By Sara White | January 20, 2021 Estimated reading time 9 minutes, 57 seconds.
Thirty-year search and rescue (SAR) technician Sgt André Hotton believes in having a Plan A.
“Then Plan B, Plan C. . . . Always have a back-up plan,” he said. “You can’t do this job alone; it’s always as a team, and you always want to smooth the edges with your team so that everyone has their say. It’s all evaluated and the best out of it all is taken. What’s left becomes Plan D.”
Doing all of that in the back of a CC-130 Hercules or CH-149 Cormorant, with an open ramp, wild winds and rain in the sky beyond, with precious minutes ticking by as someone below needs immediate rescue?
“Yes, it works,” said Hotton. “It’s communication. You really have to listen, and figure out what people mean. Working over intercom… even a pause in a sentence means something.”
Nowadays, they call it “crew resource management.” But to Hotton, who is 42 years — and counting — into his Canadian Armed Forces career, it’s listening. And he’s been doing it all his life.
The youngest of 10, Hotton grew up in Gaspe, Quebec. His father was a Second World War veteran; his mother was a teacher. There were no sports, but Hotton was always busy, taking things apart to rebuild. Every time one of his siblings learned something new, they showed him. His first “hoist” was at age five, as an older brother tested the strength of a Meccano crane set by hooking into Hotton’s suspenders and lifting him off the ground.
“Maybe that’s why I learned to listen,” he laughed.
Regular schoolwork didn’t interest him like electronics or electromechanics did. When a military recruiter came through in 1978, while Hotton was in Grade 11, he signed up.
“Actually, my parents had to sign for me — I was 17.”
Hotton headed to Saint-Jean, Quebec, for basic training, destined to become a radio technician. His first posting was to Penhold, Alberta. “I had a mentor [there], another radio tech,” said Hotton. “He was from England, he grew up in wartime and then joined the Canadian military. He guided me to do my job properly, to enjoy it, to take my time and evaluate things.”
After taking advice from his mentor, Hotton later spent five years in Baden-Baden, Germany, working with high power radios, microwaves, and CBs.
But a return to Canada loomed after his extension request was declined. The trade was changing, too, and Hotton thought it might be time for something new.
“Another sergeant spotted me: ‘Why don’t you become a SAR Tech?’ I’d never seen one; there were none anywhere I’d been, so I said, ‘OK.’”
Posted back to Canada, he applied three times for the search and rescue technician course before he was accepted in 1990.
“I didn’t fit the mold at all — all big guys, rushing in first, trying anything,” recalled Hotton. “I was 29, but the average age was under 25. My philosophy was, ‘You don’t have to be first, you just don’t want to be last.’”
Hotton was posted to Edmonton, and loved it. There were maybe 20 personnel and two types of aircraft — the Twin Otter (which Hotton said “could turn on a dime”) and the Hercules.
The SAR region ranged halfway over the Rockies, into the North and almost to Winnipeg. On his first jump there, Hotton caught the puffy pants of his jumpsuit in his parachute riser.
“I broke my leg, still in the air. I chose a tree to land in to keep my leg off the ground. “It was an exercise with a simulated casualty. All the guys saved the casualty, then they came for me.”
The teasing from that incident lingered, but he recuperated just fine over the following six months.
Now, at age 60, Hotton received a one-year extension to September 2021, making him the most senior search and rescue technician in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He is modest about the fact that he has two Medals of Bravery, and continues to meet the standard.
What drives him is the victim of an accident, or the patient needing help.
“Guys don’t go out in a boat fishing or in the woods to have an accident or a medical emergency. The integrity to do this job is to do the right thing for them. The best way to evaluate what you’re going to do on a rescue is put yourself in the position of that person. I think of that person, and represent him in what will be done.”
When asked about any dramatic search and rescue work that stands out, Hotton downplayed his skill, expertise and training.
“That’s a SAR Tech,” he said. “You keep upgrading, so, basically, you always only have a few years’ experience as equipment keeps changing.”
Forty-two years later, Hotton still does what his original mentor advised: he watches and listens to his colleagues at work as there is talk of new processes, or what the schedule should look like, or where the radio charging station should sit.
“I still want them to try — although it’s been done many times before. It’s experience,” he said, as he opened his hand to reveal what was in his pocket: a brass ring from an old diving bag, maybe. He’s carried it for 20-odd years, and turned it in his fingers while the talk around him continued.
“I don’t count years, and I have no regrets. I love being a SAR Tech. It’s an honor to be part of that team.”
Sara White is Deputy Wing Public Affairs Officer and managing editor of The Aurora Newspaper at 14 Wing Greenwood, Nova Scotia.
Beautiful article. I worked with André Hotton on my first posting at CFB Greenwood from August 2000 to August 2005. Since we were both Frenchy’s it was an
automatic match.
The first time I saw him, I wondered why he was not working at NASA. Partially due to his round shape glasses. André was a great mentor to me. He is for sure a out of the box thinker. I share some similarity on that aspect as well. I did my first rescue mission with him in Nathasquan , Qc.
It is very thru about his brass ring. The eternal re-einventing of the wheel. Sometime André would shared his input on the matter but most of the time he would let the guys find out the outcome by themself. It’s not a bad way of learning when we have time to spare. Obviously, he was never to far and watching and or listening , he would have spoke up before the new /old thing became a catastrophic event. He certainly had our backs. I am extremely proud of my friend André. RESCUE