Dusty Brindley
Dusty is a small-town farm boy from Antimony Utah. He moved to Cedar City Utah in 1999, however, prior to that, he would visit his brother Ladd Brindley in Cedar City. During his summer trips to visit Ladd, that was his first exposure to the Search and Rescue Team, although at that time it was the Sheriff’s Posse. In 1999, he got involved with the Sheriff’s Posse helping with security jobs and building the fence around the Posse’s building. That’s when Buck Naegle encouraged Dusty to join the unit and ultimately sponsored him during his probationary period to becoming a full time member. Dusty has held the positions of Sargent, and Lieutenant. He even served as the acting Captain for a short time. Dusty remains a full-time member of the Unit and a highly active member of our Snow Team.
Dusty is celebrating 23 years with the Unit. He reflected back on how the Unit would raise money to purchase equipment and radios. Most of the money was raised by providing security at school dances and rodeos and parking cars at various Iron County events. The Unit also managed a food booth at the Iron County Fair. There was one year Dusty spearheaded a fundraiser by building a truck for the Demolition Derby. The team would also hold family and team gatherings in an effort to build morale. Word got out on the gatherings and they became bigger events hosted by the Unit. They would coordinate Sport Shooting and Rifle Shoots. This really became their means of Public Relations before social media. It helped the community get to know the members of the Unit and what they do in a volunteer status.
Dusty recalled one of his very first search missions. It was out in the Lund area near Bible Springs. They had been searching for hours, doing a lot of walking. It had been a very long day. They happened to be in the area of Mack Woods Sheep Herding Camp. Mack came out of his house and saw the search and rescuers and said, “Well, since you’re down here, you mind as well come and eat.”. Mack had them all inside for Steak, Pepsi and Sourdough Biscuits. Dusty chuckles at the story but the experience was humbling to know how much the community truly did appreciate the volunteers’ service and what they do. It didn’t seem like much, but it was a big deal to the team and they appreciated it.
Dusty also reflected on one rescue in particular that left a mark. It was about 6 years ago. There was a gentleman flying in his personal plane with his two kids, a young boy and girl. He was originally from the Fishlake area but at the time of the accident was living near America Fork. He and his kids were flying back from the Phoenix Arizona area when it started to get dark and a storm was moving in. It appeared he was trying to follow Highway 20 as a means of direction. Unfortunately he did crash his plane and the 3 family members perished in the accident. The volunteers who responded were invited to attend the funeral. This is when the story becomes more difficult for Dusty to share. Being at the funeral and hearing the stories about the dad and the two young kids, it made him think of his purpose as a search and rescue volunteer. We hope to rescue and help people, but sometimes our purpose is to help the living family members have closure. If we didn’t volunteer in this capacity, there are people in this world who we would never meet and stories we’d never hear. At the funeral there was only one casket. The story they shared was the young boy was the dads right hand man and the young girl was always glued to her dads hip. They were buried with the boy holding his dad’s right hand and the girl lying next to his left hip.
When I asked Dusty if there was one message, he hoped to get to the community of Iron County, what would that be. First and foremost, he said he can’t emphasize enough the importance of telling people where you are going. And secondly, if you see someone out in the woods, go check on them. Chances are someone may need something. Someone is always in a worst situation, so if you get an opportunity to help someone, it’s a good deal and a good feeling.
Please join us in thanking Dusty for his 23+ years of Service to Iron County and his words of wisdom.
#IronCountySheriffSearchAndRescue #ICSSAR #WeWillAlwaysComeToYou #SoThatOthersMayLive #MemberBios
