I am involved with SAR in Civil Air Patrol(CAP). CAP is the civilian auxiliary of the US Air Force.
We use cadets (12-21 yrs. old) in the SAR role. Here are some of the issues encountered using cadets in a SAR environment.
Most agencies that are involved in SAR (police,fire, emergency management) won't deal with you if your members aren't 18 years old. Now some support activities like communications and admin can be performed by cadets/scouts at a mission base or emergency operations center (EOC). To be directly involved in the field on a search will take you as a scout leader havi