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This is not a new problem. Members who feel they are competent in an area will not attend a training session because they are-- bored, overconfident, "same old thing", etc.
If you do a lot of runs that are similar in skill level recurrent training may not be a problem. If the people are becoming rusty (inefficient or reckless) say so in a mission debrief. Have the safety officer go over mistakes or other problems.
At your training sessions you must develop different ways to deliver the message so as to avoid repetition.
Most organizations correlate status with activity level. Active members get blue lights, id cards, pagers, etc., higher levels of insurance, whatever as recognition of their activity level. Make meeting training requirements a condition of advancement from ground pounder to crew leader to section chief, etc.
Make sure your training is worth coming to-- have a lesson plan, all the gear, objectives, evaluations of students. Build on the lesson with a field exercise--tie knots and then go climbing (bad knot=broken neck, high incentive to perform)
Fire Engineering (magazine) has a monthly training column and volunteer fire column which may be of use to you. The US Naval Institute's PROCEEDINGS has columns on leadership, ethics, and programatic training concerns.
These are some starting points. You must instill a willingness to learn in your troops. A "been there, done that" attitude will result in loss of efficiency and more man-hours in the field on "real" missions with fewer finds.
Just because we don't get paid doesn't mean we can't act in a professional manner. Training is part of SAR professionalism
despite what career people say about burning time.
Irv Lichtenstein 215-233-3360 215-233-2343 no e-mail
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Only Real Missions.... 
SAR membership organizational problems
(Richard Hannibal)
