Stabbings, burns and screaming

Larry Wilson / For the Hungry Horse News

Nearly 15 North Fork residents acted as role players for the Border Patrol National Critical Incident Response Team last Wednesday. The team is the first in Border Patrol history and is designed to bring their law enforcement training along with special skills in counseling and compassion for victims of tragedy.

This weeks training included dealing with distraught citizens faced with losing their homes, obnoxious drunks, severe medical trauma, a mother who has lost a child, exhausted firefighter, fire survivors and death notification.

In order to cover all of these areas, plus additional complications inserted by instructors, the team was broken up into five four-to-five man teams and they rotated through five different scenarios.

Role players were "made up" by real Hollywood type makeup to add realism and some of us looked to be in really tough shape. Jean Caldwell had a particularly nasty looking hand injury as well as other minor injuries. Margaret Heaphy looked like she had been in a fight in a fire pit with cuts, bruises and ashes. Duke Hoiland, distraught citizen, escaped handcuffs several times due to a nasty looking burn on his right arm. I was a stabbing victim, which cost me an old shirt since the moulage I was equipped with had to be exposed after the 'stabbing," since the knife slit my stomach exposing intestines, complete with bleeding. Toughest part for me was screaming when stabbed and the yelling afterward. I'm sure my best performance was the first time through and I was definitely weaker by the fifth scenario.

The Border Patrol Team is training was from all over the country and, as you might expect, most were from the U.S.-Mexican border.

Although most were regular agents trained in law enforcement, there were also chaplains, first aid folks and even one mechanic from Arizona.

I did not ask other North Fork residents their opinion, but I was impressed, again, by the professionalism, enthusiasm and general attitude of the Border Patrol. This training, one day for me, week long for the trainees and instructors, also gave me a new perspective about the Border Patrol.

I knew there were an elite law enforcement agency, they are actually a lot more. Most of the illegal aliens they arrest are just poor people trying to improve their lot in life. Mixed in are really heavy duty criminals and even more rare, terrorists trying to enter the country to do us serious harm.

This means the Border Patrol has to have compassion and discretion far above what may be required of lawmen who just apprehend bank robbers. That means more and more training mixed with periods of boredom and extreme stress. I think we are lucky to have them in our community and I hope we will all work even harder to make them welcome. What do you think?