First Aid/CPR are definitely good skills to have! On the medical side, EMT might be the next level certification for you to get. (Here it's one semester at a co

First Aid/CPR are definitely good skills to have! On the medical side, EMT might be the next level certification for you to get. (Here it's one semester at a community college with night/weekend options also available.) The team I'm on, like most SAR teams, is all volunteer. Except for specialized teams like the one in Yosemite, professional SAR teams are generally under military, Coast Guard, or fire departments. The big national accreditation organizations are NASAR and MRA. http://www.nasar.org/ http://www.nasar.org/ http://mra.org/ http://mra.org/