BSAR Recertification 2023 – Dec 2nd and 3rd

December 2nd and 3rd, 2023 we had our BSAR and recertification. Those who did it the previous year only had to do our recertification, and those who were new had to go through the 2-day course.

The 2-day course is mainly made up of map and compass work, which is a skill set that is so incredibly important. We all know that we have GPS devices, if we have cell service then we have our cell phones etc, but in the event that we are in a no-cell area and GPS no longer works, having the map and compass skill becomes relevant very fast.

Knowing our step count per 100 metres, then given a heading or multiple headings and then arriving at the final destination within a certain distance is a fail/pass situation. If you are way to far, then you need to redo it.

The folks that were doing the full 2 days had to do the night traverse which is absolutely epic. This year they got to use a flashlight which is obviously a lot safer. When we did it originally we had no lights; the only time we used lights was to make the compass glow so that we could check and stay on our heading. Again totally epic.

As always it was super fun but at the same time refreshing our skills. On the lighter side, one of the things that you never wear is jeans, and one of our instructors despises jeans when doing outdoor exercises. Once wet, they become more of a hindrance and can turn a good time into a bad time.

Well being the fun guy that I am and knowing that I was only doing the recertification and not doing the heavy stuff that the first timers were doing…I surprised him by wearing jeans 🙂 Sorry Jeb…

Big shout out to Warren, Jeb and Danny for being the instructors