1. The MISSION. IAWG has been asked to assist the Iowa Air National Guard and the Iowa Army National Guard in operation IOWA FLAG. IOWA FLAG is a multi agency, multi unit, high level test and training exercise involving the following Air and Army National Guard units:
Support Units: 133TS, CFACC;
C2/C3s (JSTARS) 169ASPS, 182 ASOC, 133ACS, 552ACW, 116OSS,
Fighters (F16-C): 132FW, 124FS, 183 FW, 170FS (F-16C);
Bombers: (B2) 509BW
Helos (UH60) 147AvBCo.
Tankers (KC135) 185ARF;
UAV (Cessna 182) IAWG-CAP.
2. Operation: Operation Iowa Flag and Close air Support Exercises are customer driven elements designed to meet realistic training demands of the modern battle field in a low cost setting. Activities are specifically designed to meet training requirements associated with current and foreseeable future real world operations and are based on the recent combat experience of exercise directors and supporting staffs
Sections Omitted FOUO.
IAWG-CAP Operation IAWG-CAP's involvement will be consistent with the restrictions in AFI 10-2701 paragraph 2.2.4. Combat Training Support. We will provide NO combat support services. Our services are limited to emulate the presence of a UAV so as to test the capabilities and calibrate the equipment of the 133TS control center in a simulated situation while at the same time providing a training platform for IAWG-CAP's Emergency Service and Disaster Relief mission.
5. Safety All IAWG-CAP operations will be conducted in a safe manner to as to protect life and property. If a situation is present which you deem to put person or property in jeopardy you must take those steps necessary to allievate the danger and notify the IAWG-CAP mission commander immediately.
Manned aircraft simulating unmanned aircraft replacing manned aircraft. ;D
Way to go IAWG. Wish I was there to help. If anybody wants to come get me. . . . . . ;D, but really, I think this is a payout from all the work that IAWG has done in the State. The wing made some hard choices, as we have already discussed, and it is paying them in more missions, more and more. Hooah IAWG.
Nice mission but it is obvious which way the winds are blowing just from what they're asking CAP to do here...
Quote from: RiverAux on August 03, 2007, 09:33:42 PM
Nice mission but it is obvious which way the winds are blowing just from what they're asking CAP to do here...
??? ??? is it?
Quote from: RiverAux on August 03, 2007, 09:33:42 PM
Nice mission but it is obvious which way the winds are blowing just from what they're asking CAP to do here...
Remember, CAP is a non-combat entity. What IAWG is simulating are UAV's, which is just about as non-combat as you can get in a combat environment.
This looks not to be a situation of CAP begging to belong, but instead a decision of include CAP in a combat orientated exercise while staying inside our mandates and regulations.
Maybe it isn't as obvious as I thought .... they're using CAP planes to simulate UAVs....in the not so distant future they will have UAVs and won't need CAP for that purpose and probably won't need us for other missions as well when they've got newer, shinier toys to justify having.
But you can't fly UAVs for $100/hr! Not now, nor in the forseeable future.
And neither can they use the F-16, etc. they've got in the exercise for 100/hour. Once they have UAVs, they will be using them as part of the exercise no matter the cost. And just like the Guard likes to use their 1K+ (or whatever it is) per hour choppers for SAR when they can because of the PR, they will want to use the UAVs.
$3500 / hr for Blackhawks
My father tells me that in 1943, in Army basic training, they drilled with Springfield '03 rifles, only using the limited M1s available to qualify on the range.
When he reached his replacement company in North Africa (combat zone), he was issued his M1.
Similarly, I suspect the limited number of UAVs are going to be kept in combat zones, or training those who are imminently on their way there, for some time to come.
Even as the number increases, it is more likely the surplus will go into border security and other HLS roles.
It will be quite some time, I believe, before Guard units in the US proper have UAVs.
Until then, CAP 172s & 182s will serve just fine simulating them.
Quote from: RogueLeader on August 03, 2007, 08:26:31 PM
Way to go IAWG. Wish I was there to help. If anybody wants to come get me. . . . . . ;D, but really, I think this is a payout from all the work that IAWG has done in the State. The wing made some hard choices, as we have already discussed, and it is paying them in more missions, more and more. Hooah IAWG.
Where is the payoff? I dont see it at all.
1 Cessna portraying a UAV?
Being unable to provide Combat support, being unable - I assume- to assist in the Military Command Post, etc.
Is there actually anything else that IAWG is doing in regard to the other units involved?
Short of a small Mission Base and an aircrew, no one is doing anything. I see very little (if any) work availible for non pilots.
This excercize would be a prime time to test an effective augmentation program.
We are supporting an air force need.
Nothing more, nothing less.
So many of you complain that CAP has gotten away from the air force, and whine up a storm that CAP is pulling away from supporting "Mama blue". Now that they have come forward with a legitimate need (even if it is only for a few years) all you do is complain that it is not enough.
The pay off is this. We get to help the air force. Our pilots get to support the active duty, reserve, and guard troops operate safer. Isn't that enough. Isnt that why we became the air force auxiliary in the first palce.
PS. this is an AUX OFF mission.....
Figure that one out
Really??? I'm sure the feds are paying the majority of the costs of the overall exercise, so why not pay for CAP? Well, I can understand to some extent why the AF wouldn't want to pay for it, however there is no excuse for it not to be an AF-approved non-reimbursed mission (Mission Symbol B-14). It is only right to provide the federal benefits to CAP members supporting a federally-funded military exercise. Putting all the risk on CAP corporate for this type of mission makes no sense.
The Wing staff should go back to the AF with a B-14 mission request for this.
Quote from: RiverAux on August 04, 2007, 04:40:46 PM
The Wing staff should go back to the AF with a B-14 mission request for this.
DON'T GET ME STARTED!!!!!!!!!!!!1 >:( >:(
Stating the blatantly obvious wasn't I? >:D
Iowa National Guard just issued the following press release:
The Iowa Army and Air National Guard, various active duty units, and the Iowa Wing of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) will participate in a joint training event, Iowa Flag, August 7-18 in northwest Iowa.
Iowa's participation in the Global War on Terror requires joint reconnaissance and combat support missions. In combat theaters of operation, Iowa Air and Army National Guard aircraft are required to track human and vehicle movement, both friendly and hostile, through urban environments, as well as on open stretches of highway and in sparsely-populated rural areas. These types of missions, and certain Close Air Support operations, require lower altitudes not currently available in Military Operating Areas (MOAs).
This multi-faceted event utilizes many different military assets from fighter aircraft to ground vehicles. Here's what Iowans may see over the course of the exercise:
A number of ground teams will operate in and around the Carroll, Storm Lake, and Pocahontas areas. These teams will operate a variety of vehicles, including tractor-trailers, delivery-type trucks, Humvees, various military cargo trucks, green or blue pick-up trucks, white Civil Air Patrol vehicles, plus other equipment. Personnel will operate both in town and out in the country.
The ground teams will utilize sophisticated optics and communications equipment, including night vision equipment, laser ranging equipment (eye safe), satellite communications systems, and Line of Sight (LOS) radio equipment.
Small military convoys will operate on numerous roads between Cherokee and Carroll.
The Iowa Wing of the CAP will be flying circular and "Figure 8" search patterns over Carroll, Storm Lake and other northwest Iowa locations during the exercise. These aircraft are white, single-engine propeller aircraft (like Cessna 172s and 182s) with CAP markings in dark blue and red. These aircraft and personnel may also utilize airports in various northwest Iowa communities.
For the duration of the exercise, Iowa Army National Guard UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from Boone and Waterloo will be operating at the Carroll and Storm Lake airports, and near various northwest Iowa communities. These aircraft will be offloading and loading troops.
Iowa Air National Guard F-16 fighter aircraft from the 132nd Fighter Wing in Des Moines will be operating over much of northwest Iowa, from Carroll to the Minnesota border, and from Fort Dodge to west of Storm Lake. People may also see red flares in the sky (especially at night) that look like fireworks.
KC-135 tanker aircraft from the Iowa Air National Guard's 185th Air Refueling Wing in Sioux City and other units and locations will be operating in areas from Spencer to Estherville. The tankers will be conducting refueling operations with F-16 fighter aircraft above 20,000 feet, but it may be possible to observe their missions. There might also be flares associated with the refueling operations.
Additional aircraft, including the RC-135, E-8 JSTARS, E-3 AWACS, and B-2 Spirit bomber may also participate but their altitude or operating orbit will make it difficult to actually see the aircraft. The B-2 bomber may be visible at a high altitude over numerous northwest Iowa communities.
IOWA NATIONAL GUARD
Americans at Their Best
So what if it's an Aux OFF Mission, still helps the AF, and they can see: "Hey, the IAWG CAP wants to help, and they aren't complaining that they take the risk for their part of it." Next time AF has a need in IA: "Hey we need support from IAWG CAP. Last time, they did an EXCELLENT job, kept costs under what we could have done, as well as took the risk for it. Since they help us out, lets help them out by making it an AFAM." I don't think that this is an unreasonable interpretation of what could happen.
I'm just glad that IAWG could get involved. Way to go Iowa. ;D
Funding and Insurance Rant follows:
It is getting more and more difficult to get "A" missions that are not AFRCC tasked. Under title 10, SECAF must approve all CAP "A" missions for AF or any other federal agency. SECAF has assigned AFRCC as our tasking agent for SAR and 1st AF for AF or other federal agency missions including AFNSEP missions.
It is very difficult to unravel the funding quagmire. Here's what I have been able to surmise. Funding for "A" AFRCC mission comes out of CAP's annual congressional appropriation. Funding for other "A" missions comes from the federal agency that requested the CAP service. AFNSEP have no funds so they don't task CAP under an "A" mission status.
"B" mission status is where we pay to play but are provided with federal insurance/tort claim protection. Remember every time that plane moves money must be paid by someone. If you are flying an AFNSEP mission in "B" status someone is paying. It could be the wing itself from dues or other income or the individual member but it is NOT the federal government. Disaster relief is a classic example. AFNSEP, the federal agency charged with emergency preparedness including maintaining a contingent of military EPLO's (emergency preparedness liaison officers officers) can task us under "B" mission status but cannot pay us. Again we pay to play.
Remember, every time the plane moves not only does it cost someone some money, but it also puts someone at risk. The advantage to "B" mission status is that you have federal tort claim and workers comp protection and don't have to rely on CAP's private insurance coverage which affords much less protection. The difficulty with "B" missions is the time and process it takes to get them approved.
"C" missions are non AF missions and have no federal insurance or tort claim protection. Protection is afforded by private liability insurance but no workers comp protection. Get hurt or killed in a "C" mission and you or your family will get very little if any compensation. In Iowa we passed a law giving CAP state liability and workers compensation coverage when performing a "C" mission in Iowa. Our coverage is actually much better than that provided by the federal government. Consequently we rarely use "B" mission status for anything.
Iowa Flag is a classic example. AF refused "A" status and "B" mission status provides us with less coverage. When AF refused, the State TAG put us on state orders to trigger the state protection.
Because someone must pay when the plane moves, we are paying for the mission ourselves. We pay to play. Now we don't charge the individual members but we do take it from our annual state appropriation which means we have less for other things like training, cadet programs, etc.
If we were where we were three years ago with no state funding appropriation we would not be able to participate in Iowa Flag. We would have to ask the members to share in the fuel and aircraft cost to help fund the mission. Paying to play from your annual appropriation is one thing; reaching into your billfold is entirely different...and that's where we were.
I've learned one important thing in CAP: If it moves you pay and always follow the money.
NC
B missions can be reimbursed by other agencies and in fact that is what that whole class of missions is for. If AF approved a B14 mission the state could still reimburse IA Wing for the costs....again, pretty obvious but I don't see why the AF would object for this type of mission.
I don't see why they would, but it seems that they did.
Sometimes it seems we (this country) are bound and determined to bury ourselves progressively in needless red tape.
I was stunned the first time I heard the Air Force or Army charged us rent for the use of some rather run down barracks at Ft Dix (I know it's an army facility, but back WIWAC I think the AF paid them & CAP paid AF).
Here we were, about 200 cadets they were trying every which way they could think of to recruit, and they couldn't spring for the use of the (somewhat dilapidated) hall??
Nobody else was using it anyway.
Paying for our food made sense, I got that.
Oh well, I trust most of you know by now that one of the things CAP stands for is
Come And Pay!
I would like to apologize to the members of the IOWA Wing if I seemed a bit over the top in my earlier post. I just seemed to me at the time that the IAWG was being slighted when compared to the massive participation by other units. It put me on the defensive and I opened my mouth without thinking things through.
I hope you are invited back next year.
We just finished our first day of Air/Comms operations. This has been a great morale boost for us. It was quite a show of air force today. Unfortunately our pilots couldn't see it because it was happening about 2000 feet above them. We should have some operation photos later this week.
Amidst all the turmoil and drama in Atlanta it is nice to know that we are appreciated and respected.
Several of you have e-mailed me requesting updates on the Iowa Flag joint forces exercise involving the Iowa Air National Guard, Iowa Army National Guard and the Iowa Wing -CAP. As you know it is a two week mission ending August 16th. If the exercise is a success this will become an annual event.
Here's a REDACTED update as posted by the IA Air Nat. Guard:
OPS day 1
Push #2: 1330L-1530L
Players: 8 F-16's, 1 KC-135, OPFOR, JTACS, Civil Air Patrol aircraft, and Army Convoy activity. Summary: Second push was much more challenging due to the large number of aircraft working within the airspace. The weather cleared a bit allowing for a large number of dynamic targeting scenarios working with the JTACS. ,
OVERALL: For day 1 of an event like this, it was very successful. There were no major equipment issues, coordination issues, or aircraft fallout. Weather was the primary enemy.
OPS day 2
Push #2: 1330L-1530L
Players: 6 F-16's, 1 KC-135, OPFOR, JTACS, Civil Air Patrol aircraft, and Army Convoy activity.
Summary: The afternoon missions went off as fragged. All fighters arrived on time along with the CAP aircraft. Once again weather was a big factor. The tanker was delayed 30 minutes causing us to conserve fuel. The Army ground
element and the JTACS continued to work together and had a lot of success. After about 45 minutes, a decision was made to RTB the CAP flight due to airspace issues. The F-16's needed to use the same altitude blocks to get below the weather. Due to the marginal conditions, it was the safe thing to do. We did debrief with Col Kellogg the CAP commander and we have a good plan to avoid this during future missions. The Waterloo Medevac helo participated in a casualty evac drill at Pocahontas airport. Again, a productive afternoon in spite of the weather. No major issues beyond that.
OVERALL: I would characterize today as another success for the most part. Tomorrow, we're hoping for a more productive day for the JTAC in the field and the CAP flight. We are also looking into utilizing the CAP airborne video sensor later in Iowa Flag.
Iowa Flag continues to roll on. Our aircrews and staff back at the command post are having a great time. The Air and Army Guard are treating us very well and the joint operation is going better than planned.
Operations are done tonight until next week. So far our crews are really enjoying the mission and the Guard is very excited about all the "neat toys" we have.
If only I didn't have the problems that caused me to move to OK, I could have been participating for a while. . . . :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(
REACTED debrief from 4th OPS Day
Today we had two more successful missions. Both air and comms ops worked flawlessly.
The morning sortie tested everyone's flexibility. We were tasked to emulate the role of a UAV flying a similar pattern as before. Air Guard battle controllers and participating F16s etc expected to see the same mission profile as before. Unfortunately immediately before the mission everyone was advised the CAP Flight had been canceled due to mechanical failure. What they didn't know is that we had been tasked to enter the operation area playing the role of a United Nations VIP sightseeing plane. It was quite a surprise and tested everyone flexibility when they heard the callsign UN1. At the end brief it was apparent that we stressed the system for them...which is exactly what they wanted.
The afternoon's mission was much more relaxed and shortened.
Everyone is pleased with our performance, impressed with our professionalism and amazed at our abilities. I can't tell you how proud I am of all of you...those who were directly involved in the mission and those who were not. Those in the box derive a lot of support from those who cannot be there. We are all ONE BIG UNIT and we work well as a team.
OPSEC REDACT
Once again thanks to all of you and especially to Col Kellogg who has gone way beyond the call of duty.
NICK CRITELLI, Lt Col CAP
Vice Commander—Iowa Wing.
The UN??? Don't you know that those midwesterners freak out about the UN moving in and taking over?
Don't tell me Iowa has applied to the UN for membership?
Nah, UN was going to Iowa to vote in the straw poll!
Do we have an update on this operation?
Update: 16 Aug 2007 @ 14:40 CDST
I am presently at CAPCOM at the TS133rd. We just completed a press conference for the news media. Network affiliates were present. Briefing by Gen. Peirce regarding Iowa Flag and the three member of "Team Iowa" IAANG, IANG and IAWG. Felt extremely proud and unbelievable humble (a rare emotion for me) to have IAWG included in the group.
To date we have been tightly focused on our part of the mission to the point we have not seen the big picture. The briefing showed that this exercise was HUGE and an incredible training opportunity for both air and ground.
Gen. Pierce confirmed to the press that IAWG played an essential part in the training emulating the presence of a UAV. We heard reports from the commanders of the various groups explaining how difficult it is to plan and operate around the presence of a UAV and how much they appreciated IAWG's participation.
I reported that the exercise provided us with two opportunities. First was the opportunity to assist the IAANG and IANG in their training. But equally, it was important in that it provided us with an opportunity to training our air to ground coordination, recon and comms which are essential to our SAR/ES/DR mission.
IAANG has made a two hour video of the operation. They will make it available to us for our use.
The last two missions are scheduled for this evening. Last night's written brief will follow.
We're starting the evening's planning and briefing process so I have to go.
Nick Critelli
Thanks for the update. Sounds as if you are doing the job.
JCW
The following is a REDACTED summary of yesterday's IOWA FLAG exercise.*
Date: Aug 15th, 2007
Push #1: 1300-1500L
Players: 2 F-16's, JTACS, 1 KC-135, and Army Convoy activity.
Summary: Army Ground conducted two separate mounted recon missions 1X4 vehicle recon <<REDACT>>
Two F-16's and tanker were all on time << REDACT>> . Fighters worked with the JTACS (type-3 control) from the 133rd in Ft Dodge. Some weather in the area but we were able to work around it.
Push #2: 1600-1800L
Players: 6 F-16's, 1 KC-135, 1 E-8 JSTARS (CNX), OPFOR, JTACS, Army Blackhawks, Civil Air Patrol aircraft and Army Convoy activity.
Summary: This was a major joint event (on the fly). The weather cleared some but was still a factor. We got early notification that the E-8 had cancelled so we moved quickly to re-rolled the Army ground element, Boone Blackhawk, and Air Force OPFOR team. The Ground element conducted a ground recon missions near <<REDACT>>. The Army ground team put observers in the Blackhawk and they conducted aerial recon in support of the ground team.
Unknown to the ground team, the Air Force OPFOR team took up position ahead of them. The Blackhawk team ID'ed the OPFOR "insurgents" and maneuvered the ground element to the site. They detained the OPFOR and passed off other insurgent locations to the Air Force JTAC team who vectored F-16's in for target prosecution. On the air side, all flights checked in as fragged. The first two F-16's reported lingering weather in the Southern airspace.
Controllers at the 133rd cleared the fighters into the lower blocks to get under it. At the same time, we deconflicted the Civil Air Patrol flight by skipping their scheduled Carroll way point to go straight to <<REDACT>> for safety of flight reasons. CAP then extended their time over <<REDACT>> creating a challenge for the efforts to attack the targets in that area. All sets of F-16's got extensive work with the JTACS.
Push #3 2100-2300L
Players: 6 F-16's, E-8 JSTARS (CNX), OPFOR, JTACS, Civil Air Patrol aircraft, Army Blackhawk, and Army Convoy activity.
Summary: Weather had passed out of the area and everything went off as planned. The Army ground element continued to work directly with the Air Force JTACS doing both mounted and dismounted patrols south of <<REDACT>> and prosecuted several targets. The flow of fighters went very well and all worked different sectors with JTACS and OPFOR. Civil Air Patrol mission went of as planned with an early vector back to Ft Dodge due to the shorter Vul period. Blackhawk provided extract for the JTAC teams in <<REDACT>>. They worked directly with the 133rd CRC, fighters overhead, and the JTAC teams to make timely extraction allowing for F-16 target work right up to the extraction time.
OVERALL: Tonight was an excellent series of training events overall. The matching up of all players in the second event was an excellent example of what Iowa Flag was designed to do. We took the kill chain from the ground element identifying a threat with the assist of Army Aviation, handing the
target off to the Air Force JTACS for attack, the 133rd CRC managing the flow of fighters and tankers while deconflicting the CAP and others, the ASOC/CAOC at Ft Dodge managing the fight, bombs on target on time!
Today is Iowa CAP's last operational day for Iowa Flag. Here are some pictures from today.
(http://www.iawg.cap.gov/images/2007/Iowa%20Flag/Iowa%20Flag%202007%2016Aug07%20Col%20Kellogg%20on%20Radiosm.jpg)
Col Gene Kellogg (left) speaks to an aircrew about a re-tasking from the Air Guard controllers.
(http://www.iawg.cap.gov/images/2007/Iowa%20Flag/Iowa%20Flag%202007%2016Aug07%20Black%20Hawk%20Landingsm.jpg)
An Iowa National Guard UH-60 lands at Fort Dodge after a simulated medevac sortie.
(http://www.iawg.cap.gov/images/2007/Iowa%20Flag/Iowa%20Flag%202007%20N776CP%20Taxis%20for%20Takeoffsm.jpg)
CAP Flight 1377 taxies off for takeoff on an evening sortie over NW Iowa to simulate an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).
Today the media was at the Fort Dodge base and they got to see the exercise in action, including the CAP operation. CAP personnel shared a steak dinner with the Iowa Air National Guard personnel tonight prior to flying their mission tonight. We are getting ready to recover the aircraft now and will launch our final sortie later tonight. Iowa CAP has flown over 40 hours in support of Iowa Flag.
Thanks for the photos and updates.
Great Job.........
JEFFREY C WANDELL, Lt Col, CAP
The following report has been <REDACTED>
Date: Aug 16th, 2007
Players: 6 F-16's, 1 KC-135, 1 RC-135 Rivet Joint, OPFOR, JTACS, Army Blackhawk Medivac & GP, Civil Air Patrol aircraft and Army ground activity.
Summary: Again, we conducted a major Army/Air training event in both the Carroll and Storm Lake areas. In Carroll, Rifle conducted a mounted recon with simulated IED impact. One simulated casualty was treated and moved to the medivac LZ where they met up with the Air Force JTAC who had been air lifted by Blackhawk into the area earlier. Once the medivac Blackhawk was on the ground to receive the casualty, the JTAC directed several F-16 strafe and bombing passes to cover the medivac flight. There was a strong community presence to watch the event.
Simultaneously in the Storm Lake region, the Sabre ground team worked closely with the Air Force JTAC to call in fires on simulated terrorist targets. On several occasions, the JTAC simulated he was incapacitated and allowed the Army team to conduct the actual F-16 CAS drop <REDACT> . On the air side, the 133rd TS worked closely with the CAP flight to change their flight plan to avoid the Medivac recovery effort allowing the F-16's to work strafe missions down to <REDACT> feet near Carroll while managing the rest of the airspace and tanker acctivities. Finally, the RC-135 RJ aircraft was able to check in with the 133rd CRC <REDACT>.
Push #3 2100-2300L
Players: 4 F-16's, OPFOR, JTACS, Civil Air Patrol aircraft, and Army Convoy activity.
Summary: The final push went smoothly. We had the CAP flight drop the Carroll segment of their flight plan prior to take-off. This was due to the shortened vul period. The JTAC guys were both operating in the Storm Lake area so we focused the CAP flight plan there. The F-16's worked a number of CAS missions with the JTACS. Both the Sabre and Rifle Army ground teams conducted recon missions in the NAI's around Storm Lake and Carroll.
OVERALL: As the final day of the CAS element of Iowa Flag, things went great. We had a number of excellent joint Army/Air training opportunities. The chance to participate directly with the F-16's bombing process was a huge highlight for the Sabre guys in their hot wash. The Blackhawk and Civil Air Patrol folks came through once again. We also conducted the press conference both at the 133rd in Ft Dodge and the Carroll airport.
Members of the press had tremendous access to many of the participants on both the Army and Air side. They were also able to film the Medivac efforts in Carroll and many of the activities in Ft Dodge including the <REDACT> . As the Air to Ground phase comes to an end, I think all involved consider it a tremendous thumbs up. <REDACT>
From a selfish IAWG-CAP point of view, our air and comms officers were able to log conservatively 50+ hours of flying and about 250+ hours of comms operations during these first 7 days making this the most operationally intensive training environment we've experienced in a very long time.
Iowa Flag has provided IAWG-CAP with an incredible opportunity to be a real part of "Team Iowa" with our partners the IAANG and the IANG. The "take-aways" were huge for all three entities. We were given a golden opportunity to be involved in high level military exercise planning. The skills learned and experienced gained will certainly change the way we plan our next SAR/ES/DR exercise. Operationally the experience was invaluable. Every aspect of CAP's operation ... from legal (can we do it, who pays for it) to logistics (who, what, where, why and when regarding people, comms, aircraft, etc., ) to PAO meetings and briefings with the press, to LO with IAANG and IANG command elements was exercised.
In sum it was an unbelievable experience. IAANG PAO's have been taking a tremendous amount of unclassified video which we will get. It includes all operations including CAP's. Significantly it also includes yesterday's public briefing by General Pierce regarding the importance of IAWG. When we get it and pull it all together we'll figure out a way to post it. Meanwhile we should be able to post several still shots.
There has been an unintended benefit. There has been a lot of publicity about the operations. The public was notified not to be alarmed when they see the air and ground action. Well...they weren't alarmed at all-- they were proud. As you can see from today's report there has been an outpouring of community support. They even turn out to see the action. It gives the public an opportunity to see their military in action. You cannot believe the amount of community pride that has been generated --- and IAWG-CAP is right in the middle of it. [NOTE to Cyclone -- not is the time to kick off the fall recruiting effort in this part of the state]
To all of you who have posted words of encouragement, IAWG give you a big THANKS. Iowa Flag has been a tremendous amount of work and your encouragement has helped keep us going.
Nick Critelli, Lt Col CAP
Iowa Wing -- Vice Commander
Outstanding job, you guys. Congratulations on a successful operation.