Can you imagine the sweep of the standing orders, and the crazy situations those guys had to face without a faint prayer of a backup!
But imagine the freedom of the roads on a bike in those days, no cameras, no trackers, no nothing. Just you, the machine, the road, and the job.
I think the standing orders were to keep the peace. Tomas Hererra knew every inch of the East Mountains. When a B-50 (modified B-29) went down in the Sandias with nukes aboard in the 50’s, he was the only guy who could find it.
Although they have radio, there’s still one man NMSP posts that cover 1000 square miles.