Whistle Blasts

Recently, we had a chance to get ourselves more familiar with the use of sound blasts in dense forest terrain. It’s a technique generally used when searching for a subject who is thought to be responsive and where the geography is vast in which they are believed to be in. Much like the human voice calling out a name, the sound blast, which is carried out using a whistle, carries much further through the dense layers of the forest. 

How the search essentially works is that each member is spaced out from the other in respect to the geography - the spacing can very. Command then prompts via radio communication, a countdown sequence for which everyone then blasts their whistles at the same time. A period of 5 seconds of silence is observed immediately after and then repeated again approximately 2 minutes later. The line of members travel through the forests while keeping a bearing until the search grid is fulfilled or the subject has been located.    

This search technique is highly affective however, it’s only made affective if the subject remains where they are and provides vocal feedback when he/she hears the blasts. The impulse to move around and keep moving often feels like the right thing to do especially when the blasts seem like they aren’t far at all. The forest is amazing at defusing, reflecting or even magnifying sounds which is absolutely something to be mindful about.