Lakeland, Fla. – Over fifty members of the Civil Air Patrol from across Florida participated this weekend in a search-and-rescue exercise. The event was scheduled as part of Florida Wing's preparation in advance of the upcoming observed evaluation conducted later this spring.
The mission included both aircrew and ground team tasking. The aircrews conducted visual and electronic target searches in addition to photo reconnaissance sorties. Ground operations included electronic search, disaster response reconnaissance, and communications relay. The aircraft operated from the Lakeland Linder Regional Airport. The command post was established nearby at the National Guard Armory which was also used for billeting mission personnel.
The “cadet” SAREX expanded the traditional emergency services training program by assigning qualified cadets to duty positions which allowed them to shadow key decision-makers. This event "was a unique opportunity for cadets to be integrated with senior members assigned to the mission base staff", said C/Col Troy Odierno, working on the mission staff allows cadets to "get a big-picture view of the steps involved with running a mission."
Florida Wing operates twenty-six powered aircraft operated by 131 qualified search-and-rescue mission pilots. In addition, Southeast Region CAP houses an Gippsland GA8-Airvan platform used for CAP’s ARCHER program which employs hyper-spectral imaging equipment for search missions. Florida Wing also employs other airborne and ground-based imaging systems that provide real-time information for federal and state emergency planners.
The operations area for Florida Wing encompasses over 58,000 square miles, including 1,200 miles of coastline, over a 67-county area. The Wing is divided into seven geographical groups served by eighty-nine units represented by over 3,700 members including 1,700 cadets and 2,100 senior members. Nationally, there are approximately 1,600 individual units.
To ensure effectiveness, CAP’s Florida Wing annually conducts evaluated training exercises. These exercises are designed to evaluate the complete functional capability of a CAP mission base utilizing the National Incident Management System. The wing is evaluated on how well it coordinates, integrates, supports and employs CAP Region/National assets.
Wing staff thanked the participants and said the training exercise helped to define the wing’s emergency services learning curve. Several directors stressed the goal was to avoid reliance on an A-team and instead focus efforts on developing a deeper pool of well-qualified, mission-ready resources. An emphasis was made that Groups need to take a lead role in ensuring that mission staff personnel are developed along with ground and air resources. |
