Practice Mission

Req 7 — Plan and Run a Practice Search

Plan and Complete a Search. Do the following with a team of Scouts, friends, or family to execute a practice SAR exercise:

This requirement is where the badge becomes real. You are no longer just talking about clues, maps, and command systems. You are building a small practice mission that uses them. The goal is not to act like a dramatic TV rescue. The goal is to run a safe, organized exercise and learn what good planning feels like in motion.

Req 7a: Pick a realistic scenario.
Req 7b: Build a simple Incident Action Plan for the hasty search.
Req 7c: Give a clear pre-search safety briefing.
Req 7d: Run the search.
Req 7e: Debrief honestly and improve.

Requirement 7a

7a.

Plan and Complete a Search. Do the following with a team of Scouts, friends, or family to execute a practice SAR exercise Choose a hypothetical SAR scenario, either one presented in the Search and Rescue merit badge pamphlet or one approved by your counselor..

Pick a scenario that is realistic for your group, terrain, and supervision. Good practice scenarios are simple enough to manage but rich enough to test map reading, communication, clue awareness, and team coordination.

Examples:

A Scout left a campsite for the latrine and did not return.
A day hiker is overdue on a loop trail.
A subject was last seen near a picnic area and may have wandered toward a creek.

Requirement 7b

7b.

Plan and Complete a Search. Do the following with a team of Scouts, friends, or family to execute a practice SAR exercise Develop an Incident Action Plan (IAP) for a hasty search using the scenario information..

The pamphlet explains that an IAP collects the objectives and supporting information needed for the next operational period. For a Scout practice exercise, your IAP can stay simple, but it should still answer the core questions.

A useful beginner IAP includes:

Objective: What exactly are you trying to do first?
Search area: Where will the hasty team go?
Assignments: Who is searching, observing, navigating, and recording?
Communications: How will teams report back?
Safety concerns: Heat, cold, terrain, roads, water, wildlife, or other hazards.

Practice Search Mission Log Worksheet Resource: Practice Search Mission Log Worksheet — /merit-badges/search-and-rescue/guide/practice-search-mission-log/

Requirement 7c

7c.

Before the search begins, conduct a PAUSE briefing to review hazards, safety concerns, personal and shared Scout Basic Essentials, and other gear.

Even if your local team or counselor uses different wording, the point of a PAUSE briefing is the same: stop before movement, look at the risk picture, and make sure the team is ready.

A strong Scout-level PAUSE briefing should cover:

Hazards: Weather, steep ground, water, traffic, poison ivy, ticks, or darkness.
People: Who is on the team and what each person is doing.
Gear: Personal essentials, shared gear, first aid kit, map, compass, radios or phones, and light.
Understanding: Everyone can repeat the objective and the return plan.
Emergency actions: What to do if someone is hurt or if the team finds the subject.

Requirement 7d

7d.

Plan and Complete a Search. Do the following with a team of Scouts, friends, or family to execute a practice SAR exercise Execute the search..

During the search, stay disciplined. Follow the assignment, move at the planned pace, notice clues, and communicate clearly. A good exercise is not about speed alone. It is about staying organized while the situation changes.

Useful habits during execution:

Keep the team together and accountable.
Record route, times, clue locations, and terrain notes.
Report likely clues without contaminating them.
Recheck boundaries, landmarks, and turn-around times.

Requirement 7e

7e.

After the search, hold a team debriefing to discuss the search, problems, successful and unsuccessful tactics, and ideas for improvement.

Debriefing is where the learning becomes permanent. A team that skips the debrief misses half the value of the exercise.

Good debrief questions include:

What information helped most?
What slowed the team down?
Which hazards did we notice too late?
Did our communication stay clear?
Would we change the search area, roles, or briefing next time?

What success looks like in a practice SAR exercise

The point is learning, not pretending to be professionals

The scenario was clear enough to plan around.
The team used a real objective and a real route.
The briefing covered hazards and gear honestly.
The debrief produced at least one concrete improvement for next time.

FEMA — ICS Forms The official form set referenced in the merit badge pamphlet if you want to see what a full-scale incident plan looks like. Link: FEMA — ICS Forms — https://training.fema.gov/icsresource/icsforms.aspx

This practice mission shows how SAR can become a future path, too. Next, look at the career and volunteer directions that grow out of the skills you have been learning.