denverpilot
Tied Down
When asked for a specific list of tangible results, how do you respond? Can you point to specific accomplishments insofar as doing whatever it is that your squadron is supposed to do? Does your group look for downed airplanes or perform some other function?
Yes to all.
- Cadet orientation rides: We're doing enough of them that one pilot actually said he was tired and needed a break. (He was giving me grief for not getting checked out since I meet all the requirements.) The Cadets deserve to not wait forever for these.
- Wing has had various missions in support of wild land fire and/or disasters. Our squadron has always responded and been prepared to go. And in some has been the closest unit and selected. (Large multi-aircraft SAR missions are rare.)
- Squadron members were involved in ground team activity for the Find last year in the San Juan mountains.
- Squadron members and Colorado aircraft participated in both the Steve Fossett search and Katrina.
- Squadron members have participated in disaster relief work on the ground for the various tornadoes in Colorado and the Boulder fires.
- Our Squadron's Vice-Commander is also a Wing Historian who dug into documentation and found enough information about Gen. John F. Curry to re-write much of CAP's early history. He also started a Memorial Day annual honor guard service for the General since he's buried at Ft. Logan National Cemetery. The General's family was flown out to see this one year, at CAP member's expense.
And there's others... some are sensitive in nature, honestly. USAF has a few roles they've used us for as has DEA that Wings participate in, but I'd prefer not to mention any Squadron or individual's personal involvement for their safety.
So yeah, tangible real results besides training.
You do have a good point though. The Squadron should have this data for our own involvement and Wing accomplishments in a document. Of course there are documents galore sent up to both Federal and State but nothing in the format meant for say, a brochure.
Part of the difficulty is we go when called. If we're not called, nothing happens. That would be "no tangible result" other than that we were trained and ready to go.
We're cheap compared to many other aerial assets an Incident Commander can utilize, but they have to call and say they're funding the flight(s) before a prop turns... we're getting better at letting other Agencies know we exist. Today it's all about Interoperability in all of these Public Safety and SAR roles.