Here is the document outlining the location, time and other info for our monthly tracking training event for Sep 19, 2009

GTA Sep 19 2009 Training Info

For Immediate Release

ANNOUNCEMENT

SARCON 2010

– For Immediate Release –

Back by popular request! The Friends of DNR-SAR board is hosting Georgia’s third Annual Search and Rescue Conference, scheduled for January 29^th-30^th, 2010 at the FFA Camp near Covington Georgia.

Please make plans to attend this important opportunity to network with other Search and Rescue professionals from around the state and to share in a national exchange of ideas and training. Our focus for this event will be to assist individuals in achieving higher levels of SAR certification; helping Georgia SAR teams achieve FEMA team typing status. SARCON 2010 will also provide important insight into SAR resources available right now in Georgia, and to maximize our exposure to national topics of interest in the SAR community, while providing an excellent forum for networking and interaction between individuals, SAR teams and SAR related vendors.

Details

• Event: SARCON 2010

• Sponsor: The volunteer board of the Friends of Georgia DNR-SAR

• Location: Georgia FFA-FCCLA Center, Covington, GA

• Date: January 29^th – 31^st, 2010

• Registration: information will be posted on websites and emailed to a broad email distribution near October 1^st.

• Rooms: Bunk and Semi-private rooms

• Classes: First come, first serve, no advance sign-up required (enjoy the flexibility to attend classes that best fit your needs without committing to a particular track).

Education Tracks Offered:

1. Intro To SAR with SAR-Tech III challenge

2. Intro to SAR-Tech II with SAR-Tech II challenge

3. SAR Management

4. Georgia SAR Resources

NOTE: Attendees wishing to challenge the SAR-Tech II test must come prepared with a solid grasp of core SAR concepts; having studied available materials and skills, and you must have a qualified ready pack with you that will pass inspection. A brief review will be provided but will not be sufficient to prepare for the SARTECH Written and Practical tests. An additional fee, (payable to NASAR) is also required. Likewise, attendees wishing to challenge the SAR-Tech III test should purchase and read the latest FUNSAR text (available from NASAR) before attending SARCON,, in addition to the SAR Introduction and review that will be provided during the conference. An additional fee (payable to NASAR) will also be required to take the SAR-Tech III exam.

Cost: All inclusive rate of $160. Cash, check or money order. Thursday night check-in is available for an additional $17. Rate includes room, breaks, meals, Saturday Night Steak Dinner, and conference materials.

Mark Young presented a brief introduction to Man Tracking and the importance of it’s early use in missing person incidents. The class was one of the best I’ve ever attended, in no small part due to the lead instructors – Bob Bolz and Allen Padgett. Their real world experience was priceless.

On Sunday we were joined by other DNR SAR Team members, including Mark. In addition to the man tracking presentation (made in record time 🙂 ), the other DNR members assisted in a series of tabletop exercises, using actual mission scenarios from past Georgia missing person searches.

Joel Hardin is coming back to Georgia!

Joel Hardin Class Announcement – Click Here For Details

WHAT:  JHPTS Tracking Course

WHEN and WHERE:  October 2, 3, 4 – at the FFA camp near Covington Georgia.

COST: $385

There are NO prerequisites for this training presentation. This tracking course is open to all persons with tracking interests regardless of previous experience or training. This class will focus on primary training for beginning or novice student interests however. This will also be a certification course for all eligible students. All tracking students will be provided training at an appropriate level for their development and upward progress.

Please send in a $100 deposit to register. Send deposit’s too Mark Young at 10408 Big Canoe, Jasper GA, 30143.

Joel Hardin will be conducting a class in Sheridan Montana, sponsored by the Ruby Valley SAR group. If you would like to know more, see the “Upcoming Events” tab and click on the class date to see the class flyer. Feel free to contact us here if you have any questions. Thank you – Mark

In case you haven’t seen it, here is information on the NASAR FUNSAR class that is scheduled for Oct of 2009.  The class is not part of the regular GTA training and isn’t hosted by us, but it would benefit anyone involved in SAR tracking.  Note: Don’t forget we have scheduled Joel Hardin to teach a tracking class in early OCT as well!

If you’ve taken a FUNSAR class, please leave a COMMENT and let us know what you thought of it.

Here is the original email about the class :

A FUNSAR class is now on the schedule for the weekends of October 16-18 & October 30-November 1, 2009 in Cartersville, Ga. The registration deadline is September 1, 2009. Keep in mind that the spring class filled very quickly. I have posted registration forms, schedules, and other information at http://www.mountainpathfinder.com/funsar.html You’ll also find links to extensive FAQs on FUNSAR and SARTECH II there as well. The updated website also includes a RSS feed and an “AddThis” link for bookmarking and sharing pages from Mountainpathfinder.com through email or with Twitter, Delicious, MySpace, and Facebook.

Please note that the spring class, scheduled for this weekend, has been full for some time.

I should also have a SARTECH II scheduled in north Georgia in October or November. I’ll add the information to the website at http://www.mountainpathfinder.com/sartech_II.html

Several other Georgia SAR resources are now compiled at mountainpathfinder.com. Members of several SAR teams in Georgia and North Carolina helped me to compile FAQs or articles on:
-Georgia SAR
-SAR dogs in Georgia
-SAR ready pack equipment
-Tips for prospective SAR dog “subjects”.

Many of these were written to help SAR team presidents or points-of-contact address the volumes of questions that they get from aspiring members or dog handlers. Please feel free to forward to me any questions/answers that I should add to the FAQs.

Thanks!
Jim Greenway

…IS COMING TO GEORGIA, October 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

Joel Hardin Class Announcement – Click Here For Details

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SPECIAL NOTICE:

Joel Hardin Professional Tracking Services will be conducting a class in Georgia on October 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Joel hasn’t held a class in Georgia since September of 2007 and it is a great opportunity to study under Joel and/or a great set of JHPTS instructors as well as begin working towards certification if you have a desire to participate in tracking callouts in the future.

Please send me an email (address included on home page) or reply to this blog post, if you think you would be interested in attending.

We will be  saving at least 2 days of travel by holding this in GA and we traditionally have been able to control travel, room and food costs making this one of the less expensive classes available.  The more attendees, the lower the cost so please put your name in now. Estimated cost is $385.

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Dates from other tracking and SAR related groups that may be of interest to team members of Georgia Trackers Alliance.

Please post any suggested websites here. They will be reviewed and added if appropriate.

Today (Feb 21, 2009) we held our monthly tracking training session at Fort Yargo State Park. We were honored to have a guest tracker, Robert Speiden from the National Awareness Tracking School in Virgina. We arrived around 9am and got dirt time for the next 8 hours. In addition to our dirt time, we also had an opportunity to preview Robert Speiden’s new book, “Foundations for Awareness, Signcutting and Tracking”. Thanks to all those who attended and made this a good training event.