HOT PAD GROUND TEAM

SAR-EMT1 · February 01, 2007, 03:54:17 AM

Question: Do any Wings or Squadrons have "Alert" or "Hot Pad" programs for Ground Teams / UDF ? AE: A Team Ready to go at a moments notice, be it a team composed of member from the same unit, or a list of a half dozen or so folks from the same area that can respond to a meeting location to saddle up and go?
I ask this because recently a blip showed up on one of our pages at e-services (or the WMU, cant remember) asking that we specify the hours of the week we would be availible for taskings, and in what capacity: Aircrew, GT, Comms etc

If not, has such a plan ever existed or is one in the works?

RiverAux · February 01, 2007, 04:32:21 AM

I have heard of various plans now and again to have "on-call" crews for airplanes and they've probably existed for ground teams. But unless you're in a very high op-tempo area, it probably isn't all that necessary. Even without this when I was a squadron commander I could almost always contact enough people for a ground or air team within half an hour of starting to make calls.

arajca · February 01, 2007, 05:34:42 AM

Eservices has an area for availablility reporting. I think it is to help document how many CAP members with what quals are available at any given time.

Chris Jacobs · February 01, 2007, 05:38:42 AM

i know at times when we know that there is the possibility of us getting called up, or on the known busy weekends, people are asked to make their availabilities be know through the WMU. I know that i have gotten commitments from people before saying stuff like, if this turns into a larger operation are you ready to go.

davedove · February 01, 2007, 12:27:50 PM

Maryland Wing is trying to do something like that, including both aircrew, ground team, and some mission staff. The plan is that these people would be ready to go within two hours (I believe) to respond to disasters, terrorist attacks, etc. It can be composed of people from any squadron, so long as they can respond promptly. Since I'm not involved with it, I don't know their progress yet.

sarmed1 · February 02, 2007, 10:26:37 AM

My last squadron had our GT personnel broken into 3 alert teams. Each team rotated onto primary alert status for 2 weeks. More of a dont make any big plans for the week you are on, rather than just sit at home on call and dont do anything type of thing. That way you had at least an idea of who to call first, and you knew relatively who was available for rapid deployment...

Nathan · February 02, 2007, 04:36:41 PM

We have a team like that in our squadron, our "hard target" search team.

The team is on call at virtually all hours of the day, and if a member is going to be unavailable, they call out and check in when they are available again. The member is supposed to have gear and a uniform ready to go within a few minutes of getting the call.

Generally, the team doesn't handle ELTs, which is left for the general ground team. Instead, the hard target team is called out for disaster relief and other such emergencies in the country.

Becks · February 04, 2007, 10:42:14 PM

Yes, our squadron has a 24/7 ready to go UDF team and Aircrew.

Chris Jacobs · February 05, 2007, 12:27:21 AM

Quote from: Becks on February 04, 2007, 10:42:14 PM
Yes, our squadron has a 24/7 ready to go UDF team and Aircrew.

Do the personnel rotate, or do you have like 3 different teams/crews that rotate.

SAR-EMT1 · February 05, 2007, 12:06:26 PM

Quote from: Nathan on February 02, 2007, 04:36:41 PM
We have a team like that in our squadron, our "hard target" search team.

The team is on call at virtually all hours of the day, and if a member is going to be unavailable, they call out and check in when they are available again. The member is supposed to have gear and a uniform ready to go within a few minutes of getting the call.

Generally, the team doesn't handle ELTs, which is left for the general ground team. Instead, the hard target team is called out for disaster relief and other such emergencies in the country.

A team ready to deploy for non ELT searches, but rather "disaster relief" etc.. This is a CAP Ground Team right... not some FEMA WSAR group.
I just find it interesting that a GT wont do ELT searches. As for 'disaster relief' I can see the need, but on the flip side. CAP doesn't offer much training in that category.

Johnny Yuma · February 09, 2007, 07:36:28 PM

My former unit (I'm at Wing now) usually has enough folks at the unit CC's house either eating or just hanging out that when a call comes in we can usually have a team together in 20 minutes and enroute in 40.

We've been out the door in 15 only because it was "Taco night". If they ever call on "Seafood night" we're going to finish our boiled crablegs and shrimp first, just an FYI.

Johnny Y.

IronRangerMN · March 27, 2007, 03:38:21 AM

If there are rumors or anything about even possiblilty of being deployed, we are alerted asap. We can be ready within an hour no problem if we could all get to our building at the same time. It takes so long because we have to be ready to stay on site indefinatly, not counting food.