One of the positions authorized in CAPR20-1 is the Search and Rescue Officer
Duties of this position are:
QuoteAssists the ES officer in managing and directing search and rescue activities. They shall:
Develop SAR agreements with state emergency management officials and other CAP units, if needed.
Know CAP SAR responsibilities in areas of operation.
Develop a unit SAR force that is capable of responding to request from the appropriate Rescue Coordination Centers or other responsible agencies.
Ensure the SAR training program is adequate.
Develop operational procedures for rapid alerting and assembling of SAR task force personnel.
Coordinate wing SAR evaluations, training missions, and exercises.
So, the topic up for discussion is whether the SAR Officer position is being filled at all at the Wing or Group level. If it is filled, is the person actually doing all of this stuff? I'm not looking comments about people being put in a slot to fill space. I'm wondering about whether when a fairly active person is in this position, what they are doing with it. Frankly, I have the same curiosity about Disaster Relief Officers.
Any thoughts?
the disaster relief officer is authorized at ALL levels of command and is being used both in our squadron as well as at the wing level. As this position falls under the ES officer, most units are probably not delineating the position and the ES officer assumes the role. I can only speak for myself, but the duties of the DR/HS officer are being properly done in our squadron ;D
ES officers handle this at Wing and Squadron levels in the Wing.
So, they're not using the position at all in your wing then?
I've never seen a Wing staff fat enough to fill all the ES positions. Usually the ES officer works both the SAR and DR roles.
In MDWG we have an ES officer and 2 SAR officers. One is an Air SAR officer and one is a Ground SAR officer. It's seemed to have worked out well because we have someone on wing ES staff that is primarily concerned with one aspect of SAR and doesn't have to be a jack of all trades master of none. It's nice to know that there is a dedicated ground guy at wing level. It also is very helpful with splitting up the work and responsibilities. Approval of ground quals and normal ground stuff are handled by the ground guy and air stuff by the air guy.
In my case there was another member in the squadron interested in the ES officer position. It works out for me because the ES officer worries about air and ground stuff and I can focus on the issues with the ground team which is my area of expertise. I'm not aircrew and don't plan to go aircrew for quite a while so it's better for me in that I don't worry at all about the aircrews.
In FL Wing both of those positions are filled and both are active. I in group have members in each position and they are doing there functions quite well. In my Group I have one squadron that has each position filled and seem to be active in each of the areas
Quote from: JohnKachenmeister on June 27, 2008, 11:47:18 PM
I've never seen a Wing staff fat enough to fill all the ES positions. Usually the ES officer works both the SAR and DR roles.
In GAWG we have ES, SAR, and DR officers at the Wing level.