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Organisation
Uniform Orders of Dress
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Helmets and Ranks Insignia
Corps Structure
Mission Statement
The mission statement of the
Rescue Corps is:
“To provide a uniformed voluntary
corps of organised and fully trained adults, able to carry out
rescue operations and first aid efficiently whenever required”.
Hierarchy and Discipline
The Corps is based at Fort
Madalena, a late nineteenth century British Fort loaned by the
Government of Malta. The Corps is an organisation run on the
lines of a Maltese paramilitary unit and is divided into a
number of Divisions.
A certain amount of discipline is
inevitable, but a strong spirit of comradeship and teamwork
prevails amongst this group of men and women who share the same
ideals of service towards mankind.
The Corps Commander
is led by a commissioner.
Headquarters Unit
The Corps has a central
Headquarters Unit, which is composed of Staff Officers who
advise and assist the Corps Commander.
The Divisions
Apart from a central Head
Quarters Unit, the Corps is composed of active and reserve
volunteers who form part of a number of rescue divisions.
At present, the Corps is made up
of four active divisions: the Alpha Division, the Bravo
Division, the Charlie Division and Delta Division.
Each rescue division consists of
a maximum of fifty-two members headed by a Divisional
Superintendent, one or two Divisional Officers and a Staff
Sergeant. A Division is composed of six Rescue Sections with
eight volunteers in each section, led by a Sergeant and a
Corporal as his Deputy.
Membership
There is no regular paid support
for the Rescue Corps. It is entirely composed of highly
dedicated, unpaid, part-time volunteers. The organisation is
made up of regular volunteers and a few reservists. Officers,
Non-commissioned Officers and volunteers all mess together and
wear the same uniform apart from rank and insignia, in the
tradition of a corps of gentlemen volunteers.
Rescue Vehicles and Equipment
The Rescue Corps is not funded or
supported by any entity or organisation. Whilst it has managed
to secure a number of donations over the years, it does not
receive regular funds from any particular source.
The Corps is largely supported
through the donations of its own volunteers, who apart from
giving up a large number of hours in their own personal free
time, contribute significantly towards the purchase of their own
equipment, purchase their own rescue vehicles and fund the
maintenance and running costs of the vehicles.
In addition, large amounts of
personal and private funds are disbursed on overhead costs in
order to sustain training and operations of the individual
divisions.
Training
Divisions individually conduct
intensive training sessions, both for new recruits and on a
regular basis for the active volunteers.
Each recruit must be over
eighteen years of age, physically fit for the rigours of rescue
work and must undergo a program of basic training which includes
basic first aid, light rescue and some foot drill, which is also
part of the initial training.
Cadet volunteers may join at the age of 16.
After this, a fully trained and
certified Rescue Volunteer Class I is required to undertake a
minimum of training every month. Many of the volunteers take
further advanced courses during weekends in the more specialised
and demanding fields of heavy rescue, cliff (high-angle) rescue,
fire fighting, first aid and rescue diving.
The Corps also offers its
volunteers other training options such as map reading,
watermanship, climbing, abseiling and physical training, the aim
being to inspire more confidence and to maintain physical
fitness.
Most of the officers of the Corps
as well as some of the senior leaders, qualified in Special
Rescue Training at the Katastrophenschutzshule des Bundes
– the Federal German Civil Defence Staff Training School in
Ahrweiler, Germany.
The Rescue Corps has taken part
in numerous exercises together with the Department of Civil
Protection in Malta, the Malta Police Force and the Armed Forces
of Malta.
Rescue Operations
The St John Rescue Corps was
tried and came out with flying colours in its first major
national call to duty, when the Libyan tanker Um El-Faroud
exploded in the Malta Drydocks, tragically claiming the lives of
nine workers. Toward a later stage, members of the Rescue Corps
were requested to relieve the exhausted Special Assignment Group
rescue police by the superintendent in command, Mr Charles
Cassar, who went down with them in a tangle of acetylene
cylinders and loose live electrical cables to remove the last
remains.
Members of the Corps involved in
the rescue operation were highly commended for their bravery.
The Corps is called upon from
time to time to assist in rescue and recovery operations.
Community Work
For a number of years, the Corps
– initially at the volunteers’ own expense and later with
Government funding – has maintained beach patrols on an annual
basis at Malta’s most popular sandy beach on summer weekends and
public holidays.
The members of the Corps have
attended to hundreds of incidents at Mellieha Bay.
In addition, the Corps is
regularly involved in initiatives aimed at preserving Malta’s
national heritage. Volunteers of the Corps are regularly
requested to undertake clean-up operations of the massive
network of Malta’s city fortifications and bastion.
This is a very challenging task
involving excellent training in high-angle rescue skills,
mastery of abseiling and “cliff-hanging” operations.
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