Quote:
Originally Posted by nigel leyland
It's not often I isit thee boards these days, let alone post. So you can take that as just how exasperated I am to find this old chestnut still being debated all these years later!
Given the following:
1. You are a registered/qualified Responder.
2. You are covered by either the RUK4x4 or your own Groups Ins policy.
3. There is a mutual aid policy which includes temporary "Responder loan".(requiring only an information exchange between controllers)
So why would you need or want to join a second Group?
Given that doing so would:
1. Possibly incur a double insurance premium.
2. Definitely corrupt head count statistics nationally.
3. Likely promote confusion for controllers at the most demanding call out periods.
If there is some benefit to be gained from multiple membership for Group or individual Responder please enlighten us.....
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Well the first benefit which is not exactly hard to see is, of being a member of multiple groups, means you get to be a member of their forum/news letters and events, so get to find out/indulge in group activities, which may not actually be dirrectly related to actual call outs, E.G. training and socialising. We do lots of community related events with SE4x4R, which are not anything to do with group statistics or confusing a controller. A decent 4x4R group is not all about callouts, its about socialising, getting to know your team members and learning who has your back before things get needy. Some people may want to indulge in the activities of multiple groups, especially when living on or near group boarders, or as I have seen, being in a group that does not really do anything, so want to be a member of a neighbouring group that is highly active.
Lets face it, the overall point for doing 4x4R is to help out in dire situations but get some enjoyment out of doing it, otherwise what is the point of all the associated costs of being a member, like clothing, lights, etc, I would be better off donating the money I have spent directly to a charity and saving myself the hassle.
With regards to statistics... whoopy do... who really cares if some statistician gets his/her numbers wrong, nothing new there! We are volunteers, with no contractual obligations, so the best you can ever do is make a guess at how many are actually available at any specific moment in time anyway.
So really it comes down to just one thing, as far as I can see... insurance... which can be resolved by just choosing a group to respond to for a specific event, and only working for that group controller for the duration of that event. In Kent, this happens regularly with joint callouts between KSAR and SE4X4R, where there are several people who are joint members of both groups, but have to choose who they are with at the start of the callout. We are told how important this is during training, and get reminders at group meetings from time to time, but it's not exactly rocket science to remember once told.
I think some people seem to forget that we are all volunteers and this is supposed to be something the members enjoy doing the majority of the time. Because of this, we do not mind enduring a little short term hardship for the good of others when the chips are down, but at the end of the day we pay out a fair bit of money for the good of our communities and then want to have fun playing with all our toys for a legitimate and hopefully selfless assistance to other people when we are needed...
