I am a Search and Rescue Officer for the US Forest Service, I have seen some weird things

I wasn't sure where else to post this, so I figured I'd share it all here. I've been an SAR officer for a few years now, and along the way I've seen some things that I can't explain. I'm going to put all of them here.<br><br>* When I was a rookie, I was out on a call with a veteran SAR officer. We got separated from the rest of the group and he started acting weird. He said he smelled smoke, but I didn't smell anything. He told me to walk in a certain direction and I did, he said to stop and I did. Then he tried to convince me that we weren't where I thought we were. I had a GPS and showed it to him, but he kept insisting that we weren't where I thought we were. I eventually go tired of this game and threatened to call for help. That is when he went back to normal. He looked at me and asked me what I was talking about. He didn't remember anything that had happened. I didn't think much of it, and wrote it off as a weird day.<br><br>* A few years ago, we were looking for a kid. A family went out to a state park and the youngest of their 3 kids went missing. We were out searching for the kid, and I found him. I called the family and they came to pick him up. It had been hours since the kid was last seen, and he was a young boy, 7 or 8, so he should have been cold, or upset, or something. But he wasn't. He was calm, and didn't seem affected by the whole thing. They took him home and that was that. The funny thing about this story is that the family didn't want anyone to know where they had went, so they made something up on the spot. They told people that the kid had gone to camp. I think it's silly that they felt that they had to lie about this. It's not the kid's fault that he wandered off. If they were so concerned that people would think badly of them, then maybe they shouldn't have taken their kid to the forest.<br><br>* Another kid story. After the one above, I started paying more attention to the kids that we found. I noticed something that I can only describe as strange. Since the first kid, every kid that we have found was in the same state of mind. They were all calm, and not upset at all. I decided to do some more digging on the kids that we found. I found that every kid that I had personally found and rescued had the same thing happen to them about a year or so later. They would all go missing again, but this time they wouldn't be found. They would just disappear. None of the other officers have ever mentioned anything like this before, and I know that I am just a small part of a much larger search and rescue team, but I still found it to be strange. <br><br>* This story is kind of like the first one, but instead of being with another officer, I was alone. I was out looking for someone and I started to feel like I was being watched. I didn't think much of it, figured that it was just my instincts telling me that whoever I was looking for was nearby. I ended up walking into a ditch, and when I came out of it, I couldn't see anything that I recognized. I walked for about another mile before I was able to see something that I could reference. I went back to where I thought I had been and nothing was there. It was as if I had been lifted and placed elsewhere.<br><br>These are my stories. I'm not sure what to make of them, but I wanted to share them with you all.<br><br>UPDATE:<br><br>I am blown away by the amount of feedback that this has gotten. I didn't expect my stories to blow up like they have. There are a few things that I would like to clear up that people have asked in the comments.<br><br>1. In regards to the kids. The city that I operate out of is a small one. We are based in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. So most of the calls that I get are from people who are coming up the mountain to hike, or camp, or something like that. I don't get many calls from residents of the city.<br><br>2. I didn't say specifically what happened to the veteran SAR officer because I don't know. I didn't bother to look into it further because it was weird, but not weird enough to make me stop being an SAR officer.<br><br>3. I have never had anything weird happen to me while I was with a group. Everything that I have posted has happened while I was alone.<br><br>4. Some people have asked me about the terrain and if it's tricky to navigate. I didn't mean to make it seem like it was a jungle or anything. The terrain that I am usually in is pretty easy to navigate. However, most of the people that I am looking for are inexperienced when it comes to the outdoors.<br><br>5. I have never experience anything that would make me think that I wasn't alone when I'm out on calls. I don't think that there is anyone or anything in the forest watching me or the people that I am looking for.<br><br>US FOREST SERVICE, SEARCH AND RESCUE,.stamp<br><br>EDIT: I have gotten a lot of questions about my job, so I am going to do my best to answer them here. <br><br>I had a few people ask me what kind of training I have. I am an EMT and have some climbing certifications as well. I am also a capped paramedic. As far as SAR training goes, I specialized in tracking, and I am certified in that. I have also been a police officer for a few years, so I have been through a police academy. I am also a volunteer fire fighter, so I have that training as well.<br><br>A few people have asked about the kids, and if I had talked to them at all. I didn't really talk to them that much. I just gave them something to eat and some water, and waited with them until their parents got there. I have had some kids ask me about if I found any animals. I didn't think much of it at the time, but it's something that a lot of the kids have asked. <br><br>There is a post of a guy asking if I was a skinwalker. I am not a skinwalker. I am a human being. I don't know where this guy got that idea from, but it's not true.<br><br>There has been some concern about the kids. I want to make it clear that I don't think that the forest is a bad place, and I don't think that anything bad is happening to these kids. I don't think that anyone is taking them, and I don't think that they are coming to any harm. I just think that it's weird that the kids are all acting the same way. I really don't think anything more than that. <br><br>Some people have asked about the parents of the kids. I don't think that they are abusing their kids. I have never seen any evidence of this, and I don't think that they would be capable of something like that. Just because I had some weird experiences doesn't mean that everyone is suspect.<br><br>There is a post asking about the missing person that I was looking for when I got lost for about a mile. I didn't find that person. I didn't ever hear anything about that person being found. I don't even remember when this call came in, so I don't know what the outcome was. I completely forgot about that call until someone brought it up.<br><br>There was a post asking about the weather, and whether or not it had an effect on my GPS. The weather was partly cloudy, with a light breeze. I don't think the weather was an issue.<br><br>There is a post asking if I thought that the forest was haunted. I don't think that it is haunted, and I don't think that anything supernatural is going on. I think that the forest can play tricks on the mind, and after a long day, you can start to see things that aren't really there. I don't think that there is anything in the forest that is trying to hurt people.<br><br>There was a post asking about the officers opinion of me and the stories that I have posted. I can't speak for all of the other officers, but the ones that I have told have been skeptical. They don't think that these are weird, and I don't think that they believe me really. However, I don't care what they think. I know what I saw, and I know what I felt. I don't need anyone to tell me that I am right or wrong.<br><br>I have gotten a lot of feedback, and I appreciate all of it. Thank you to everyone who has read my stories and taken the time out of their day to message me and tell me their thoughts. You guys are great.