My friend is a tool.......

RescueRiley

RescueRiley

Joined
Mar 22, 2006
Messages
5,944
SO I just got off a 3 day work shift.... I was enjoying a morning with my family
When I get a call from my friend. He tells me he is hunting in a 5000 acre Public use area.. about 80 mile from me, has gotten lost, and lost his compass, and his phone i dying (it is also driving rain) I advised him to erect his poncho call the rangers and stay put.. But he declined and said "I'm pretty sure I can make it out, but if you don;t here from me by 3:00pm callmy wife so she can call the rangers."
I attempted to talk some sense into him but he wouldn't listen.. he is a former marine and NYC paramedic, and has some skills but can be very over confident and stubborn. I told him I would do as he asked..
So Come 3:00 pm I havent heard from him, I try his phone first, and it goes straight to voicemail, Than I try his wife's WHich also goes to voice mail... so i leave messages at Both. I tried his wife for the next 20 minutes to no avail, I know it is cold and wet and its going to be dark, SO I get online find the ranger contact list and start a SAR team rolling.. they get to the approximate location can;t find his car or any trace of him, and terminat the search at dark..
I still haven;t heard from him or his wife SO I start to pack my bag THinking I'll drive out tonight and start looking for him at sunup.. differnece being Ihave a topo map of the area and carry 2 compasses (and know that the hunting sucks in the heavy rain)
Finally about 7:00 his wife calls me to tell me he had bee home since 1:30 and was probably sleeping....
So whether he realizie it or Not I'm a little cheesed off first of all because he almost gave me a heart attack worring about him, Secondly he wasted a good partof my day as well as the resources of the SAR team all because of a careless error
All in all I'm glad he made it home to his family.. But still He's not at the top of my Christmas list right now.
Once I heard from his wife I did call the Sar team back to inform them not to continue searching in the day.
 
Man ........ I'd be pissed too. It bugs me also when people turn off their phones like that. He could have caused someone else to get stuck out there by not calling you and letting you know he was OK. I bet that you'll never let him hear the end of that one.
 
His stupidity and thoughtlessness is astounding, and yet not surprising. I know few people that would have done the right thing the first go around, and let you know what's going on every step of the way.

Ron
Beckerhead #32
 
Ugh. Horrible. Makes me think of back when I was working SAR in the desert. We got a call asking if we could deliver flashlights because the caller was resting, and would be for about an hour, and the Sun was going down.
Nice.
 
However many man hours the SAR team plus what you put into it (you were a valuable part of the SAR effort yourself) should be what he has to volunteer with the SAR team to make up for it. Maybe he would learn a thing or two who knows.
 
Glad I'm not unjustified in being a little Ticked... He made allot of mistakes, and he often lets his confidence cloud his judgement.. and I can say his confidence far exceeds his knowledge base in these things. I guess he had the common sense to call me.. that counts for something I guess. LOL
 
If this happened to me, I'd make sure he woke up to a wrathful phone call.

I also Barbarossa's idea of having people who are found by SAR do some volunteer work for the SAR team; it would definitely be an eye-opener for them.
 
Wtf. I am pretty sure I'd tell him to memorize the ranger phone number and get a new friend. I've been screwed over by people before, though that is a massive error. Why wouldn't he call you the seconded he could to make sure you knew he was alright?

Worse thing being, he doesn't know how good of a friend he has. Glad he got out alright, but holy moley.
 
yeah man you've got a reason to be steamed, do you get any sleep during those 3 day shifts???
 
Ratamahatta I slept about 12 hours during that stint

Tony you know your #2
I had to give spot 1 to your wife.
 
You are justified...very thoughtless on his part. I would explain it to him.
 
RescueRiley, The good news is you're upset because you care about your friend. He's fortunate to have a friend like you. I just hope he understands the gravity of his thoughtlessness.

We're all able to learn, here's a great opportunity for him to do so.
 
I'd be sooo upset. You have every reason to be ticked. Honestly, this friend acted irresponsibly. He may had the presence of mind to call you when he needed help, but not to let you know when he was fine.
 
Hey,

Glad your friend made it out safe. Sorry about the worry you endured and the time wasted by you and the SAR team. I'd suggest trying to get him to think about the seriousness of that kind of mistake. It's one thing to waste people's time, but what then if someone, who really is in need, puts in a call to the SAR and half the team is looking for the man at home napping because he never checked in?

God bless,
Adam
 
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