Max
Certainly sounds like you have a determined and committed individual there which counts for a lot.
Just a point, some years ago the RAF trained a winchman who had come from a "Sneaky Beaky" background and did so without the benefit of the Rotary Famil training prior to the SAR course. He did very well during SAR training and has since become an outstanding winchman but in the early years he struggled with basic crewman skills e.g. sloping ground, understanding aircraft emergencies, USLs ( I know you don't do that) nav, nvg, etc etc. It illustrates my general point that aircrew training in general and rotary training in particular is an important prerequisite of SAR training.
However, notwithstanding all that i wish you and him the best of luck for the future.
