WHO:
The
Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a
Congressionally-Chartered Public Benefit Corporation made up of over 58,000
Volunteers, specially trained in a variety of Emergency Services, to operate a
fleet of over 535 US Air Force Auxiliary aircraft, available Nationwide, for
Federal, State and Local Tasking.
Our Squadron currently consists of almost 50 Community members, including
our Local Youth Cadet Program currently being expanded into the Truckee Tahoe
School System.
WHAT:
The
CAP's Volunteer Members, including our
Squadron, are available to assist Federal, State and Local Agencies and
Authorities. Our specialized
training can and has been used in a variety of ways including Search and Rescue
of Downed Aircraft and crew, Airborne Reconnaissance of Infrastructure such as
dams or power grids, In-flight disaster and damage assessment such as wildfires
or floods, aerial transportation of resources such as search personal and dog
teams, or governmental agency personnel, Airborne Still Imaging in near real
time with satellite downlink, Nationwide Communications Support with Aerial
relay platforms, Incident Command System (ICS) qualified personnel available for
local and state agencies to use in emergency services missions and disaster
recovery including limited security using our trained Ground Teams augmenting
local civil and military authorities.
WHERE & WHEN:
Our
Squadron's Senior Members meet the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month, at
7:00pm, at our
CAP Squadron Headquarters located at the
south end of the C Row of hangers at the
Truckee
Airport. In addition, Cadet (youth) Members meet
every Thursday at 6:00pm and often have special meetings dealing with current
Aerospace related educational experiences along with the opportunity to learn
and practice Leadership in a form similar to Junior Reserve Officer
Training. Senior members have the
opportunity to participate in a Professional Development Program including
Emergency Services Flight or Ground Crews and a variety of supporting services,
all done as Volunteers, within the framework of FEMA's Incident Command
System. Our Radio Communications
Center is located upstairs in the Headquarters' Building and our aircraft, a
1986 Cessna 182R, is hangered in the Phoenix Hanger on the east end of the
flight line.
WHY:
Founded in
the early days of WWII by the Office of Civil Defense, the forerunner of today's
Department of Homeland Security, the Civil Air Patrol took the task of
protecting the Homeland, using privately owned and operated aircraft. In 1948, the fledgling US Air Force took
over the administration and training in order to create a much more cost
effective and LOCAL resource and gave it the primary task of Airborne Search and
Rescue within the Continental US, something it continues to do to this day. Since the events of 9/11/2001, the
CAP has been recognized by a variety of
governmental agencies as a "go-to" help source. These agencies include FEMA, Homeland
Security (DHS), DEA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and
Border Protection (CBP), Transportation Security Administration
(TSA), the US Forest Service and
BLM, on a national level along with similar
state and local agencies. They
recognize volunteer members of the CAP as
being highly trained, secure, reliable, available and cost effective in the wide
roles the CAP is playing today, both within
the local community and outside it as well.
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