AFN did a story of 2 events we took our cadets to

[NHQ-OS-126 Frank]

Hello everybody,

As an overseas unit we are very happy that the AFN Sq. here at Spangdahlem AFB produced 2 short stories of events we did with our cadets and we want to share these with all of our CAP friends.

Here the links to the 2 stories:

http://www.afneurope.net/Home/ArticleDisplayDD/tabid/649/Default.aspx?aid=13922

http://www.afneurope.net/Home/ArticleDisplayDD/tabid/649/Default.aspx?aid=9395


All the best from Europe.

Frank

[AlphaSigOU]

Great to see CAP in action overseas. We occasionally see a story about the Misawa and Osan overseas squadrons on AFN Pacific. (And I'm still CAP's lone active member out here in the middle of the Pacific!  )

BTW, belated congrats on 'retiring' from the CAP LPA and putting on railroad tracks! (LPA - Lieutenants' Protective Association; railroad tracks = captain's bars. I traded my railroad tracks for gold bottle caps - promotion to Major - back in July.)

[NHQ-OS-126 Frank]

Major,

Thank you for your answer and the congratulations. Also congratulations to you for your promotion to Major. 

Enjoy the good weather over there in the pacific.

I saw that you are an Amateur Ham operator too. Me too  :-)

Are you still part of the Nellis Sq. in NV ?   I have 2 pieces of Nellis airplane here at home. He crashed with his plane here in Luxembourg during the Battle of the Bulge 1944-45 and when they renewed the road to make it larger in that area some years ago, they found his plane. And as I know some people in the EOD, they gave me 2 pieces of the Airplane.

All the best and 73's

Frank  LX1MG

[Snake Doctor]

Capt Schuler,  the two AFN pieces were great!  If you haven't sent the URLs to NHQ you should.  Not enough recognition is given to the overseas units all though the term "Overseas Units" was mentioned during National Boards.  The only way to get the recognition is to submit news stories.  Perhaps annual awards could be a way as well to recognize overseas CAP members and get recognition for the units.
This near to me as I rejoined CAP in an overseas unit, Misawa Cadet Squadron and met my wife at a CAP meeting there.  AlphaSigOU, Where are you?

[spacecommand]

I think you're doing good things over there, keep it up!  :clap:

[vmstan]

I had no idea until the last couple of days that there were even such things as overseas CAP units. What a fantastic thing!

Are they mostly cadet focused squadrons or do you guys do any ES missions for local authorities?

[MIKE]

They are cadet focused by regulation.  See CAPR 35-4.

[AlphaSigOU]

AlphaSigOU, Where are you?

I'm a civilian contractor working for the Army at the Reagan Test Site in Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands. As I mentioned in my signature, I'm CAP's lone active member here (though I keep my membership in Nevada Wing). Current CAP regs (CAPR 35-4) won't allow an overseas squadron here.

[Snake Doctor]

Wow!  At least with all the on-line things available now you can keep up somewhat.

[spacecommand]

Yeah 35-4 restricts me from transferring and joining a CAP squadron overseas (if I decide to return overseas in the future) since you have to be covered under SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement), which I am not.

I had no idea until the last couple of days that there were even such things as overseas CAP units. What a fantastic thing!

Btw you can see all the overseas units from the CAP unit directory.  Overseas Units are listed under "NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS" / PAGE26
http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/October_2009_8201F516B5ECB.pdf

Overseas Cadet Units in Japan, Germany and South Korea.

Any case I think Captain Schuler (congrats on the promotion) does a lot of good work overseas (and in case for those who don't know, Captain Schuler is a citizen of Luxembourg and became the first non-us resident foreigner to become a member of the Civil Air Patrol a few years ago). 

One thing CAP might consider is  creating an "Overseas Unit Ribbon/Service Ribbon".  Similar to the Air Force's Overseas Service Ribbon.

[Snake Doctor]

I agree Capt Schuler is doing very good things.

[NHQ-OS-126 Frank]

Thank you everybody for all those nice words in your posts.

Somebody mentioned in a post that I should send these links to NHQ. Does anybody have an POC or email address I should send it to ?

We are a cadet sq. at Spangdahlem AB. Our Sq/CC is an active duty Air Force Lt.Col. and then we have a retired Air Force MSgt. who is in charge of teaching the cadets drill and leadership. Then we have 2 SM who are dependents and then me taking care of the Aerospace Education and also the "off base" events like the local Air Show and WWII related ceremonies here in the Battle of the Bulge area.

We do any missions over here. We just organize from time to time an encampment together with the Ramstein AB Sq. where we include some SAR training for the cadets.

Our biggest plan for this fall is getting the cadets up in the air. As we are only allowed to fly cadets in military registered aircrafts and there is only one military flying club over here (which is about 2,5hours drive away from us) it is not so easy to get something setup. But we are working on it together with the Ramstein Unit.

We are also working on a website but don't know yet where to host it and how to do it. So somebody came up with the idea to create a facebook account for the beginning and then look forward to find somebody who can help us out to build a nice sq. website.

Well, these were the latest updates from this side of the planet :-)

I wish you all a nice day and thank you again for the nice words.

Frank

[High Speed Low Drag]

PM Al Pabon - He si the National PAO & a nice gu to boot.  His CAP TALK handle is CAP Producer.

[Snake Doctor]

Frank,

Here is Maj Pabon's information.

Al Pabon <Al.Pabon@mncap.org
AL PABON, Major, CAP
National Public Affairs Team Leader
Headquarters, Civil Air Patrol

I'd like to see a web page at NHQ outlining the overseas squadrons. Advertise that CAP does have overseas squadrons.
While the membership does great things in keeping the program "alive" overseas, NHQ needs to offer assistance to these units as they are more restricted in how they operate. Ways need to be found that will allow them to not only succeed as they do now but allow members to continue progressing in all three missions.