Cert or sert training

Anybody done it, there is a course coming up and my son and his girlfriend are taking it now. It's taught by the feds and it's free. Have not had time to talk to him about it yet, they just started it last nite.

Civilian Emergency Response Team (CERT)

It's pretty sweet from what I've heard/talked about it with my Dad. He enjoyed it, and now he feels more like a solution to a problem/emergency than just a helpless victim. Not to mention it gives him something to do since he's retired.
He just got back from COBRA (Chemical Ordinance Biological Radiological Training Facility) in Anniston, AL all expenses paid. Learned/trained with actual radioactive material, anthrax, serin (sp?) gas, etc. (hardcore, kill you you with a pinhead, type shit). There were people from the NYPD, LAPD, Marines, ARMY, National Guard, and several large city's Fire Depertments LAFD, FDNY, to name a few.

Here's a web site about it: http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/about.shtm

We are considering doing it at my church as part of an overall preparedness program. We're right next to a fire station so it kind of makes sense but it is a fair time committment.

OK, I'm almost done with the CERT and here's the scoop: most of it is common sense and you're gonna wonder why does anyone need to learn about this. The cool modules deal with triage setup but the advanced first aid is what was covered in first aid about a decade ago and now has been dropped cause it's "too involved".

Since it's free, it's worth going through it (plus I get the CERT bag after I am done ).

One thing they don't tell you in CERT training. - A lot of professional first responders (EMS, fire, police, etc.) don't want to have a bunch of amateurs running around the scene of an emergency. Too much liability! Don't get me wrong, it's good training and It can be a valuable tool, but people can really get hurt if their not careful. Our local EMS has graduated a ton of folks already.

dphillips said:

One thing they don't tell you in CERT training. - A lot of professional first responders (EMS, fire, police, etc.) don't want to have a bunch of amateurs running around the scene of an emergency. Too much liability! Don't get me wrong, it's good training and It can be a valuable tool, but people can really get hurt if their not careful. Our local EMS has graduated a ton of folks already.

Click to expand...

Actually they do say that (at least in mine). CERT training is for folks to learn what to do in case emergency strikes in their neighbourhood and there is no professional response in sight. I believe the current expectation (that's not too widely advertised) is that if a somewhat sizeable earthquake strikes in SoCal it can be about 3 weeks till professional help reaches ALL of (if not just most) communities. There just is no infrastructure nor resources available to deal with disasters of bigger magnitude.

Hopefully if one does hit out there it will be big enough to give us an entire new coast line sans calif.....