John McKently | CMC Instructor Series

CMC Podcast

Join us weekly to get to know our CMC School instructors. This week we are joined by John McKently. John began working in the rescue industry in 1974, became an instructor with CMC in 1995, and retired as the CMC School Director in 2020. John worked for 47 years on the Montrose Search and Rescue team in Los Angeles County, CA. In this interview, we talk with John about how he transitioned from working in the private industry as a construction manager for a bank, to being asked by CMC founder Jim Frank to teach rescue for CMC. John continues to teach classes for CMC in his semi-retirement. Overheard this episode: “We’re not in the business of exchanging lives.” “The thing that I really like is when you got a bunch of students and the light finally comes on in their head and you can see it on their face.” “Our team goes from 1,000’ in elevation to 10,000’ at the county line.”