For obvious reasons I have not posted anything on the search and subsequent recovery of the body of Burton Winters of Makkovik.

Alas the statements by this Rear Admiral Dave Gardam have raised my hackles, and that of most of Canada I would think.

The family of the lad have spoken out expressing their feelings, too bad that they feel compelled to do this at this time, but I feel they are doing do so that others may not suffer the same fate as Burton.

My thoughts parallel those of Makk08 @ 1:50 AM ET in the comments section so I won’t belabor those points.

I sure hope that the D&D probe into the incident comes up with some real answers and not just gobbley gook mumbo jumbo of the like the admiral stated.

Search and rescue is a very touchy subject at the moment what with the S & R coordination center closing in St. John’s. Is this tragedy another example of what will happen in the future with this closure?

If not then where was the screw up in communications in this case?

SAR ground crews say they were ready and waiting for the call. Why where civilian choppers relied on when they are not equipped or have the sufficient crew training of crew numbers to carry out SAR missions.

If indeed it is now Canadian Government policy to rely on civilian aircraft as first responders or [primary responders] then why has this not been communicated in a forceful and pro active way?

Where are the choppers and fixed wing civilian aircraft with the equipment and trained crews? Who will be footing the bill?

After the Cougar crash offshore St. John’s it was stated that civilian choppers, in this case Cougar, were equipped and crewed to carry out S&R in the case military S&R were not available. This is not the case to, my knowledge, anywhere else in the province. It is certainly not the case in Labrador.

That leaves a large geographic area not covered by trained and equipped S&R teams as first responders. That is unacceptable in any civilized society.

OK, so I belabored.

More people need to speak out on Search and rescue operations in Canada, why even the president of Nunatsiavut Government has made a statement at this early date. That is an astounding anomaly.