KMRT NEWS JANUARY
2006
The team had a superb Christmas and New
Year at Onich near Fort William and Newtonmore in the Cairngorms.
The weather was superb, clear crisp days, with little wind with
not much snow but superb ice for winter skills training. The team
got some superb climbing in, climbing Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis.
A great route in the short December daylight. The Cairngorms saw
over 20 Team members out for the New Year period; in addition to
climbing and mountaineering we managed a small exercise with Rescue
137 from RAF Lossiemouth. R137 picked up the team members on various
parts of the Cairngorms giving valuable training for all concerned.
The team managed to climb in Coire
An Sneachda (The Corrie of the snows) and managed a few good
climbs and most of the team got some experience on ice. It is very
important that the team get round the local area of the Cairngorms
and get vital area knowledge for any Callouts that occur in the
future. The team has two Search dogs – Bracken a seasoned
search dog handled by C/T Daz Steatham of NLS Kinloss is a great
asset and a superb dog. Both are seasoned veterans in the team.
C/T Mark Shewry from NST Kinloss has a young pup called Aonach who
is training to be a Search Dog. This is a long process, which takes
up much time for both the handler and the dog before both qualify
as Search Handler and Search dog. We wish them well. Mark has another
qualified dog Kara who he trained before he was posted from the
team a few years ago.
During the Christmas Grant I was privileged to meet the son of
one of the crew who perished in a Shackelton Crash at Inveralliort
near the Mallaig road on the 21 December 1967. Dawn Tripp the Station
Press Relations Officer arranged the visit and did a tremendous
job of hosting the visit. As he was born 3 weeks after the crash,
which killed all 13 crew he never met his father or had any indication
of what job the Squadron did. He had a good look round the Station
and a visit to the ARCC and the MRT. The Kinloss MRT was the team
who were scrambled to the crash. They were quickly on scene to carry
out the recovery of the casualties and work with Board of Enquiry
during this busy Christmas period.
He was very interested in the work of the ARCC and the current
team; he had never visited Scotland before and visited the crash
site before his visit. I feel he left with a better understanding
of what happened all these years ago. He was very happy knowing
that the team visit all the high mountain crash sites and leave
a memorial cross at the sites as they are seldom visited. “Lest
we forget”
RAF Mountain Rescue Service loses one
of its finest Leaders and Mountaineers as C/T Dan Carrol has
decided to retire. Dan started his career at Kinloss in the early
1985 in the MRT as a young JT, with limited experience. He quickly
rose through the system becoming Deputy Team Leader at Kinloss,
Team Leader at St Athans, Kinloss and Leuchars. Dan is a Leader
with enormous mountaineering ability. He is a holder of the Mountaineers
Instructors Certificate (MIC) and was the first Non – Special
Forces Serviceman to summit
on Mount Everest with Sgt Rusty Bale in 2001. He was the climbing
Leader of this small
Mountain Rescue Expedition to the world’s highest mountain.
In addition Dan summitted Diran Peak 23900 feet 1993, Gasherbrum
1 (Hidden Peak) 8068 metres (26407 feet) in Pakistan, July 96, and
was a member of the Joint Services Expedition to Kangenchenjunga
in 2000 Nepal where he narrowly missed out on the summit. He has
lead countless expeditions overseas to the Alps and most of the
major mountain regions of the World. Dan is a very laid back and
humble man but an exceptional leader, who leads from the front.
His prowess as a mountaineer has left a huge legacy to the Mountain
Rescue Service and if your where “trained by Dan” then
you are an effective and capable mountaineer. Hopefully these troops
will continue to serve the system as well as Dan and for as long.
Dan was awarded the MBE for his efforts and there can be fewer who
deserved such an honour for their years of Service. Dan Carroll
is a legend within the small world of Mountain Rescue. He without
doubt, has taken the Mountain Rescue Service to another level within
the world of Mountaineering and RAF Mountain Rescue. We all wish
him well for the future.
In the next few months the team loses another top troop, Sqn
Ldr Nick Barr from the ARCC who is also the Officer I/C the
Kinloss Mountain Rescue Team. Nick has been a member since the early
90’s joining the team. He quickly became a very capable mountaineer,
completing his Munros in a fast time. Nick has helped the team through
various “scrapes” in the past and was a great help to
us all. He was well placed when he took over the ARCC as OC with
his Nimrod and MRT background and is very well known throughout
the SAR world. Nick is an exceptionally (fit man for his age) took
part in one of the recent Long Walks across Scotland with the Kinloss
Team and he and his family love Scotland and its mountains. Nick
was also awarded the MBE recently for his years of service will
also be sorely missed by us all. We wish him, Liz and family well
for the future. I'm sure they will stay in touch.
That’s all our news. Losing troops such as Dan and Nick is
very difficult and hard to replace, but such is the quality of the
young team members, the team’s future seems in safe hands.
We are always looking for new members, no experience necessary just
lots of effort. Call in for a cup of tea at the section and see
Mick or Stu; you never know where it might take you, the summit
of Everest for instance!
Stop Press;
Flight Sergeant Charlie Marshall from Station Regiment Flight is
posted back to Kinloss from Lossiemouth and has rejoined the team.
In his other life Charlie has been detached as a mountain leader
with the Marines and completed several tours in the front line.
Charlie is an extremely fit and capable mountaineer. He will be
a great asset to the team and hopefully will give the youngsters
a run for their money. How did you get the name “Chemical
Charlie” know doubt we will all find out when on annual CCS?
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