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What They Do
About This Career
Search and rescue operations specialists are responsible for locating personnel in distress, delivering them to safety, and providing necessary medical care. They operate in a range of environments and often require skills such as swimming/diving or parachuting. They may use advanced communications and imaging equipment to assist search and rescue efforts and are sometimes involved in the recovery of military equipment.
This career is part of the Government and Public Administration cluster National Security pathway.
A person in this career:
- Plans, coordinates, and conducts Personnel Recovery (PR), technical rescue, and material recovery in all geographic and environmental conditions
- Performs survival, evasion, resistance, and escape (SERE) in permissive, hostile, denied, or politically and/or diplomatically sensitive environments by land (mounted, special purpose vehicle, or dismounted), sea (surface or subsurface naval vessel, small watercraft, self-contained underwater breathing apparatus [SCUBA], or surface swim) or air (parachute, airmobile, air-land)
- Participates in the full spectrum of military missions to include air expeditionary force, force projection, direct action (DA), counterinsurgency (COIN), counter narcotic (CN), counterterrorism (CT), countering weapons of mass destruction (CWMD), foreign internal defense (FID), unconventional warfare (UW), security force assistance, humanitarian assistance, hostage rescue and recovery, personnel recovery (PR), noncombatant evacuation operations (NEO), and advanced force operations (AFO)
- Employs specialized equipment to access and recover personnel and/or equipment from avalanche, alpine, confined space/structural collapse, high angle, swiftwater, and underwater environments
- Plans, coordinates, and conducts emergency medical care; employs specialized equipment to assess, diagnose, treat, stabilize, and transport patients with minor to immediate life threatening illnesses and/or injuries
- Provides ground-to-air interface or conducts discrete surface-to-air and surface electronic and visual communications and signaling activities
- Operates and maintains all types of extinguishers, and maintains individual protective clothing and self-contained breathing apparatus
- Performs the duties of firefighter dispatcher and utilizes proper radio communication techniques and procedures as applied to airfield operations
- Operates and performs driver operator maintenance and inspection on all types of firefighting, support vehicles, and heavy equipment
- Performs material requisitions, inventory, issue, and accounting supply functions
Working Conditions and Physical Demands
People who do this job report that:
- You would often handle loads up to 20 lbs., sometimes up to 50 lbs. You might do a lot of lifting, carrying, pushing or pulling.
- Conditions are very hot (above 90 F) or very cold (under 32 F)
- Exposed to conditions such as high voltage electricity, combustibles, explosives, and chemicals more than once a month
- Exposed to hazardous situations involving possible injury such as cuts, bites, stings, and minor burns more than once a month
- Sound and noise levels are loud and distracting
- Work in this occupation requires being outside most of the time
Working in this career involves (physical activities):
- Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
- Identifying and understanding the speech of another person
Work Hours and Travel
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts national surveys of wage data by occupation in every state and in all industry divisions. These surveys are conducted through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program.
The statistics collected for one year are published the next fall. For example, 2013 wage information was published in the fall of 2014.
There are over 800 occupations in the surveys, and these occupations cover the entire U.S. labor market. The surveys ask for reports in a scale of ranges for both hourly wages and annual wages.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics for a broad category, be aware that the salary data for a specific career may differ.
For more details about how wage information is collected and calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm.
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts a national survey of over 400,000
employers in every state and in all industry divisions. This survey is conducted
through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program. Every other year the
department publishes outlook information based on these surveys.
Each outlook period covers 10 years. For example, in 2003 the outlook information
was published for 2004-2014. Employers are asked to report the number of employees
in about 770 different occupations that cover the entire U.S. labor market.
From this information, staffing patterns for different industries are established.
Industry growth is projected into the future based on past trends and current economic
conditions. Industry staffing patterns are then applied to the industry projections
to obtain occupational projections.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties
of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational
category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics
for a broad category, be aware that the employment data for a specific field may
differ.
For more details about how employment information is collected and calculated by
the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.
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