By Mike Lloyd For BBC News Online Scotland

The team was called to help in Bam

Despite its grandiose name, recalling Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds TV show, the International Rescue team is close-knit, dedicated and modest.

There is little glamour about the real life organisation, once based in a garden shed in Grangemouth.

Corps volunteers just get on with the job and while the work brings its own rewards, it certainly is not easy.

"I just burst into tears," said 33-year-old Derek Jolly, recalling his reactions after stepping off a plane on his return home from the Iranian earthquake.

I had wanted to help out at earthquakes for a couple of years but I didn't know how to get involved Derek Jolly

After working under appalling conditions in Bam, where more than 30,000 people died, tears were an emotional safety valve for the Edinburgh-based paediatric nurse.

At work in Iran he had been cool calm and professional, like the rest of the team.

Derek said: "My training stood me in good stead. I just put my head down and got on with what I had to do."

However, he added: "You hear a great deal of rubbish talked about how we're all macho men.

Rigorous preparation

"In fact the guys who you would expect not to get emotional are the opposite.

"They are all very open about the emotional side of it and that gets you through the trauma."

Corps volunteers undergo rigorous preparation before being allowed on overseas operations.

After a three-year Open College course, they face a tough assessment to prove their mettle.

"Some of the sights we see aren't very pretty," said Rab Barry, 52, a veteran of nine overseas missions.

"If people can't take it, that can cause problems not just for them but the whole of the team. "

So why do they do it? Team members are reluctant to claim high-minded motives.

IRC workers have a variety of backgrounds

"I was looking for something to do, it seemed a natural thing to move into," said Rab.

Derek Jolly was a little more forthcoming.

"I had wanted to help out at earthquakes for a couple of years but I didn't know how to get involved.

"Then I was watching TV on a Sunday afternoon and saw a couple of women volunteers from the International Rescue Corps being interviewed by Esther Rantzen."

Founder member Willie McMartin, from Grangemouth, said it comes down to a passionate desire to get involved.

"It all started after the 1979/80 Italian Earthquake.

"I saw the pictures and I thought, if I could get there quick enough, I could do something about that."

He developed the idea with colleagues in the fire service.

But it was not until 1986 that the organisation finally got off the ground.

Although based in Scotland, it now has 150 members across the UK, 35 of them ready for action at any time.

Training backlog

The men and women of International Rescue have many and varied day jobs, from electricians to refuse collectors.

The largest contingent, at about 30%, is still from the fire service.

An 18-month training backlog suggests there is no lack of volunteers.

Are the team scarred by their experiences?"

"It's the funny things that happen that you remember, not the traumatic ones," said Rab Barrie and Derek Jolly agreed.