Occam's Razor would suggest that most people who go missing in the wilderness meet their demise by succumbing to the elements; which cases do believe have a more sinister ending?

You mentioned you have a background in SAR so perhaps this is a regional thing, but in my experience it isn't unusual for various military and LE units that have "no business" being there to show up anyway on volunteer status. I used to work in an area just outside a major city and even when that city's PD had no official involvement, they'd still show up in force. I also have seen various military and National Guard units show up and offer assistance if they're in the area and don't have more pressing training or assignments. It's not extremely common, but it isn't really that noteworthy IME.

I do tend to work in areas where there is a heavy military presence, though. On one team, I actually worked with a guy who was active duty. He could only basically do the bare minimum for mission participation, but he always notified his command and we had military assistance on a ridiculous number of calls. IME, if they're in the area and have nothing better to do, it's really not that difficult to get the Green Berets or whoever else to show up. In my team's situation, it was basically just one guy going, "Hey, there's a SAR call, could I maybe get a day or two off to join it?" and his COs going, "Oh yeah, let's contact the OICs because we can help and this would be good for our unit!" Practical applications are really good for training, and military folks are still, you know, people, so it doesn't seem that weird to me that units training in the area do pitch in to help.

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