The Texas Thread

[mawr]

I was around them quite a bit during Katrina recovery in Camp Shelby Ms.  I had to grab a quick 10 min flight from Bob Chain airport to Camp Shelby's airstrip and that was about 9 min more than I needed.

I would regularly see 6' 2" pilots literally unfold after flying in a GA 8 all day.

And the locks on the doors are comical, but all in all, they seem great for the ARCHER system but not much else.

[DNall]

Good luck. That's got some politics to it, and some effort to put our best most experienced crews on them & not anyone else.

[Major Carrales]

TEXAS TOPIC of the WEEK:  The SUPER GROUPS

As many know, the Group structure of TEXAS was changed as of 1 Jan 2006.  The Groups were consolidated in CAP area's of influence geographically larger than many of the Eastern States,  Sorry New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont. 

A year is about to have been traversed since that descision was made.  Col  Eldridge is extremely proud of this.

The question is...

Has the regrouping of the Group Structure, in your humble opinion, in Texas been a postive or negative thing for your unit?

And, depending on the answer...

How can the logistical challenges of the SUPER Groups be, or if they have been overcome, addressed?

Let's try to remain positive on this concern, the goal is to provide solutions to identifed issues.

Major Carrales

[RogueLeader]

[ geographically larger than many of the Eastern States,  Sorry New Jersey, Rhode Isalnd and Vermont. 

Major Carrales

JUust as a point of note, my home county, which is in western Nebraska, just as big as Rhode Island.  Nowhere as big of population though.  He he he

[Major Carrales]

[ geographically larger than many of the Eastern States,  Sorry New Jersey, Rhode Isalnd and Vermont. 

Major Carrales

JUust as a point of note, my home county, which is in western Nebraska, just as big as Rhode Island.  Nowhere as big of population though.  He he he

Check this out...



The West Texas Group (Group I) seems as if it might be larger than Louisiana.  Ours is the 5th Group.

[SJFedor]

Where is Wing HQ located in TX?


That's something impressive. Looks like it may be a small pain in the arse for you guys as well.

[Major Carrales]

Where is Wing HQ located in TX?


That's something impressive. Looks like it may be a small pain in the arse for you guys as well.

Wing HQ is in Waco, Texas.  SWR HQ is in Lewisville, Texas deep within the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

We once had a transfer from Hawaii who was amazed/perplexed/annoyed that the then commander could not merely "walk in" his paperwork to Wing HQ, which was some 6 hours away.

You woudl be suprized how well things have gone.  Sure, there were some settling in issues, but on the whole everything operates.  There are some Logistical issues that still need to be surmounted, that is why I started this thread.

The Distributive SARex (DSAR), wingwide training exercise, does a lot  to develop problems to mitigate these issues. 

Keep 'em Flying,
Major Carrales

[carnold1836]

Being that I am new to CAP (May '06) I have found that until my squadron started rattling some cages the squadrons in the southern and eastern part of Group III were not seeing as much of the group staff as we would like. However that being said we have taken an active stance on getting more group wide activities being held in more southerly locations. For instance we are hosting a group wide FTX in Jan and Apr, an ALS in Mar along with an ES academy.

At this time I would like to extend an invitation to all CAP members in Texas to participate in any of our scheduled events. Whether you are in Group III or not. Heck if you fell like traveling from out of state anybody is invited to join us we would love to get as much interaction with other units as we can. It can only make CAP stronger. If you have questions or are interested please PM me and I can get you more information on these activities.

[DNall]

Actually yes it has worked out quite well, actually not better or worse relly, but it's working. GP 13 was great here before the switch & we're starting to get back to that level w/ Gp IV.

Gp IV is right at 1000 members, in 16 Sqs, and a Gp staff of 15. That's a little misleading cause Sheldon Cadet is 250 of that & the largest school program in the country headed by a guy who helped create the program - they're big enough they seem to have their own gravity. My Gp is the smallest geographically, and we are larger than many states. I think we're right at the size of Iowa give or take a touch.

Our WgCC is a not so long ago retired AF officer w/ command experience. The Gps are restructured cause we don't need a bunch of unneccessary politically dominated structures when this is the size real Gps are. The BIG problem is it's a long way to get together for stuff. Our recent mini-conf & holiday party drew 90. Cadet stuff is better. We get 80-90 new faces at an ALS twice a year. It's a little scary when you look at it, my Gp Staff is only 15 people.

Personally, I think it's great. However, there is an idea that I've talked about here I think would work great up under this. That's the one where you see how many people are really active off the MML & you pair up 3 close by Sqs together as independently operating flights, but with a combined Sq staff - ie share resources & staff so we can do a better job of the heavy burden placed on us while focusing more on the things that are important. Obviously school programs or anything near the size of Sheldon can be stand alone.

[DNall]

Being that I am new to CAP (May '06) I have found that until my squadron started rattling some cages the squadrons in the southern and eastern part of Group III were not seeing as much of the group staff as we would like. However that being said we have taken an active stance on getting more group wide activities being held in more southerly locations. For instance we are hosting a group wide FTX in Jan and Apr, an ALS in Mar along with an ES academy.

At this time I would like to extend an invitation to all CAP members in Texas to participate in any of our scheduled events. Whether you are in Group III or not. Heck if you fell like traveling from out of state anybody is invited to join us we would love to get as much interaction with other units as we can. It can only make CAP stronger. If you have questions or are interested please PM me and I can get you more information on these activities.

Give me a minute & I'll trade schedules with you.

[AlphaSigOU]

Our WgCC is a not so long ago retired AF officer w/ command experience.

Actually, Col. Eldridge is a recently-retired CMSgt.

[Major Carrales]

Being that I am new to CAP (May '06) I have found that until my squadron started rattling some cages the squadrons in the southern and eastern part of Group III were not seeing as much of the group staff as we would like. However that being said we have taken an active stance on getting more group wide activities being held in more southerly locations. For instance we are hosting a group wide FTX in Jan and Apr, an ALS in Mar along with an ES academy.

This is a bit of the "Settling in" situation I wrote of.  It is one of those things that just has to happen anytime two entities are merged.  Both Groups existed before and were fuctional, both were commanded by local people.  The resulting "powershift" as one former Group's commander becomes the Commander of the new Group and the other the Deputy Commander  creates a command paradox.

Now, the ideal, in my mind, would have been to have assistants to the staff officers to better provide and administer the Group's policy.

I hate to say this but there has to be and does exist loyalties to the old groups and its personnel.  This will subside as new officers rise to fill leaderhip positions in the new group.

Once the Group is fully established and implements its policies (and those of the wing,) then there can be all numbers of activities.  All we need do is wait.  I have yet to meet our Gorup Commander in person, however, we have accomplished a lot via cell phone, teleconference and e-mail.

Individual units will have to "grow to autonomy" since Group Level Officers cannot visit units as they once did.

At this time I would like to extend an invitation to all CAP members in Texas to participate in any of our scheduled events. Whether you are in Group III or not. Heck if you fell like traveling from out of state anybody is invited to join us we would love to get as much interaction with other units as we can. It can only make CAP stronger. If you have questions or are interested please PM me and I can get you more information on these activities.

Group III includes DFW does it not?  I have relatives in Lewisville, Texas with makes a trip up there much more likely.

[carnold1836]

Group III includes DFW does it not?  I have relatives in Lewisville, Texas with makes a trip up there much more likely.

It does, however the FTXs will be held in the Belton area and the other activites are currently slated for Camp Mabry in Austin. You are still welcome to join us, I just wanted to make sure you were aware of where these activites are being held.

[Hoser]

Hmmmmm...   If you cut Alaska in half Texas would be the third largest state.
If there was a back door at the Alamo, there'd never have been a fight...
The best thing to come out of Texas was an empty bus

[Major Carrales]

Hmmmmm...   If you cut Alaska in half Texas would be the third largest state.
If there was a back door at the Alamo, there'd never have been a fight...
The best thing to come out of Texas was an empty bus

And your point is? 

Welcome to CAPTALK TEXAS!

[AlphaSigOU]

Group III includes DFW does it not?  I have relatives in Lewisville, Texas with makes a trip up there much more likely.

Yup. Group III HQ is in Addison. Commander is Maj Pat Benoit, on January 21, LtCol Owen Younger assumes command.

Tertia semper primoris (Third [Group] always first) - official motto of TX WG Group III.

[Major Carrales]

OK...y'all.

How can I register for the Texas Wing Conference in April?  Am I a bit early in looking for that?

Let me know...

Major Carrales

[DrJbdm]

  I'm looking forward to the Texas Wing Conference, but information on it seems to be a bit hard to find just yet. Perhaps we're still a bit early for all the info. I went o the last one and felt it was pretty good.

   I have heard a rumor that I wonder if any of ya'll can answer, I have heard that starting this year all future Texas Wing Conferences are going to be held in Austin? I was told this was done because Austin was viewed as being more central for everyone in Texas Wing.  Has anyone heard anything about this?

[AlphaSigOU]

OK...y'all.

How can I register for the Texas Wing Conference in April?  Am I a bit early in looking for that?

Let me know...

Major Carrales

Last year they had NHQ do online registration, which turned out to be a Mongolian Charlie Foxtrot. Dunno what they're gonna do for '07.

[Major Carrales]

OK...y'all.

How can I register for the Texas Wing Conference in April?  Am I a bit early in looking for that?

Let me know...

Major Carrales

Last year they had NHQ do online registration, which turned out to be a Mongolian Charlie Foxtrot. Dunno what they're gonna do for '07.

Yes, in 2005 we had the Conference in Corpus Christi and some people had registered with that on line beastie.  Some people had actually registered to the Florida Wing Conference.  I guess they wanted to see what Kach was up to...

I want to register early and encourage my unit's CAP Officers to do the same.