Tough Week for the Mad Crew

Our Madison Junction crew suffered two horrific deaths this week.

Yesterday, our Supervisory LE Ranger died from an apparent heart attack.   Folks who saw him the day before said he looked and seemed fine. 

Ranger G. was in his second year at Madison, having been in other Yellowstone duty stations for at least 20 years.  I never asked him how old he was, but since LEs must retire at 57, I know he was younger than I am.  He replaced another ranger who aged out and currently lives in Bozeman. It's been a privilege to work with both of these guys--they are truly professionals in every way.

Ranger G. was a very quiet, keep it to yourself kinda guy.  He didn't come to our Mad Crew parties (usually had the bad luck to be on duty those nights), but he knew that these get-togethers are good for everyone. Some LE rangers think we interps are completely useless, tree-hugging liberals who are more of the problem than the solution. G made it very clear that we were all team-mates.  Since we share the ranger station with LE and Resource there could have been conflicts, but there never were.  He set the tone for the whole Madison operation, and his tone was one of "make it happen, do your job, no drama, and be helpful."  He recognized and understood that interps can actually be helpful, which isn't the case in some parks. He appreciated that we wanted to help in areas that really weren't in our domain (like traffic control) and made sure we had the skills to help effectively.  Ranger D., his predecessor, held the same views, so when G started, we didn't have any great shocks or shake-ups in standard ops.  Yea!

He was at our helm in 2010, when convicted murderers and escapees from Arizona were in the park.  He made sure we were all aware of the situation (after the US Marshals finally informed our LE staff--a giant cluster**** all the way) and kept an extra eye out for us. His way wasn't to try to scare the bejeezus out of us, but to be sure we had the facts and never speculated on the gossip.

He accepted the fact that we didn't get our summer seasonal LE at Mad, and that we'd have to rely on the OF staff for back-up... and mind you, it's a 30 minute drive from OF to Mad, even in a cruiser going lights and sirens.  He made it work.  He made it work last summer, when the new perm ranger was at FLETC all summer, and for all intent and purposes, G worked the busiest intersection of the park as the Lone Ranger.  And he did it without griping or sniping.  He knew what to do and he did it. 

Lots of folks didn't get to know him very well, because on first blush, he seemed very quiet and shy.  Quiet yes, shy no.  And like so many good rangers, he had a quiet, very droll sense of humor.  Last spring the Madison River, along which the West Entrance Road runs, flowed over all it banks, completely covering the land that the bison usually used for spring forage.  The Interagency Bison Management Plan calls for us to push all the bison back into the park who have left the Madison Valley for the lower elevations and easier access to grass.  When the date for them to be hazed back in approached, he and my boss were in the office discussing how they were going to convince the animals to move.  My boss suggested that the bison would need life jackets, and without missing a beat, G said, "Yeah, and rangers with no fingerprints will be the ones to put the jackets on the 'em."  Never cracked a smile, just continued on about his work. My boss and I were laughing our heads off.  You never knew what he would come up with next, but it would be good.

In her latest book, The Rope, Nevada Barr had a character named Ranger Steve Gluck. He reminded me in so many ways of the real Ranger G.  Very, very reassuring and steady-eddy all the way.  Completely even keeled in his dealings with happy visitors, drunken campers, nuisance bears, lost children, and serial killers.  A professional all the way.  Yep, he was a Ranger's Ranger.

And three days before Ranger G's death, we received word that one of the young men from the Mad Resource Management crew had been killed in a truck wreck near his home in Florida.  KK literally lit up a room when he came in.  He loved his job and did it with enthusiasm.  He worked hard and played hard. He always had a kind word and usually a funny, and often bombastic story to tell.  He was tons of fun to hang with.  Life at 23 is so lively and joyous, and to realize that his life, so full of potential, is over has been a heart breaker.  As a parent I cannot begin to imagine the trauma that his folks and family are going through now.  One of the Resource interns lives near his family and will attend the services tomorrow.  We've asked him to express our deepest sorrow to his folks.

Yeah, it's been a tough week.

It Just Keeps Getting Worse

2012 is 5 days old.  And three Peace Officers have been killed in the line of duty so far.  What is wrong with us?

	Sergeant Abimael Castro-Berrocales Puerto Rico Police Department, PR EOW: Sunday, January 1, 2012 Cause of Death: Gunfire
	Park Ranger Margaret Anderson United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service, US EOW: Sunday, January 1, 2012 Cause of Death: Gunfire

And now an officer from the Ogden UT force has been gunned down.

In 2011, 164 officers were killed in the line of duty.

Taken from the Officer Down Memorial page at: http://www.odmp.org/search/year/2012#ixzz1iaPASoDH

When DH was working he was an Ohio Certified Peace Officer.  That means he had police powers in all state and local law enforcement operations.  He could have been called in on a federal case under the mutual agreements that exist between agencies.

He wore a loaded side arm to work every single day, whether he was patrolling from the vehicle, on foot, on horseback, or if he was doing more mundane tasks like mowing or re-building a bridge.  He had to certify at the firing range 4 times each year, which he did with flying colors.  (Only one other person in Lucas County scored higher at the range and he was also a ranger.)

One of my dearest friends once said to me, "Well, it's not like he was a real cop."

What part of real gun, with real bullets made him "not a real cop?"