FEMA/NIMS typing document), more widely recognized by some of you as a FEMA-equivalent, 70+ person deployable resource for sustained heavy rescue operations. We also have four Type 2 collapse rescue teams which, when deployed, are 14-person teams made up of a team leader, a logistics specialist, and two six-man squads. Those teams are made up of personnel from Greenville City and County, Myrtle Beach/Horry County, Charleston, and Hilton Head Island/Bluffton Township.

Although the other teams have done a considerable amount of training and all, I have had the opportunity to observe these guys on RRT-4 best since they work for my department (Hilton Head Island) and the department next door (Bluffton Township), with whom we share a phenomenal amount of mutual respect. They work and train together on a regular basis, and as was evidenced by their drill yesterday, they can function under adverse conditions for an extended period of time to produce excellent results.

I am a member of the state task force and not part of the regional team, but we have a few who are on both, which in and of itself, speaks to their commitment to service. All I can say is that although I am not a member of the regional team, I am very proud of where they have gotten to and I would feel comfortable putting them onto a deployment with the best in the nation, where they would hold their own.

Congratulations, SC RRT-4 on a job well done.