The thanks go to you, my friend
Old,
The real thanks go to you for donating your time and effort to help your fellow man. Like your friend I have over 20 years of rope/verticle rescue under my belt and just got my Instructor certification. But I had no clue as to how to begin to rescue a climber. After hanging around on this site, I now have a small amount of knowledge on which rope is doing what. I'm still trying to get hired on parttime with a company, but the ones that I have asked don't want a parttime worker. They all told me that if I could work full time, then they would hire me on the spot. I would like to get some experience with a tree company, then help develop a training course for our State University fire training academy. This past fall we needed the help of a tree climber when a hang glider crashed and was stuck in a tree. Thankfully the person was not hurt, just scared to be hung up in a tree. (funny, they weren't scared to jump off a 300 ft cliff, but they were scared to be 30 feet up a tree!!)
I would like to ask everyone out there to stop in at your local Fire Department and offer your professional services.
Thank you.