Ready to Serve, Ready to Save: Strategies of Real-Life Search and Rescue Missions

Rating:
Summary: Not for everyone. Slow reading, but a must for SAR members.
Review: Books about Search and Rescue, and those of us who do it, are rare. A non-fiction book with stories of real-life missions is too good to resist.

"Ready to Serve, Ready to Save" by Susan Bulanda contains over two dozen authentic SAR missions from all over the United States, and even beyond. Susan presents stories from seemingly every kind of mission - mountains, deserts, cities, snow and heat, kids and oldsters, people who wanted to be found, and people who didn't. All possible outcomes are here too, so not every story has a happy ending.

However, "Ready to Serve, Ready to Save" is not your typical true life adventure book. It's simultaneously less and more. For starters, Susan didn't really write it. Rather, she solicited mission reports, maps, and pictures from other searchers and collected them in a book. This format makes it hard to read at times (not everyone writes well) but the personal details have a way of drawing you in. When you read about someone longing to go search while a prisoner of their day job, or feeling that rush when the subject is found alive, you are bound to think, "Boy, do I ever know what you mean!"

"Ready to Serve, Ready to Save" is a paradox in other ways. It limits itself to reports from SAR managers and dog handlers - no foot searchers, OHV'ers, mounted riders or other disciplines. Yet the writers are seasoned and experienced, and there's a lot of sagacity packed into 238 pages. Every incident includes a "Search Tips" section, and these alone are worth the price of the book. (Example: "Always ask if the subject is afraid of animals, especially dogs. I thought the rifle was just for rabbits.")

In fact, learning from others' experiences is undoubtedly the highest and best use for this remarkable book. SAR teams rarely share what they've learned, thanks to our volunteer status and County focus. "Ready to Serve, Ready to Save" would be valuable if all it did was breach that great divide a bit. But add the personal empathy this book generates, and it's a must. If you're serious about SAR, especially if you're a SAR manager or dog handler, add this to your library.

Rating:
Summary: Learn from the successes & failures of SAR dog handlers
Review: Books about Search and Rescue, and those of us who do it, are rare. A non-fiction book with stories of real-life missions is too good to resist.

"Ready to Serve, Ready to Save" by Susan Bulanda contains over two dozen authentic SAR missions from all over the United States, and even beyond. Susan presents stories from seemingly every kind of mission - mountains, deserts, cities, snow and heat, kids and oldsters, people who wanted to be found, and people who didn't. All possible outcomes are here too, so not every story has a happy ending.

However, "Ready to Serve, Ready to Save" is not your typical true life adventure book. It's simultaneously less and more. For starters, Susan didn't really write it. Rather, she solicited mission reports, maps, and pictures from other searchers and collected them in a book. This format makes it hard to read at times (not everyone writes well) but the personal details have a way of drawing you in. When you read about someone longing to go search while a prisoner of their day job, or feeling that rush when the subject is found alive, you are bound to think, "Boy, do I ever know what you mean!"

"Ready to Serve, Ready to Save" is a paradox in other ways. It limits itself to reports from SAR managers and dog handlers - no foot searchers, OHV'ers, mounted riders or other disciplines. Yet the writers are seasoned and experienced, and there's a lot of sagacity packed into 238 pages. Every incident includes a "Search Tips" section, and these alone are worth the price of the book. (Example: "Always ask if the subject is afraid of animals, especially dogs. I thought the rifle was just for rabbits.")

In fact, learning from others' experiences is undoubtedly the highest and best use for this remarkable book. SAR teams rarely share what they've learned, thanks to our volunteer status and County focus. "Ready to Serve, Ready to Save" would be valuable if all it did was breach that great divide a bit. But add the personal empathy this book generates, and it's a must. If you're serious about SAR, especially if you're a SAR manager or dog handler, add this to your library.

Rating:
Summary: As Real As It Gets...
Review: I found "Ready to Serve, Ready to Save!" to be an invaluable book. Although I have experience in obedience work, I have seriously been considering joining a search and rescue group in the near future.

There are so many tangents to examine before purchasing a dog and training him as a puppy for SAR that I wanted to read about search and rescue missions, without any exaggerations or any glorified accounts, to determine if I had what it takes to get involved in such an undertaking.

I was concerned about some of the reviews, which stated that the book was basically reports of specific missions, because I felt that it would be very boring.

I am so pleased that I ordered this book because I have found the reports to be so honest and interesting. They are anything but dull!

This book takes such a realistic approach to entering search and rescue work. It is such a commitment and you have to often drop everything (even if you have theatre tickets or it is your child's birthday party, etc.) if you are called out with your dog. Many times the searches do not result in finding ANYTHING and much of your time is spent simply training and practicing with your dog.

"Ready to Serve, Ready to Save!" has provided an honest, factual look into search and rescue work. An excellent book!

Rating:
Summary: As Real As It Gets...
Review: I found "Ready to Serve, Ready to Save!" to be an invaluable book. Although I have experience in obedience work, I have seriously been considering joining a search and rescue group in the near future.

There are so many tangents to examine before purchasing a dog and training him as a puppy for SAR that I wanted to read about search and rescue missions, without any exaggerations or any glorified accounts, to determine if I had what it takes to get involved in such an undertaking.

I was concerned about some of the reviews, which stated that the book was basically reports of specific missions, because I felt that it would be very boring.

I am so pleased that I ordered this book because I have found the reports to be so honest and interesting. They are anything but dull!

This book takes such a realistic approach to entering search and rescue work. It is such a commitment and you have to often drop everything (even if you have theatre tickets or it is your child's birthday party, etc.) if you are called out with your dog. Many times the searches do not result in finding ANYTHING and much of your time is spent simply training and practicing with your dog.

"Ready to Serve, Ready to Save!" has provided an honest, factual look into search and rescue work. An excellent book!

Rating:
Summary: RIVETING!
Review: In her follow-up to READY, The Training of a Search and Rescue Dog, Susan Bulanda has created a fascinating book filled with accounts of search and rescue missions by the people who experienced them. In story after story, richly detailed accounts not only provide information that will be helpful to those doing search and rescue but will intrigue the rest of us who read newspaper accounts and listen to TV reports of dogs being used to search for someone and wonder how they do that. This book answers that question and so much more. READY TO SERVE, READY TO SAVE is a MUST READ.

Rating:
Summary: Learn from the successes & failures of SAR dog handlers
Review: One of the best ways to learn are from the true life-stories of other people. Ready to Serve - Ready to Save provides just that vehicle to SAR dog handlers and mission coordinators. It is not unusual to leave mission base after a particularly long and difficult search, mentally recounting all the shoulda, coulda, wouldas. I am grateful that Susan has invested the time and effort to help rescuers learn from the experiences of others who have been there. I highly recommend this book to anyone involved in the exhilerating life of search and rescue.