For State Emergency Service volunteer Luke Caban it is not unusual to have to drop everything and leave work to go on a life-saving mission.
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Trudging through the harsh NT outback for two days in the hopes of finding missing Larrimah man Paddy Moriarty in 2017 was just another day at the office.
Volunteering 103 hours over two weeks during the NT's biggest cyclone evacuation in March - on top of work and family commitments - was all part of the job.
He is one of 22 Katherine SES volunteers willing to go beyond the normal scope of bravery.
A national campaign is recognising the efforts of thousands of SES volunteers across Australia.
The SES is calling for a simple action: to wear orange on Wednesday and show support.
"It is about recognising the ordinary people doing extra-ordinary stuff," Mr Caban said.
In the two and a half years Mr Caban has been part of the Katherine unit he has been called to countless jobs, often in the worst conditions - during the search for still-missing Mr Moriarty, the volunteers walked until their feet blistered in scorching temperatures all while keeping up morale.
"There was hope for the first few days, but by the end of the second day when there was still no trace it went from a missing person to a body recovery," he said.
Most notably, however, was a solo mission earlier this year, which ended in 12 lives saved.
In the middle of a shift at his day job at RAAF Base Tindal, an urgent message came through.
Police needed an air observer to find a number of missing men who had gone on a hunting trip.
"I got permission from work to leave, I knew there were people missing, but we didn't know how many, for how long or if they had vehicles," Mr Caban said.
"I was told to get in a helicopter to Bulman and to meet with the rangers there.
"That was the only information I had."
Equipped with food, water and first aid, and expecting the worst, he set off.
"We found out there might have been five people missing and we had a rough location. We were told they had been gone for two days.
"I got the feeling it was quite urgent. Most land searches are - you generally only have 24 hours.
"It was the wet season, although there hadn't been much rain, so the rangers couldn't get their cars out on the tracks."
Thanks to vigorous weekly training it didn't take long to locate the missing people.
Two had been stranded with no food, and a group had been sent out to look for them.
"I was so grateful to find them all okay," he said.
"I kept thinking back to Larrimah and how devastating it was to not find what we were looking for.
"It is unforgiving country out there and you never know what is going to happen."
Mr Caban said without the training sessions he attends to stay up to date as a volunteer he would never have had the skills to pull off the rescue.
"I was able to check on a number of vital things such as if anyone was heat stressed, or hurt in anyway.
"I was also able to triage those who needed help first.
"Twelve lives were saved that day, but the way I look at it is that 12 people got to go home.
"It is just a day to day thing for me."
He said he doesn't do it for the recognition, but for the feeling of helping people in need, in the toughest of circumstances.
It is also for the rare experiences.
"From air observing in a helicopter to putting tarps on roofs in a storm, it is some of the craziest stuff you can think off, but also a big rush."
Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services will be hosting a number events throughout the Northern Territory to show support for SES volunteers tomorrow.
"Wear Orange Wednesday (WOW) Day is a day of recognition and appreciation where the dedicated work of State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers is celebrated annually across Australia," a NT Police spokeswoman said.
"The focus of WOW Day is to encourage the community to show their support in a very simple but highly visible gesture by wearing the colour orange, the official colour of SES volunteers.
"This is a national event and a great opportunity to say thank you to the NT SES volunteers who played a large role in helping the community during recent extreme weather events across the Territory, particularly Tropical Cyclone Marcus and the Daly River Floods that occurred earlier last year."
For more information about getting involved visit the website here.
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