My impression of SAR folks here in the midwest has been positive. While association with them wasn't that long -- I got some training for SARTECH, but didn't end up joining them -- it's really hard to imagine the people I met to be anything like what haertig is talking about. They cared about pulling people out of danger, and they had a sense of realism about them (i.e., they were very far from Rambo, and they discouraged any would-be Rambo from joining them). They weren't out to make friends -- which made sense since I (and other people) were taking a class.

With many self-selected group endeavors, you often end up with people who are similar to you. It's hard to work together otherwise. So it's not a bad thing if you discover that you can't join a club because they don't like you and you don't like them.