BEST CAP EXPERIENCE

[addo1]

 What is your most exciting CAP mission/experience??  I would like to hear about them..

[JohnKachenmeister]

Flight school as a cadet.  Who gets a pilot's license in their summer break between their junior and senior years of high school?

Answer:  Really rich kids and CAP cadets.  Put me down as a "B"

[Stonewall]

I've had a lot of "best CAP experiences", but I'll pick one small one.  A simple one that made me feel proud of all the decisions I made leading up to this situation and hard work as well...  Trust me; it's simple, but meaningful.

Before I jot something down, having been in since February of 1987, 20 years and a few months, the best, most memorable times I experienced in CAP were between about 1995ish to about 2001ish, then it got good when I became a squadron commander around 2003 until I had to take a serious break in 2005.  Just to sum it up... 

My "best CAP experience":

I think it was November 2000.  In fact, it may have been Veterans Day, not sure.  There was a plane missing that was supposed to fly from Maryland to North Carolina, or somewhere along that route.  Maryland, National Capital, Virginia, North Carolina and I think maybe West Virginia wings were all called out and given locations along the possible route to search.

As many of you know, I'm a stickler for uniforms and equipment.  Not just uniforms, but I really try to maintain and project a level of appearance that is consistent with a military standard, especially within the cadet program.  It was a 3-day weekend, or just a weekend, so we had lots of folks turn out.  Between my squadron and my sister-squadron, we had enough for 3 ground teams.  Probably something like 6 seniors and 18 cadets, all fully qualified ground team members/leaders among other things. 

We get out to Manassas airport and stage ourselves in an upstairs area.  First thing I told the ground teams (basically I'm speaking to cadets) is that we may be here for a while; until we get tasked.  I always leave cadet leaders in charge of cadets, and I trained these cadet leaders very well, to do the right thing in my absence.  What happens?  The senior cadets start conducting gear inspections.  Not only that, but they don't even bother me with the deficiencies.  Instead, they correct them on their own.  Filling up canteens, sharing 550 cord, calling parents to come bring something that would have otherwise kept that person from going on the mission.  Then, when that was done, "hip pocket training" took place.  As I have always told cadet leaders, keep one or two impromptu classes ready to go "in your pocket" so you're not just sitting there doing nothing.  They break out compasses, L'Pers, GTM task books, and they do some simple task training.  It was awesome.

Meanwhile, I'm seeing other groups of members coming in wearing all different styles of BDUs.  The overweight guy that required people to wear eye protection for fear a button was going to go at any second.  The dude with the brand new BDU pants but faded out BDU top that practically looked bleached.  Then of course all the variations of K-Mart camping gear, boonie caps, and 30 flavors of reflective vests.  That's another thing; we even had a standard orange vest to maintain uniformity and a professional look.   Did I mention the one or two POVs decked out with 50 antennas, gear protruding out the windows and an obvious look of "unsafe".

We're there for a few more hours, we order food or go to the local Mickey D's, and finally get tasked.  An aircrew got permission to fly over Quantico MCB and spotted what they thought was wreckage.  Two teams get tasked with going to Quantico, making contact with the Duty Officer and seeing about getting us permission to check out this location.  Remember, it was a weekend/holiday.  Me, several other squared away seniors, all within weight and grooming regs; all within 39-1 standard, make contact with a Marine Captain and GySgt.  The area we needed to look at was in the training area, heavily wooded and some miles away.  The Base Commander was called; he came in.  EOD came in.  We had a Marine Colonel, Sgt Major, CW5, and a handful of other squared away professionals all there to help.

Long story short, it was not the plane we were looking for, but rather an old A-7 Corsair fuselage used as a target for mortars or something.  But to make sure, the base commander ordered up a CH-46 to fly over the area with a couple of our observers.

Throughout the night, about 4 hours or so, the Marines came out and talked to the cadets and seniors, asking about CAP.  The cadets knew exactly how to conduct themselves without guidance from senior leadership.  They didn't poke their heads in while seniors were in the "head shed" with the Marine Corps brass, and they didn't whine and complain about having to sit there.  We even made sure the senior cadet officer was in the mix of "decision making and planning" when the colonel was around.

Customs and courtesies, proper wear of the uniform, quality training of the cadets leading up to this mission; all the things that make CAP right.  I have always wondered if the outcome would have been different had the unshaven senior member along side with the overweight guy and his two-shades of BDUs followed by a gaggle of cadets dragging 10 versions of search gear. 

I don't know, it's a simple story that didn't have some heroic outcome or mention anything about someone earning their Spaatz.  It was just one of many small triumphs I've experienced during my time working with a great bunch of like-minded folks in CAP.

[Skyray]

Best CAP experience would have to be National Staff College.  After seeing a lot of petty politics at the local level, I got to sit in the O Club with people like T.J. Fortune, Adele Sparks, Dennis Manazares, and that cigar smoking LO from Atlanta whose name I have forgotten.  I kept running into these people all over the system, and they were a delight to know.

[LTC50]

The cigar smoker was LTC Crawford who after retirement became the GAWg CC.He, Col Jack Cody (former PACRgn LO) and I attended SAR school at Governors Island, NY. We even tried te Cyclone at Coney Island. Jack was a USAF Major at the time assigbed to the OPS Shop at National and I was the SER DO. Those were the really good old days. And yes I've served my time in the "Snake PIT"

[Skyray]

Thanks for the name.  It really sucks to get old and have your synapses refuse to close for you.  I ran into him again when I was over at Jackson and due to some travel problem with Wing Members I got drafted to be a SarEx Safety Officer.  He was the evaluating officer.  Not trying to break my arm patting myself on the back, but I am school trained in the subject, and I run a pretty fair safety program.  Well, he awarded Safety an "Outstanding" and then refused to credit it to the Wing because I was not a Mississippi Wing member.  If he hadn't been a personal friend, he would have never known that and we would have gotten away with it.

[ColonelJack]

Warren Crawford was a hell of a man.  I knew him both as GAWG Liaison Officer and later as Wing CC -- in fact, in another thread I posted a photo from one of my squadron banquets, and Warren was there (we were wearing berry boards!).  He passed away about two years ago or so.  I still miss him.

Jack

[Skyray]

Warren Crawford was a hell of a man.  I knew him both as GAWG Liaison Officer and later as Wing CC -- in fact, in another thread I posted a photo from one of my squadron banquets, and Warren was there (we were wearing berry boards!).  He passed away about two years ago or so.  I still miss him.

Jack

I miss the interaction with these giants.  T.J. passed away eight or ten years ago.  I still trade an occasional email with Dennis Manzanares, but I have lost track of Adele Sparks and that really prime fox from Atlanta that used to show up at all the events.  As I said, I really enjoyed National Staff College.

[Trung Si Ma]

Mid 70's, first mission as an MC in Yukon Group, AK Wing.  Launched a 310 to do a night route search between Fairbanks and Bethel because someone was overdue (a hunting party if I remember correctly).  No ELT heard, but they did spot a fire off of the planned search course and the aircrew got both a find and a save.  My first save not as an aircrew member, and the entire mission base staff were my cadets since we were saving the seniors to go fly when it got light enough.  After all of the paperwork was done, Russ Anderson, AKWG/CC, sent a letter (this was before Al invented the internet) to all of the squadrons with copies of our paperwork as a good example to emulate.  He even pointed out the signatories on this mission were almost all cadets.