In the news: The Guard on Global’s midseason schedule

8 thoughts on “In the news: The Guard on Global’s midseason schedule”

1. You can learn more about the Guard on guardfans.com, a fansite

2. J.A.G. Meets Homeland Security’s Beachcombers…

   Any resemblance between members of the “coast guard rescue team” in “The Guard” (with David Elliot, CCG) and “The Guardian” (with Kevin Kostner, USCG) are strictly imaginary, not real.

   US Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers, like those portrayed by Kostner, jump or are lowered by cable from USCG rescue helicopters to assist people in distress in the water, whereas the Can. Coast Guard maintains only a very small number of trained Rescue Specialists who are dive rescue qualified: only on the West Coast (“Pacific Northwest” ?!) in fact. They don’t deploy from dedicated rescue choppers. ( Can. Coast Guard doesn’t even operate Canada’s primary SAR helos.)

   It is the Rescue Technicians (PJs or para-rescue jumpers) of the Can. AIR FORCE (not Coast Guard) who actually do must of the glam dramatic sea and mountain rescue stuff, deploying from their yellow SAR helicopters.

   However, viewers in the GTA market will be none the wiser, I suspect.

   No Harm(on Rabb) in that !

3. Can. Air Force Search And Rescue Technician, or “SAR Tech”, actually.

4. The CCG rescue “divers” are only deployed via CCG marine vessels with oxygen lines (including the hovercraft stationed out of Vancouver International Airport). They are highly trained and highly experienced individuals. The Canadian Armed Forces and their dedicated SAR crews (CH-149 Cormorant Helicopter, CH-146 Griffon Helicopters, etc.) are deployed to assist the Coast Guard and work closely together. Beyond that the SAR techs respond to downed aircraft and requests for assistance from local agencies. Mountain rescue in BC actually falls under the jurisdiction of the local police force and in turn the regions volunteer search and rescue team. Many of the volunteer search and rescue teams in the province provide helicopter flight rescue, which involves a rescuer being slung under a helicopter to enact a rescue. Basically all inland waters and land SAR are the responsibility of the police (the rescue volunteers), and maritime SAR activities are the CCG and downed aircraft are the armed forces. They all work closely together to form the rescue networks that serve Canada. Beyond that in BC is the BC Ambulance Service (BCAS) who are incharge of all medical incidents, local paid and volunteer fire rescue who cover within a cities jurisdiction, and the coroners services. I am not sure about the rest of Canada. I hope this show accurately protrays the interactions of all these great agencies and groups. It is nice to see a show that portrays some real Canadian rescue work.

5. Is there any way to post images on this forum ? (What is the html and how do you upload a JPEG file ?)

   There are many CG Rescue Specialists employed within the CCG from coast-to-coast in Canada. Hwvr, only a very small number of them are tasked and deployed for, additionally, dive rescue operations (poorly worded in my initial post, my bad !), namely those who are posted at the hovercraft base located at Sea Island.

   The expression “Rescue Swimmer” – applied to CCG members – has already cropped up a few times on Guard-related sites so far, but should probably be dropped in favour of Rescue Specialist (as Rescue Swimmer is a USCG designation. I don’t know that USCG resc.swmrs go underwater using surface-supplied air, or even SCUBA for that matter).

   Understandably, it can be a tad confusing, since Rescue Specialists who dive can also, of course, swim ! They have been known to train at the Univ of British Columbia Aquatic Centre’s outdoor swimming pool in the dead of winter… when the water is unheated !

   Some of Parks Canada’s Wardens are also involved in rescues.

6. No, sorry, it’s not a forum, just blog comments. If you have information about the series itself I can post it, but the blog itself is about the TV show The Guard, not the real life world of coast guards (and we all know how accurate TV is about these things – talk to a doctor about medical shows ;)

7. Hey CJ !

   We can dial http://www.guardfans.com into our browsers for The Guard’s fan website. It includes an active FORUM, including pictures, etc.

   Some CCG and CG Auxiliary members are participating, so the give and take gets pretty interesting at times.

   So, I’ll be signing off this blog for good now.

   Cheers,
   SARdean

   PS

   I had only meant to convey that the SAR Techs from 442 “Chimo” Sqdrn (Cnd Forces Base Comox BC) who hang off of the meat hooks beneath their “snakes” (Cormorants) are trained and technically equipped to pull off the more dramatic and daring (i.e. “hollywood glam” type) sea / land / mountain rescue aerial extractions, as well as parachute into crash sites. The volunteer mountain rescuers who operate under BC’s Provincial Emergency Program that you described (and those of Parks Cda and Ski Patrol too) do do a tremendous job as well, fer shure.

   Out.

8. ALL SAR activities are the domain of the DND, they are supervised through the Emergency Management Office, which was an integral part of the DND, though I believe it has been recently transferred to Public Safety. The DND recognizing the value of local area expertise and so delegates to local groups depending on their level of training and competency. The coast guards main job is that navigational services and now transportation of various other government groups such a DFO around.

   Any comparison of a CCG rescuer to a CF SAR Tech is stretching reality.

   Seem the coast guard is on a PR blitz. There is very factual information here, or on the site.

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