The NSW SES is celebrating 60 years of service this year, the organisation began in 1955 following disastrous floods across NSW that caused major loss of life as well as massive damage to property and infrastructure. The NSW SES has grown and diversified since its inception and has been instrumental in the response to many disasters and emergencies.
The NSW SES is the combat agency for Floods, Tsunami and Storm operations. The SES also provides emergency response in the areas of road crash rescue, vertical rescue, flood rescue, land searches and many other supporting roles to other Emergency Services. The SES volunteers in their orange uniforms (jaffa’s) are often referred to as the “Swiss Army Knife of the Emergency Services”.
For me the SES has been a part of my life for more than 22 years. Through this series of Geo-Art caches I want to share some of my experiences and the roles of the SES.
The NSW SES began in 1955 following disastrous floods across NSW that caused major loss of life as well as massive damage to property and infrastructure. The NSW SES has grown and diversified since its inception and has been instrumental in the response to many disasters and emergencies.
While they're are many functional areas within each SES Unit there are predominantly 2 main sections. The field teams are members who get out in all weather extremes and all hours of the day/night to provide temporary emergency repairs, while the ops team are the members who manage the administrative things like tasking, rfa’s, radio comms, planning and intel. Both sections each claim to work harder than the other. I like to say that the field teams work physically harder while the ops teams work mentally harder...... I know which one I prefer to be doing. 
