What does a pro carry into the woods?

Interesting article, but even more intriguing would be an equivalent discussion of a civilian SAR person's gear today. I know what I carried way back when, and I am sure there have been mods and improvements since then.

We carried more first aid equipment and somewhat less ammo and armament (usually none) and eschewed camo clothing. We did everything to make ourselves highly visible.

What?? You mean you you didn't EDC "....at least two fragmentation grenades..." on SAR missions???

While these kinds of lists are mildly interesting, I don't find them particularly useful. The problem is that what you carry is always very specific to what sort of mission you are on and what sort of environment you are operating in.

To take one example you point our, for someone in combat, being well camouflaged is essential to survival. On a non-combat SAR mission, being as visible as possible is important. The needs and requirements are almost exactly opposite.

For another example, this guy is apparently operating in an area of mild to hot weather. I saw no insulating clothing layers, nor any shell garment or rain gear. He wouldn't last very long in winter Alaska. But apparently there aren't many bugs in his area either. I see no bug dope, no head net etc. In some seasons/regions of Alaska the skeeters would suck him dry.

Even for civilian SAR, the gear carried changes radically depending on what kind of team, what season, and what area. Ground pounder searching in the northern Wisconsin woods? Summer big wall rescue in Yosemite? Big mountain rescue on Denali? Summer desert mission around Tucson? Winter avalanche body recovery near Anchorage? Very different gear for each.

I agree with AKSAR, the specific loadout is very dependent on the environment (both natural and geopolitical) and the mission. Though I have heard that those frag 'nades are great for discouraging the bears that ignore bear spray...!

Seriously though, to me the value of that linked article is not so much the specific gear loadout but the 1st/2nd/3rd line organizational thinking it displays. I think it's pretty smart. Just substitute the specific items needed for the environment, while thinking "what if I get separated from my pack?".

I think one aspect of this article that's very useful is the emphasis on keeping the load light and breaking it into three areas:

On Person
On Web/LBE (I personally substitute a RIBZ pack for this layer)
In Pack

This is the same "system" I use for my GHB car kit and even how I hike.

The pack layer is the one that varies the most for me. The personal and RIBZ kit remain pretty constant.

How is the ribz? Is it hot in the summer (more specifically, how hot does it get in your neck of the woods and how do you handle the Ribz in the summer?)

There appears to be two sizes, 500 in^3 and 700 in^3. Aren't both sizes a bit BIG? What size do you have and do you find it rather large for the 10 essentials?

Mhmm. Only six magazines? No handgun? One knife? And of that type?
None of which would be my choice. But thats JMHO.

for SAR group check lists search 24 hour and 72 hour packs..extensive, but somewhat dated.