This past weekend Group 2 (San Francisco Bay Area) hosted an exercise involving 4 aircraft and 2 ground teams. Tasking involved responding to a 7.2 earthquake and subsequent aftershocks, SAR, and other missions. Lots of aerial photography work. The scenario and tasking were generated by a team of "black hats" who also placed clues, victims, etc. to give all roles the chance to train.
Both the local NBC and FOX affiliates covered the exercise and the coverage was very positive. FOX did a series of live broadcasts every half hour on Sunday to discuss different aspects of the mission - beginning with the General Briefing and then interviewing members serving in various roles.
Here's a link to the summary story that FOX ran on Sunday evening: http://ep-fox.s3.amazonaws.com/captures/099/700/0997002D07EF4018B5B6D9C8E4179534.mp4 (http://ep-fox.s3.amazonaws.com/captures/099/700/0997002D07EF4018B5B6D9C8E4179534.mp4)
Great job to our PIO and to everyone who took part.
And here's the NBC coverage: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Bay-Areas-Civil-Air-Patrol-Trains-Pilots-in-Preparation-for-Natural-Disasters-323386851.html (http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Bay-Areas-Civil-Air-Patrol-Trains-Pilots-in-Preparation-for-Natural-Disasters-323386851.html)