CODE 3 Introduction to a SAR team – Search and Rescue

As long as people have been venturing out into the wilderness and getting lost, there have been those that have felt compelled to go save them. Usually these are individuals that have specialized training, skills, equipment, and the courage to venture into the worst possible terrain, at the worst possible times, in the worst possible weather. As with a lot of our first responder organizations, the systematic approach we have here in the US was born out of war. Early in the 20^th century, several nations needed to develop an approach to find and recover downed aircraft, ships, and missing soldiers. According to NASAR; “Contemporary SAR systems provide response for overdue, lost, injured, or stranded people in many environments.” My experience has all been in rural “wilderness” which is generally considered to be a region that is generally uninhabited and devoid of any manmade amenities. However, this can also describe other locations (even urban) that have suffered a disaster either manmade or natural, or a terrorist attack.

Search and Rescue was my first foray into my life as a first responder and it remains one of my favorites. There are SAR Teams (Search and Rescue) throughout the world, most of them run by the national military or government agencies. Here, in the US, we have a combination of local county, state, and federal agencies that work in a mutual support model for search and rescue responsibilities. According to Wikipedia; “In January 2008, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the National Response Framework (NRF) which serves as the guiding document for a federal response during a national emergency. In addition to the NRF there are 15 annexes relating to Emergency Support Functions (ESF) which includes other federal agencies that contain resources or expertise to support an emergency. Search and Rescue is included as ESF-9 and divides SAR into 4 primary elements while assigning a federal agency with the lead role for each of the 4 elements.

• Structural Collapse-USAR: Department of Homeland Security, FEMA


• Waterborne: US Coast Guard, USCG Auxiliary


• Inland-wilderness: United States Department of Interior, National Park Service


• Aeronautical: United States Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, Civil Air Patrol, United States Air Force Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service, US Navy (secondary missions for helicopter squadrons.)

In the US SAR standards are developed primarily by ASTM International and the US NFPA which are then used by organizations such as NASAR (National Association of Search and Rescue) to develop training that will meet or exceed those standards.”

In all reality, it would take a HUGE event for the federal agencies to step in and take over the incident command of a local SAR operation, possibly a Yellowstone caldera eruption or 9-11 type event. Usually, it is the local SAR teams in conjunction with other local first responder agencies that will be involved in a mutual aid scenario . In my neck of the woods, that can include local EMS, city PD, county sheriff deputies, border patrol, US Forest Service, and maybe the state patrol. We also have access to a couple of helicopter units, one that is a part of a life flight type service and one that specializes in SAR operations.

OK OK OK…. I know that was very dry, but we had to get that out of the way. Because in all reality being part of a local volunteer SAR team can be one of the most exciting parts of your life! Seriously, where else are you going to get to train and work with 4×4’s, quads, horses, K9’s, jet boats, snow mobiles, snow cats, rappelling, land navigation, austere emergency medicine, tracking, and maybe get to possibly save lives? You get this training from some of the best sources out there. I myself, have trained with county sheriff, local PD, EMS (to be fair I am on both teams), US Border Patrol, US Forest Service, and the Joel Hardin Visual Tracking System. These activities/trainings are things that many adrenaline-fueled personalities (like myself) would actually pay money for and yet they are almost always paid for by the team!

So, each SAR team in each local area is going to be organized differently as far as equipment and skill sets depending on their unique needs for their local area. I can only speak upon my experience on my own SAR team. Generally, a local volunteer SAR team is going to be a non-profit that falls under the jurisdiction of the local Sherriff as a volunteer organization. Being a non-profit it will have a board of directors, a training officer, and a safety officer. It will then be broken down into teams. For our team this consists of:

• 4×4 team


• boat team


• dive team


• swift water rescue team


• snowmobile team


• tracking team


• avalanche rescue


• rope team (rappelling)


• communications


• Incident Command

In order to become involved in my local SAR team, I first talked with a friend of mine that was already on the team. From him, I learned when the monthly membership meeting was and also found their web site. On the website, I down loaded and filled out a membership application.  I would suggest going to any of the meetings or trainings that they may have, that are open to the public. As part of my application process I had to go through a background check. Generally, if you have no felonies or recent lesser convictions you should be ok, but check with your local SAR team for their local protocols. I then went through an interview process talking about what sort of relevant experience I already had. For me most of that experience came from my involvement and training with the local CPT team in our area where we had covered land navigation, wilderness first aid, etc. They also asked if I would commit to getting my first aid/CPR certification and also study and test for my SAR Tech III certification and go through a year long probationary period before I would become a full voting member of the team. The SAR Tech certification system was first developed in 1991 by NASAR to evaluate three levels of search responders to that a measureable, consistent set of standards, and skills for both individual responders and teams could be had by incident commanders. The three levels are SAR Tech III, SAR Tech II and SAR Tech I / Crew-leader 3.

Again, the decision to join my local SAR team has been one of the most rewarding life choices I have made. It has lead me to a career as first responder among several teams. If you are already a member of your local CPT team I would strongly encourage you to look into plugging in and volunteering with one of your own local volunteer first responder teams.

I will be discussing in further articles the fundamentals that actually go into a Search and Rescue call out.

Spyder Thompson

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The Code 3, Beginning My Journey as a 1st Responder

by Spyder Thompson

There is an unsung warrior class right here amongst us. They answer the call of duty at the worst possible times, traveling to the worst possible places, quite often during the worst weather that mother nature can muster. They are the ones that run towards the columns of smoke and disaster, are ushered through road blocks to go do battle with the dragons of accidents, attacks, and natural disasters. All “so that others may live,” and while these warriors do wear uniforms, they are not multi-cam. There are no holidays dinners, birthday parties of loved ones, or Christmas mornings that are off duty. Many of them are not paid for their service, yet they put their lives on the line every time they are called out.

They are the men and women of the EMS (Emergency Medical Services,) SAR (Search and Rescue,) Firefighters (both structural and wild-land,) and Police. They are America’s first responder communities.

I, at one time, came from the mindset that all government employees were to be looked at with suspicion and mistrust. That was before I joined the ranks of the 1^st responders. But now, I have knowledge from direct experience, and it has dramatically changed my view of the men and women who serve these agencies. That’s not to say that there are not bad people who are members of these communities, it just means that we must look at the greater picture and recognize them as the bad apples that they are. That, and we must be diligent in calling out the bad apples and hold them to account for their actions.

My journey started a couple of years back when I was working as a writer for a political website. In my work, I had come across Stewart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers, after he had just launched his CPT (Community Preparedness Teams) initiative. This, I thought, was a great idea. I joined my local CPT and began training regularly with them.   The Oath Keepers national call to action and official guidance on CPT urges them to join their local first responder community and integrate with it.  This, I think, is crucial and there are CPT teams across the country that do this very well and those where it really needs to be focused on.

The original purpose and intent of the CPT program is to prepare the community, not just the teams. This is the driving concept that each CPT team across the country needs to keep in the forefront of their training and activities. If they (the CPT team) do not keep this as part of the mission it can cause problems at the local level. If there has been not enough, or no contact with the existing first responder teams before an event happens it can, for all intense purposes, cause the 1st responder community to look at CPT with suspicion and possibly worse – believe the erroneous message of the main stream media that CPT and the Oath Keepers are “anti-government.” If this were the case, then when a large-scale incident were to happen, there would not be the trust and rapport needed to call on them for assistance. How could we fix this problem? By taking our existing skill sets and eagerness to learn and join the existing first responder communities.

Living in the mountains of the west, I thought that joining my local Search and Rescue team might be a good start. It would further the skills I already had in land navigation, communications, wilderness survival, and medical care, all while helping me to get into better shape, which at the time I was in desperate need of. The process was pretty straight forward, I found their website and submitted an online application. Within a month, I was contacted by the team’s president and an interview was set up for after the next monthly meeting of the membership. During the interview, they asked about my past experience and what my motivation was for wanting to join the team. Really, for me, my main motivation was to give back to my local community in a tangible way. I remember thinking that if one of my three daughters was cold, hurt, alone, and lost in the wilderness, what kind of person would I want to be out there searching for her and in the end the answer to that question was someone like me.

It was in the next month, I was made a probationary member of the team. I needed to get my CPR license updated and also needed to take and pass the SAR Tech 1 certification through NASAR (The National Association for Search and Rescue.) NASAR was founded in 1972 for the training of search and rescue, disaster relief, emergency medicine, and awareness education. NASAR is interested in search and rescue as a humanitarian mission. They also provide a national standard for training and skills. Once I accomplished these, I was able to be called out for missions.

I really cannot believe that more people are not interested in being a part of their local SAR team. During the first year of training, I was able to train with and become competent in several areas that are incredibly exciting. Rappelling, 4×4 riding, snowmobiles/snow cats, and boats are just a few of the types of experiences you will get to have. All this while building team dynamics and really getting a sense that you are really helping people on some of the worst days of their lives.

After being a member of the SAR team for about a year, I went on to join the local ambulance service. This, I really kind of fell into. I had heard from a fellow member of the CPT team that the ambulance service was having their 24-hour refresher course once a week and that it was free and open to the public. I began attending their trainings, hoping just to get some emergency medical training that would be of use in my SAR callouts. I found that I had a keen interest in Emergency Medicine and within in 2 months of training I began driving for the ambulance service. A month later I was working on attaining my own EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) license. That summer I was brought on to the service as a full member. That would be a very busy summer for me as I also applied for, and was accepted to be a wildland fire fighter (as a fire-line qualified EMT). A week after passing my NREMT (National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians,) I was living out of a tent on an isolated mountain side going through the USFS (United States Forest Service) Guard School. This is the training one must go through to become a type 2 wildland fire fighter. That summer would prove to be one of the most intense fire seasons in history and I would travel to 6 different fires.

I now have an immense feeling of pride in serving and giving back what I can to my community. I have an ever-evolving skill set that is continuously being added to and I am in the best shape of my life!


In this new series of articles “Code 3”, I will be discussing different aspects of the first responder communities and what it is like to live the life of a first responder. Additionally, I will also be putting out gear reviews, going over new tools and tech that can help in the fight “so that others may live.”

 

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FEMA Contract Called for 30 Million Meals for Puerto Ricans. 50,000 Were Delivered.

(INCLUDES NOTE AND LINKS FROM OATH KEEPERS)

By Patricia Mazzei and Agustin Armendariz  Feb. 6, 2018

The mission for the Federal Emergency Management Agency was clear: Hurricane Maria had torn through Puerto Rico, and hungry people needed food. Thirty million meals needed to be delivered as soon as possible.

For this huge task, FEMA tapped Tiffany Brown, an Atlanta entrepreneur with no experience in large-scale disaster relief and at least five canceled government contracts in her past. FEMA awarded her $156 million for the job, and Ms. Brown, who is the sole owner and employee of her company, Tribute Contracting LLC, set out to find some help.

Ms. Brown, who is adept at navigating the federal contracting system, hired a wedding caterer in Atlanta with a staff of 11 to freeze-dry wild mushrooms and rice, chicken and rice, and vegetable soup. She found a nonprofit in Texas that had shipped food aid overseas and domestically, including to a Houston food bank after Hurricane Harvey.

By the time 18.5 million meals were due, Tribute had delivered only 50,000. And FEMA inspectors discovered a problem: The food had been packaged separately from the pouches used to heat them. FEMA’s solicitation required “self-heating meals.”

“Do not ship another meal. Your contract is terminated,” Carolyn Ward, the FEMA contracting officer who handled Tribute’s agreement, wrote to Ms. Brown in an email dated Oct. 19 that Ms. Brown provided to The New York Times. “This is a logistical nightmare.”

Four months after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, a picture is emerging of the contracts awarded in the earliest days of the crisis. And examples like the Tribute contract are causing lawmakers to raise questions about FEMA’s handling of the disaster and whether the agency was adequately prepared to respond.

On Tuesday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, which has been investigating the contract, asked Representative Trey Gowdy, the committee chairman, to subpoena FEMA for all documents relating to the agreement. Lawmakers fear the agency is not lining up potential contractors in advance of natural disasters, leading it to scramble to award multimillion-dollar agreements in the middle of a crisis.

After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, a bipartisan congressional investigation found that a failure to secure advance contracts led to chaos and potential for waste and fraud. Democrats asserted that FEMA was similarly inept preparing for this storm.

“It appears that the Trump Administration’s response to the hurricanes in Puerto Rico in 2017 suffered from the same flaws as the Bush Administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005,” wrote Representatives Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland and Stacey E. Plaskett, the nonvoting delegate from the United States Virgin Islands.

A box of food from the Federal Emergency Management Agency distributed to residents of San Isidro.
CreditErika P. Rodriguez for The New York Times

Amanda Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Mr. Gowdy, said FEMA has given the Oversight Committee regular briefings since lawmakers asked for them in October, and at no point had Democrats mentioned the Tribute contract. Sending a subpoena to an agency cooperating with Congress “is premature,” Ms. Gonzalez said in a statement.

In November, The Associated Press found that after Hurricane Maria, FEMA awarded more than $30 million in contracts for emergency tarps and plastic sheeting to a company that never delivered the needed supplies.

FEMA insists no Puerto Ricans missed a meal as a result of the failed agreement with Tribute. FEMA relied on other suppliers that provided “ample” food and water for distribution, said William Booher, an agency spokesman.

But there is little doubt that in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Ricans struggled with access to food. The storm shut down ports on an island that imports about 85 percent of its food supply. Farms were flattened. Supermarkets lost electricity and could not find diesel to run their generators. The stores that opened using generator power could not offer much from their understocked shelves.

Puerto Ricans depended heavily on emergency aid dispatched by FEMA. The Department of Homeland Security has doled out more than $1 billion in contracts related to Hurricane Maria, which made landfall in Puerto Rico on Sept. 20.

Read more at the NY Times
PHOTO: Residents of San Isidro, P.R., waited for food and water in October. Credit Erika P. Rodriguez for The New York Times


NOTE AND LINKS FROM OATH KEEPERS:

Oath Keepers volunteers were very effective at delivering food, water, and other supplies to hurricane victims who needed help. They came from as far away as Montana, Arizona, Mississippi, and Florida. The photo of the red truck below was taken in Texas, but the owner drove it from Florida. Our Oath Keepers volunteers also participated in rescues, security, opening blocked roads, downed tree removal, loading and unloading trucks, medical checkups, etc. Oath Keepers did all of this after the disastrous 2017 hurricanes in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico.

Oath Keepers Disaster Relief mission in  Conroe, Texas

Hurricane Irma in Florida, buying food and other supplies for those in need.

Oath Keepers and friends deliver food, water, and wellness checks in Puerto Rico

Critical food and medical supplies for Puerto Ricans tied up by FEMA?

 

 

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Top Ten Global Weather/Climate Events of 2017

A Year of Landfalls (Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria) and Firestorms (California)

Dr. Jeff Masters  ·  December 29, 2017

In 2017, the atmosphere seemed to have it in for the United States. Globally, the lion’s share of destruction from each of the world’s four costliest weather-related disasters occurred within U.S. states and territories, and each one involved either hurricanes or wildfires. Through September, NOAA tallied 15 U.S weather disasters in 2017 with a cost of at least $1 billion, and the December wildfires in Southern California may well add another billion-dollar disaster to the total. This would tie 2017 with 2011 for the most billion-dollar weather disasters in any year in U.S. history.

Granted, the U.S. is a meteorological crossroads that’s renowned for getting virtually every type of meteorological mayhem, but it’s unusual for the nation to have such a lopsided share of the global toll from a year’s worth of weather/climate disasters. One preliminary damage assessment put the U.S. damage from Maria, Harvey, and Irma at $207 billion, with another $25 billion in non-U.S. damage. Thus, our picks below for the planet’s highest-impact weather and climate events of 2017 are very U.S.-centric.

Three events tied for #1 in 2017: Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria

The most hellacious series of Atlantic hurricanes since 2005 produced catastrophic damage in a number of Caribbean nations as well as Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the U.S. mainland. One reason: at the peak of hurricane season, sea-surface temperatures were at near-record warm levels across most of the tropical Atlantic. Moreover, upper-level winds (with an assist from La Niña) were unusually supportive for allowing hurricanes to thrive (bringing low wind shear), and steering currents favored trajectories toward land, with a grand total of 23 landfalls for the year. The period from late August to early October saw a nearly unbroken string of Atlantic hurricanes in progress, and September produced the largest amount of accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) of any month on record.

 

Figure 1. First-light GOES-16 image of Hurricane Maria taken at 7:15 am EDT September 20, 2017, just after the hurricane had made landfall in Puerto Rico as a top-end Category 4 storm with 155 mph winds. Maria’s eye was obscured by clouds due to interactions with land. Image credit: NOAA/RAMMB.

1. Hurricane Maria

Hurricane Maria hit the island of Dominica in the Caribbean as a Category 5 hurricane with 160 mph winds, then powered through the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico as a top-end Category 4 storm with 155 mph winds, causing catastrophic damage and at least 47 deaths outside of Puerto Rico. The death toll from Maria in Puerto Rico is likely to top 1,000 when indirect deaths that occurred in the weeks and months after Maria’s passage are fully taken into account. This would make Maria only the second hurricane since 1928, along with Katrina of 2005, to have caused at least 1,000 deaths in the U.S. or its territories. Total damage across the Caribbean from Maria has not yet been fully tallied, but some estimates are in excess of $100 billion (insured plus uninsured damage), which would make Maria more costly than any hurricane except Hurricane Katrina ($161 billion in damage in 2005). Overall, it appears that Maria will be the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since 2005’s Stan, which took more than 1,500 lives in Guatemala and another 150+ in neighboring countries.

Maria also became a political flash point, as it highlighted Puerto Rico’s fragile infrastructure and the lack of urgency one might see in recovery efforts for a similar disaster in a U.S. state versus a territory. More than a million residents still lacked power as of late December. According to New York Times reporter Frances Robles, the U.S. Corps of Engineers estimates that power will not be fully restored to rural parts of Puerto Rico until the end of May—a full eight months after Maria.

 

Figure 2. Storm-total rainfall from Hurricane Harvey, August 24 – 31, 2017. Harvey dumped over 40” (yellow colors) in Houston, with isolated amounts in excess of 50” (pink colors) south of Houston and northwest of Port Arthur. Image credit: NOAA.

Tied for #1: Hurricane Harvey

Hurricane Harvey was spectacular in terms of rainfall, as a result of its slow movement near the southeast Texas coast following landfall at Category 4 strength just north of Corpus Christi. At least 40” of rain fell across a gigantic area from Houston to Port Arthur—larger than the entire state of Delaware. The storm total of 60.58” at Nederland, TX, was the heaviest single amount ever recorded from a tropical cyclone or its remnants in the U.S. One analysis found that Houston could expect Harvey-like rains only about once every 2000 years—but that climate change is already making such rains far more likely.

Harvey caused at least 84 direct and indirect deaths, primarily from massive flooding across southeast Texas, including many places outside the 100-year flood plain. The total cost of Harvey (including insured and noninsured losses) was estimated by insurance broker Aon Benfield at $90 billion. Among U.S. hurricanes, this comes in behind only the $161 billion in total damage from 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, as estimated by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. Hurricane Maria may exceed Harvey’s damage once the final numbers are in, though.

 

Figure 3. Recently planted palm trees lie across a road in Miami Beach, FL, on Sunday, September 10, 2017, due to Hurricane Irma’s landfall. Image credit: Wilfredo Lee/AP.

Also tied for #1: Hurricane Irma

Irma was neither the deadliest or most destructive Atlantic hurricane of 2017—but in most other years, it would have been an epic disaster all its own. Irma churned across or near several Caribbean islands as a Category 5 storm packing 185 mph winds, the strongest winds of any tropical cyclone on Earth this year. Irma made destructive landfalls in Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Martin, Anguilla, Turks and Caicos, The Bahamas, and Cuba, as well as the United States. Before it moved up the west coast of Florida, Irma angled just far enough leftward to rake the north coast of Cuba, a shift that resulted in 10 deaths and $2.1 billion in damage there. Had Irma not been disrupted by its encounter with Cuba, it might have produced far greater destruction in Florida. All told, Irma took 124 lives and wreaked an estimated $50 billion in total damage along its path, according to Aon Benfield.

 

Figure 4. Christmas decorations illuminate a house in Carpinteria, Calif., as the growing Thomas Fire advances toward Santa Barbara County seaside communities on December 10, 2017. Image credit: David McNew/Getty Images.

4.  California wildfires (October-December)

After an unusually slow start to the U.S. fire season caused by a wet winter, the fire season of 2017 put on an intense blitz of the Western U.S., burning 9.6 million acres–the third highest total since accurate records began in 1960, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The last three months of the year brought two devastating clusters of wildfire to California. The stage for disaster was set by a near-record wet winter in 2016–17, which led to a bumper crop of fire-vulnerable shrubs and grasses. California’s hottest summer on record eventually left the fresh vegetation tinder-dry, and cool-season rains were unusually slow to return to the state.

The first of the year’s two firestorms burst into being on the night of October 8-9, when a fierce round of hot, dry winds gusting to more than 60 mph swept through the North Bay Hills of California. The strong winds tossed embers well ahead of the fire line, leading to extremely rapid fire spread. Many residents had only a few scant minutes to evacuate. The Tubbs Fire pushed from the urban/wildland interface well into the city of Santa Rosa, scorching more than 36,000 acres and consuming 5,643 structures in all—almost twice the structural toll of any other fire in Cal Fire records. At least 44 people died as a direct result of the October fires, the largest U.S. death toll from a wildfire event in nearly 100 years.

In December, persistent offshore Santa Ana winds led to the worst late-season fires in California history across the coastal hills from Santa Barbara to San Diego. The biggest and most destructive was the Thomas Fire in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. The Thomas Fire became the largest in reliable state history on December 22 when its coverage reached 273,400 acres, topping 2003’s Cedar Fire (273,246 acres). The Thomas Fire consumed at least 1,063 structures, with hundreds of other buildings destroyed in five other major wildfires across the region. The Santa Ana winds arrived during a normal climatological peak, but their effects were intensified by the extensive dried-out vegetation and by the near-record warm, dry conditions that prevailed across Southern California throughout the autumn and into December.

Read more at wunderground.com

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AG Sessions orders examination of Bundy case after mistrial over prosecution bungling

Government failed to turn over evidence.

 

By Valerie Richardson – The Washington Times – Thursday, December 21, 2017

Attorney General Jeff Sessions stepped into the Bundy prosecution after Wednesday’s mistrial, ordering a third-party examination of the case in light of the latest government snafu.

“The attorney general takes this issue very seriously and has personally directed that an expert in the [Justice Department’s] discovery obligations be deployed to examine the case and advise as to the next steps,” said Ian D. Prior, the department’s principal deputy director of public affairs, in a late Wednesday statement.

The decision to intervene came after Chief U.S. District Court Judge Gloria Navarro declared a mistrial over the government’s “willful failure to disclose information” to the defense, saying it would have been “impossible” for the four co-defendants to receive a fair trial.

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SEE ALSO: Mistrial bolster’s Bundy’s claim of federal persecution, gives prosecutors black eye

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“Failure to turn over such evidence violates due process,” Judge Navarro said in the courtroom, the Arizona Republic reported. “A fair trial at this point is impossible.”

Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, his sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy, and Ryan Payne of Montana have been charged with 15 felony counts stemming from the 2014 armed standoff with the Bureau of Land Management at the Bundy ranch near Bunkerville.

The examination represents the first direct public intervention by the attorney general in the Nevada case, which began last year under then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

Read more at The Washington Times

Hat tip: Redoubt News

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EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Matt Shea Exposes BLM Atrocities

by Shari Dovale

In an exclusive video interview with Redoubt News, Washington State Representative Matt Shea read from a letter he received concerning a BLM whistle blower named Larry Wooten.

Wooten was the lead investigator for the Bureau of Land Management’s investigation into the Bunkerville/Gold Butte operation that went bad for them in April of 2014.

The letter outlines egregious violations and abuses committed by the Bureau of Land Management employees, lead by SAC Dan Love.

These heinous acts were discovered when Wooten was assigned to investigate the Bunkerville Standoff/Gold Butte operation that took place in April 2014.

Wooten was the lead investigator for nearly 3 years, digging into a multitude of issues. He states in the letter:

…the investigation revealed a widespread pattern of bad judgment, lack of discipline, incredible bias, unprofessionalism and misconduct, as well as likely policy, ethical, and legal violations among senior and supervisory staff at the BLM’s Office of Law Enforcement and Security.

He outlined specifics, such as very derogatory name calling, when he described the unprofessional behavior. Additionally, Wooten states that this behavior was committed “often by law enforcement supervisors who are potential witnesses and investigative team supervisors”.

Agent Wooten outlines in detail how Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Dan Love was known for his bad behavior and allowed to get away with it, as he was “the BLM OLES “Directors boy” and they indicated they were going to hide and protect him.”

But, the information that this courageous whistle blower reveals only gets worse from here.

Wooten goes on to outline that SAC Dan Love had what was called a “Kill Book as a trophy and in essence bragged about getting three individuals in Utah to commit suicide (see Operation Cerberus Action out of Blanding, Utah and the death of Dr. Redd).”

The report also describes what appears to be additional people on the BLM hit list, this time, however, Wooten’s own supervisor was an accessory.

My supervisor even took photographs in the secure command post area of the Las Vegas FBI Headquarters and even after he was told that no photographs were allowed, he recklessly emailed out photographs of the “Arrest Tracking Wall” in which Eric Parker and Cliven Bundy had “X’s” through their face and body (indicating prejudice and bias).

The report that Representative Shea shared has multiple pages and is presented here for you to read for yourself.

Wooten Report

Some people might claim this is a disgruntled employee, and I would say they are probably not wrong. However, there are too many specifics included, and too many verifiable facts, to disregard the report. Any person that uncovered these abuses, and was fired for trying to report them, has every right to be disgruntled.

Wooten explains that in “February of 2017, it became clear to me that keeping quite became an unofficial condition of my future employment with the BLM, future awards, promotions, and a good future job reference.”

This report names several BLM agents and employees, but then it goes even further. The US Attorney’s office is also implicated in the cover-up:

When I asked [AUSA (First Assistant and Lead Prosecutor) Steven] Myhre if the former BLM SAC’s statements like “Go out there and kick Cliven Bundy in the mouth (or teeth) and take his cattle” and “I need you to get the troops fired up to go get those cows and not take any crap from anyone” would be exculpatory or if we would have to inform the defense counsel, he said something like “we do now,” or “it is now.”

Wooten took great risk upon himself to report the flagrant and vicious acts committed by these government representatives and the Acting US Attorney, Steven Myhre, had him fired from the investigation.

On February 18, 2017, I was removed from my position as the Case Agent Lead Investigator for the Cliven Bundy/Gold Butte Nevada Case

My supervisor told me that AUSA Steven Myhre “furiously demanded” that I be removed from the case and mentioned something about us (the BLM, specifically my supervisor) not turning over (or disclosing) discovery related material

We have previously reported on the blatant Brady violations the prosecution continues to commit. They have withheld evidence that would have easily exonerated these 19 men. The prosecution knew the Bundy family was not threat, as they have already referred to the “Threat Assessment Report” previously completed. These men should never have been incarcerated at all, let alone kept for nearly 2 years.

The list of exculpatory evidence that has been kept from the defense continues to grow. 2 men, Todd Engel and Greg Burleson, were convicted based on this false information. Will truth win out and their convictions get overturned? If the people are to have any chance of regaining trust in our judicial system, this is what should happen.

What about the men that were pressured to accept plea agreements? If those agreements were based on false evidence the prosecution claimed to have had, or if they did not disclose the true facts of the case, will these men have any recourse to have their pleas overturned?

It is now in the hands of Judge Gloria Navarro. She has spent months catering to the prosecution. She has proven to be no friend of the defense.

However, was she misled in this case, as well? Have her eyes been opened to the truth of the scandalous behavior of the prosecution and their witnesses?

If she wants to make this right, and see justice is served, she needs to resolve these issues immediately. She needs to dismiss this case, unseal the entire case and evidence, and hold Steven Myhre and company accountable for their actions

We thank Rep. Matt Shea for his courage in reporting this corruption. We need more elected officials to speak up on behalf of their constituents.

And we thank Larry Wooten for his bravery in shedding light on this outrage. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke needs to step up and address his situation, as well.

 

Breaking News: Special Report from Washington Representative Matt Shea. The Smoking Gun!

Posted by Redoubt News on Thursday, December 14, 2017

Redoubt News

 

David Knight w Shari Dovale 12-15-17

RealNews with David Knight w Shari Dovale of Redoubt News 12-15-17Discussing the BREAKING NEWS from Rep. Matt Shea concerning the BLM whistleblower.

Posted by Redoubt News on Friday, December 15, 2017

 

If you believe in the mission of Oath Keepers, to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, please make a donation to support our work.  
You can donate HERE.

The post EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Matt Shea Exposes BLM Atrocities appeared first on Oath Keepers.

First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas

By Andrea E.

Oath Keepers was requested by leaders of First Baptist Church to help with the tragedy. A small group of volunteer Oath Keepers are assessing the situation, assisting with security and beginning to formulate training plans to help church congregations protect themselves from this kind of attack in the future.

Some of our followers and members have asked what we are doing here and what we are guarding against. As expected, the media is out in full force. We are here to help ensure the victims’ families, congregation and the town are left to grieve in peace. We are here to help prevent a copy-cat incident. We are here to provide peace of mind that they are protected from any more acts of evil. Oath Keepers have also found themselves pressed into other duties including removing bullet riddled church pews, doors and a playground. We have been a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on for this small tightly knit community.

 

Oath Keepers on our security detail in Sutherland, Texas

 

The First Baptist Church was cleaned up and painted as a memorial to twenty six members of the congregation. Each chair represents a church member and where they were sitting on Sunday, November 5th. The memorial was opened to families at 5 PM on Sunday, November 12th. The memorial is scheduled to be open all week.

 

 

 

Photo credit: Andrea E.

When Oath Keepers participate in a mission like this one, they do so as volunteers.

If you can donate to help with travel expenses, etc, that would be greatly appreciated.

We currently have Oath Keepers in Sutherland Springs, Texas from several states, including Arizona, Montana, and Florida.

Please donate HERE. Thank you very much!

The post First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas appeared first on Oath Keepers.

Call to Action: Church Security in Sutherland Springs, Texas

Pastor Frank Pomeroy and his wife, Sherri, took the podium Monday morning to respond to the mass shooting at their church in southeast Texas during the service on Sunday, Nov. 6. They lost their 14-year-old daughter that day.

On Wednesday, Nov. 8, Associate Pastor Kevin Cornelius from First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, TX and Pastor Mark Collins (who used to be pastor at the church) reached out to Oath Keepers and asked us to provide security for the church grounds, for the church service on Sunday, 11/12/2017, and to also provide security for some of the funerals for those killed in Sunday’s mass shooting.  In response, Oath Keepers has been on the ground at the church since Thursday, November 9 and we are already bringing in some of our most experienced police and military veterans.

Help us provide security for the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, TX and their community while they heal and recover from the horrendous mass shooting that took the lives of 26 people on Sunday, Nov. 5, and help us train church security teams in the area so they are better prepared to prevent and/or stop such acts of evil in the future.

Skilled Volunteers Needed:

We need skilled, trained, and experienced police and military veteran volunteers to assist us in providing security for the church and for the community as they grieve and recover.

You can volunteer by emailing us at:  tx@oathkeepers.org.

You can also call:

Scott Dunn at 850-209-6348

or

Ivan Chiplinsky at 702-810-4066

If you cannot make it yourself, please donate to support those who can.   We need to pay for the travel expenses of bringing in our best men.   Please help support this mission:

DONATE HERE

Team leaders on the ground are:

1. Brian Krogmann (Army Ranger veteran and retired Washington D.C. Metro police officer who helped take down the Washington Navy Yard shooter in 2013).

2. Scott Dunn (Ranger School grad, police veteran, and retired trauma nurse).

3. Army Ranger veteran Ivan Chiplinsky (who was deployed to Haiti for six months while in service).

They need help.  We want only “quiet professionals” who are well trained and experienced current serving or prior police and military with appropriate backgrounds to help preserve the dignity and privacy of the church, the survivors, and the families of those killed as they grieve, recover, heal, and rebuild.   We are now responsible for the security of the church grounds (both inside and outside the fence), and we will be assisting with the security of future church services and as security escorts for survivors and the family of the deceased as they attend services.  We will also be available to provide security for funerals upon request of the families.

We have pledged to help the church with future security planning as they rebuild, and while on this mission, we will also be doing free security assessments for other churches in the area and throughout South Texas, and we will begin the process of training up church security teams.  We are doing all of this for free, as volunteers, under our oath obligations and as part of our Community Preparedness Team (CPT) program.

Volunteers should expect to be heavily vetted and be prepared to undergo a background check. We prefer Oath Keepers members, but highly qualified non-members may also volunteer.   This will be an armed detail, but it will be low profile and concealed carry.  We do have long guns (since the best response to a terrorist rifle threat is a rifle in the hands of the good guys, as Steven Willeford showed last Sunday), but they too will remain concealed.   Clothing will be solid colors only.  Oath Keepers shirts and hats are encouraged to help assist with identification of our volunteers.

Please note that Oath Keepers DID NOT reach out to the church or the pastors. They contacted us. Pastor Mark Collins (who used to pastor at the church) is assisting Pastors Pomeroy and Cornelius in dealing with this tragedy.  Pastor Collins has known me (Oath Keepers Founder Stewart Rhodes) for years and has worked with us in the past.  Both of us were in the documentary “Revelation: Dawn of Global Government” and we have spoken at the same patriotic gatherings around the nation for years.   Pastor Collins knows us, knows our past work, and trusts us to do this right, and that is why we were contacted to help. We are honored to help in any way we can.

Pastor Collins, who is best known nationwide for playing George Washington, is a great American patriot pastor and friend of Oath Keepers.   The other pastors are also fantastic men who deserve our support and assistance.

Pastor Collins on the news regarding the mass shooting:

While providing security for the church and the families, we are working alongside the Texas Highway Patrol, Wilson County Sheriff’s Office, Baptist Child and Family Services (BCFS) (who are in overall command of the scene), BioTech and the Red Cross. This is a very important mission.   Yes, we do wish that the church had had an effective armed security team in place, with an effective security plan (as we have been calling for in all churches across America), but we must now help them heal and rebuild.   And we hope we can also be part of helping prevent this from happening again to this church or to others in South Texas (and nationwide).   Our mobile training team will begin in this area and will spread out from there.

Please donate to support the costs of travel and support for this critical mission.  DONATE HERE.

Please say a prayer for the Sutherland Springs community as they grieve, heal, and rebuild.  And please say a prayer for our volunteers as they do all they can to help in that process.

For the Republic,

Stewart Rhodes

Founder of Oath Keepers

Photo: Two of Our Oath Keepers Team Leaders on Ground in Sutherland Springs, TX – Scott Dunn and Ivan Chiplinsky.

 

PS – Here is an interview with good Samaritan hero, Stephen Willeford, on how he stopped the killing:

We only wish he, or someone like him, had been in the church parking lot when the killer first arrived, rather than having to run there after the attack had already started.   And that is why we strongly advocate that churches have an exterior security team, armed with rifles (concealed in their vehicle as they stand next to it), as well as concealed handguns on their person, so they can decisively stop such an attack at the outset.    We will train them to do just that (along with having a team on the inside, as well as attendees carrying concealed).  See our recommendations for church security here and here.

Pastor Collins as George Washington:

The post Call to Action: Church Security in Sutherland Springs, Texas appeared first on Oath Keepers.

Call to Action: Church Security in Sutherland Springs, TX

Help us provide security for the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, TX and their community while they heal and recover from the horrendous mass shooting that took the lives of 26 people on Sunday, Nov. 5, and help us train church security teams in the area so they are better prepared to prevent and/or stop such acts of evil in the future.

On Wed. Nov. 8, Associate Pastor Kevin Cornelius from First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, TX and Pastor Mark Collins (who used to be pastor at the church) reached out to Oath Keepers and asked us to provide security for the church grounds, for the church service on Sunday, 11/12/2017, and to also provide security for some of the funerals for those killed in Sunday’s mass shooting.  In response, Oath Keepers has been on the ground at the church since Thursday, November 9 and we are already bringing in some of our most experienced police and military veterans.

Skilled Volunteers Needed:

We need skilled, trained, and experienced police and military veteran volunteers to assist us in providing security for the church and for the community as they grieve and recover.

You can volunteer by emailing us at:  tx@oathkeepers.org.

You can also call:

Scott Dunn at 850-209-6348

or

Ivan Chiplinsky at 702-810-4066

If you cannot make it yourself, please donate to support those who can.   We need to pay for the travel expenses of bringing in our best men.   Please help support this mission:

DONATE HERE

Team leaders on the ground are:

1. Brian Krogmann (Army Ranger veteran and retired Washington D.C. Metro police officer who helped take down the Washington Navy Yard shooter in 2013).

2. Scott Dunn (Ranger School grad, police veteran, and retired trauma nurse).

3. Army Ranger veteran Ivan Chiplinsky (who was deployed to Haiti for six months while in service).

They need help.  We want only “quiet professionals” who are well trained and experienced current serving or prior police and military with appropriate backgrounds to help preserve the dignity and privacy of the church, the survivors, and the families of those killed as they grieve, recover, heal, and rebuild.   We are now responsible for the security of the church grounds (both inside and outside the fence), and we will be assisting with the security of future church services and as security escorts for survivors and the family of the deceased as they attend services.  We will also be available to provide security for funerals upon request of the families.

We have pledged to help the church with future security planning as they rebuild, and while on this mission, we will also be doing free security assessments for other churches in the area and throughout South Texas, and we will begin the process of training up church security teams.  We are doing all of this for free, as volunteers, under our oath obligations and as part of our Community Preparedness Team (CPT) program.

Volunteers should expect to be heavily vetted and be prepared to undergo a background check. We prefer Oath Keepers members, but highly qualified non-members may also volunteer.   This will be an armed detail, but it will be low profile and concealed carry.  We do have long guns (since the best response to a terrorist rifle threat is a rifle in the hands of the good guys, as Steven Willeford showed last Sunday), but they too will remain concealed.   Clothing will be solid colors only.  Oath Keepers shirts and hats are encouraged to help assist with identification of our volunteers.

Please note that Oath Keepers DID NOT reach out to the church or the pastors. They contacted us. Pastor Mark Collins (who used to pastor at the church) is assisting Pastors Pomeroy and Cornelius in dealing with this tragedy.  Pastor Collins has known me (Oath Keepers Founder Stewart Rhodes) for years and has worked with us in the past.  Both of us were in the documentary “Revelation: Dawn of Global Government” and we have spoken at the same patriotic gatherings around the nation for years.   Pastor Collins knows us, knows our past work, and trusts us to do this right, and that is why we were contacted to help. We are honored to help in any way we can.

Pastor Collins, who is best known nationwide for playing George Washington, is a great American patriot pastor and friend of Oath Keepers.   The other pastors are also fantastic men who deserve our support and assistance.

Pastor Collins as George Washington:

 

 

Pastor Collins on the news regarding the mass shooting:

While providing security for the church and the families, we are working alongside the Texas Highway Patrol, Wilson County Sheriff’s Office, Baptist Child and Family Services (BCFS) (who are in overall command of the scene), BioTech and the Red Cross. This is a very important mission.   Yes, we do wish that the church had had an effective armed security team in place, with an effective security plan (as we have been calling for in all churches across America), but we must now help them heal and rebuild.   And we hope we can also be part of helping prevent this from happening again to this church or to others in South Texas (and nationwide).   Our mobile training team will begin in this area and will spread out from there.

Please donate to support the costs of travel and support for this critical mission.  DONATE HERE.

Please say a prayer for the Sutherland Springs community as they grieve, heal, and rebuild.  And please say a prayer for our volunteers as they do all they can to help in that process.

For the Republic,

Stewart Rhodes

Founder of Oath Keepers

 

PS – Here is an interview with good Samaritan hero, Stephen Willeford, on how he stopped the killing:

We only wish he, or someone like him, had been in the church parking lot when the killer first arrived, rather than having to run there after the attack had already started.   And that is why we strongly advocate that churches have an exterior security team, armed with rifles (concealed in their vehicle as they stand next to it), as well as concealed handguns on their person, so they can decisively stop such an attack at the outset.    We will train them to do just that (along with having a team on the inside, as well as attendees carrying concealed).  See our recommendations for church security here and here.

The post Call to Action: Church Security in Sutherland Springs, TX appeared first on Oath Keepers.

PUERTO RICO PART II – MEDICAL ISSUES

By Faye Higbee – Oct 28, 2017 – Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children

Puerto Rico is struggling under a desperate need for medical help, that in some cases is not happening. We spoke with a disaster relief worker who explained some of the issues that are creating havoc…they were described to us as “humanitarian crimes.”

The fight to get medical care  

An example: a veteran and his son – who had serious medical issues – were in area that had flooding and no communication.  Relief workers were trying to find a way to help the son, and it became extremely difficult. The son was so sick he could not communicate.

“He was wasting away in front of my eyes.”

They did manage to get 2 doctors out to him, but they advised the the relief workers that there was “no way” the man would get better in that environment. Hence, evacuation was necessary.

They got an ambulance to take him to a field hospital, where they hoped he could get assistance to allow him intake on the USNS Comfort. (Patients must have the approval of a hospital and proper paperwork to board the hospital ship). Aid workers were able to finally get him that approval.

By then the man had spent several hours in an ambulance. Officials directed him to a MASH unit that was only open from 9 a.m.- 9 p.m. – by the time he got there they were closed.

Members of the military volunteered to watch him overnight.  When morning came, the process did not work as originally communicated, and the intake to the USNS Comfort was cancelled.

Amateur civilian ham radio operators had created a network of communication between hospitals for about 3 weeks. By this time, they had left, which made a difficult situation even worse.

Relief workers have involved a variety of  federal agencies, NGOs,and legislators to work on this case. Disaster relief flights are difficult to obtain, in part because they are expensive. His situation is not totally resolved as of this writing. The man has been to no less than 5 hospitals, only the last of which has made a solid effort to help him – they are thoroughly overwhelmed. But he still needs to be taken to a hospital on the mainland, which is something the relief workers are attempting to handle at this time.

The pressure on relief workers

Many of the relief workers receive calls incessantly from people stranded in the mountains, children who are acutely ill, water purification issues, the need for gas to power generators, veterans that need supplies, even the need for more body bags at the morgue [Note: we have information that the death toll from various issues from landslides to Leptospirosis is far higher than is being reported], and many other critical situations too numerous to count. Then there are the accusations that FEMA is stockpiling food and water and not releasing it.

It never ends. Relief workers are exhausted both emotionally and physically. In Part III some revelations about the reasons Puerto Rico is still in the throes of desperation.

 Follow

David Begnaud 

✔@DavidBegnaud

#UnitedforPuertoRico raises 12.5M dollars, & questions about the organizations effectiveness

More with Governor: https://www.facebook.com/108679513654/videos/10155266589328655/ …

6:57 PM – Oct 24, 2017

 Follow

David Begnaud 

✔@DavidBegnaud

As of tonight, the U.S. Naval Ship “Comfort” has:

*31 registered patients onboard *85% of the beds are empty

*169 beds are available

5:00 PM – Oct 24, 2017

 Follow

David Begnaud 

✔@DavidBegnaud

Medical examiner in Puerto Rico has authorized 911 cremations

of “natural deaths” since Hurricane Maria https://www.buzzfeed.com/nidhiprakash/puerto-rico-cremations …

10:44 AM – Oct 27, 2017

 Follow

David Begnaud 

✔@DavidBegnaud

Puerto Rico death toll: 51

3 of the 51 died from Leptospirosis

76 other cases of Lepto are suspected (most are alive & being treated)

10:57 AM – Oct 26, 2017

 Follow

David Begnaud 

✔@DavidBegnaud

Puerto Death toll now 51

2 most recent deaths are from Leptospirosis, there 74 other “suspected” cases which need @CDCgov confirmation

9:45 AM – Oct 24, 2017

 Follow

David Begnaud 

✔@DavidBegnaud

“OFF THE GRID NOW!!” was the text message I just received from an engineer standing in front of the generators https://twitter.com/davidbegnaud/status/922301158667960320 …

8:25 PM – Oct 22, 2017

 Follow

David Begnaud 

✔@DavidBegnaud

Two Navy ships used for helicopter support are leaving Puerto Rico: USS WASP & USS OAK HILL; “assets no longer needed” says @USNavy

7:20 AM – Oct 26, 2017

 Follow

David Begnaud 

✔@DavidBegnaud

Maria disrupted production at Puerto Rican factories making drugs; hospitals are seeing shortages @DrLaPook reports https://www.cbsnews.com/videos/hurricane-maria-disrupted-production-of-medical-supplies/ …

8:23 PM – Oct 25, 2017

Hurricane Maria disrupted production of medical supplies

Hurricane Maria disrupted production at Puerto Rican factories that make critical drugs and medical supplies. Dr. Jon LaPook found that hospitals on the U.S. mainland are already seeing shortages.

cbsnews.com

 Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children

This is the second in a series of articles by Faye Higbee on the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

 

The post PUERTO RICO PART II – MEDICAL ISSUES appeared first on Oath Keepers.