Raleigh-Durham Area Squadrons

[PhoenixRisen]

Hi all,

Been quite some time since I've been around.

Once I turned 21 (over two years ago... yikes!), things started getting quite busy with school and work.  I've been renewing my membership as a Patron since going inactive.  I'll be relocating from San Diego to the Raleigh area with my fiancé in the coming months and was wondering if there's anyone active around here who might have some knowledge of the units in the area.  From what I can see, the Raleigh-Wake Composite Squadron would be my best bet.  I never had the chance to get too involved on the ES side when I was a Cadet, so I'm looking forward to that, as well as being able to give back to the Cadet Program.

Any input would be appreciated!

Alex

[SarDragon]

I have a friend in the Franklin County squadron, but it looks like a too long drive from Raleigh. PM me for his email if you want to check that unit out.

[LTC Don]

The Raleigh-Wake Composite Squadron indeed meets at the Raleigh-Durham Airport in the 'General Aviation Terminal', 'GAT'. It is a heavily aviation-centered unit, but also has a strong cadet program.

There is also a squadron in nearby Apex, Apex Cadet Squadron, in addition to other area squadrons as noted, Franklin County (Louisburg), Orange County (Hillsborough), and Johnston County (Smithfield).

While the wing trains heavily for Emergency Services, the reality is, there isn't much in the way of actual missions.  The wing has been heavily involved with developing the 'Ranger' program modeled on the Hawk Mountain program, and quite a few members serve on staff at Hawk. A parallel effort has been to also pick up the NASAR SARTECH II certification to increase our visibility for missing person searches, which the opportunities to respond have been slowly increasing.

NC Wing is assigned as a 'Section' with NC Emergency Management, and is codified in state law. We have two state employees who are also CAP members who work in program development and as liaison with state government. They are based at our wing headquarters in Burlington. Primarily, this also means the wing is an asset to state government for DR, and so the wing is big into the FEMA POD and CERT programs as well.

Hurricanes and flooding are our biggest natural threats so our efforts are focused to help respond accordingly, by our mandate in Federal Law. Tornadoes and to a lesser extent, forest fires are also threats.  Earthquakes, and gigantuous wildfires, not so much.


Good luck on the move, hope to see you around the wing.

[PhoenixRisen]

@SARDragon -- PM sent!  Thanks!

@LTC Don -- Thanks for the info about NCWG / RDU area!  Much appreciated!

Alex

[kwe1009]

Information about Squadrons in the area can be found at https://www.ncwgcap.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=unit.map .  Even though Ralegh-Wake and Apex are in different groups, they are actually only about a 10 minute drive from each other.  Both squadrons have a fairly large and active cadet program.  Raleigh-Wake has a large number of Seniors who work on the cadet side so if you are looking to really get involved you might have better luck at Apex.

Depending on where you will be living Franklin County, Orange County, and Johnston County squadrons may also be an option.  If you have any specific questions feel free to reach out to me.  Good luck with you move!