Search and Rescue

Whether caught in a sudden and violent storm or stranded on the cliff of a mountain, people manage to get into some precarious situations. That's when elite forces and volunteers go into action. Search and Rescue is a series that highlights some of the most difficult and dangerous rescues. Using a combination of actual footage of the events and recreations, Search and Rescue provides an in-depth look at the skills and bravery of various rescue teams, and some of their most successful, and at times tragic, rescue missions. Search and Rescue is appropriate for middle school and high school.

OBJECTIVES:
Students will learn the various ways in which rescuers save people from natural and human created disasters. They will observe the efforts of local law enforcement, emergency medical services, and elite volunteer troops in daring and difficult rescues. Case studies provide a variety of situations that illustrate the different methods used in different locales and situations.

Part 3

• Bogus
• Deploy
• Designate
• Gully
• Hover
• Juggernaut
• Logistics
• Ravine
• Tarmac
• Tempest
• Testament
• Unscathed

Discussion Questions

1. The winter storm of 1993 was an intense, destructive storm that some have called

2. The Coast Guard in the gulf area received an abundance of distress calls. How did the Coast Guard deal with the high volume of calls?

3. Discuss the role of the rescue swimmer in the Coast Guard helicopter rescue team

4. Coast Guard rescue swimmers did not exist before the 1940s. What are the origins of this elite branch of rescue workers?

5. Discuss the challenges the storm created for the rescue workers.

6. Many people die not from drowning, but from hypothermia. What is hypothermia? What are its symptoms? Why is it so dangerous?

7. Finding downed pilots is one of the most risky rescue efforts. Why?

8. Kelly Larson was one of the first female rescue swimmers. To what does she attribute her success as a rescue swimmer?

9. The downed pilot was tangled in his parachute. How did Kelly Larson free him?

10. How was Kelly Larson rewarded for her heroic and brave actions?

11. Clyde Smith survived his ordeal in enemy territory in Vietnam. What kind of survival training did Smith receive prior to his ordeal? How did his training help him survive?

12. Discuss the dangers Clyde Smith faced while he was waiting to be rescued.

13. How was Clyde Smith's rescue a combined effort of different branches of the armed services?

14. Discuss the difficulties rescuers faced in saving Clyde Smith.

15. How was Clyde Smith's rescue a testament to the skill, determination and the bravery of armed forces rescue teams?

Extended Activities

1. Design a Trisar harness that would aid rescue swimmers in their work.

2. Locate the Gulf of Tonkin on a map of Asia. Research the Internet for information about the area. What was the importance of the Gulf of Tonkin in the Vietnam War?

Related Videos

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Air Dates

• August 18, 2004