# Search vs. Rescue

Part of the Search and Rescue Merit Badge Digital Resource Guide: [Introduction & Overview](https://merit-badge.university/merit-badges/search-and-rescue/guide/index.md)

*6. Search Procedure Skills*

> **6a.** Explain the difference between search and rescue.

People often say "search and rescue" as if it were one job, but the two words describe different parts of the mission.

**Search** means locating the subject, their clues, or their most likely area. **Rescue** means helping that person survive, treating urgent problems, and getting them to safety.

A mission may start as a search and become a rescue the moment the subject is found alive and needs medical care, packaging, transport, or evacuation. It may also become a recovery operation if the subject is not alive.

## Why the distinction matters

If teams blur these ideas together, they can miss important planning needs.

- A search plan focuses on clues, probability, terrain, and where to deploy teams.
- A rescue plan focuses on patient condition, hazards, equipment, evacuation route, and medical support.

For example, finding an injured hiker in a canyon does not end the mission. It starts a new phase that may need litter teams, rope systems, medics, and a safer route out.

> **Be Prepared! Your team locates the subject quickly**
>
> That is good news, but the mission is not automatically over.
>
> - **First:** Report the find accurately.
> - **Next:** Assess the subject's condition and immediate hazards.
> - **Then:** Shift from search mindset to rescue mindset if the person needs care or evacuation.

> **Tip**
>
> A simple way to remember it: search answers "Where are they?" Rescue answers "How do we get them out safely?"

[National Association for Search and Rescue](https://www.nasar.org/): Background on the range of search and rescue disciplines, from locating subjects to specialized rescue operations.

Next, learn the two starting-point terms that often shape where a mission begins on the map.

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- Next: [PLS and LKP](https://merit-badge.university/merit-badges/search-and-rescue/guide/req6b/index.md)