Civil Air Patrol plans statewide training exercise
The Oregon wing of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) will be conducting its annual statewide training exercise, evaluated by the U.S. Air Force, on July 15, 16, and 17. The training will have an incident command post at Aurora airport, with aircrews and aircraft flying out of Aurora, Bend, and Medford airports.
The statewide search and rescue exercise (SAREX) is designed to train for, and test, the preparedness of the Oregon CAP to respond to various emergency incidents.
These emergency incidents include: air and ground searches for missing people and/or aircraft, digital photo reconnaissance, emergency medical support flights, transportation of critical supplies, and other tasks that local, state, or federal authorities may request. At this SAREX, U.S. Air Force evaluators will be providing simulated scenarios and problems for the CAP members to respond to and resolve.
While adult members of the Oregon CAP will participate in all aspects of the SAREX, in both air and ground operations, the SAREX also utilizes the CAP’s cadet members.
The cadets, who range in age from 12 to 21,will participate in much of the support operations during the SAREX. Cadets participate in communications, mission base operations, ground search operations, and flight line crew. All cadets work under the supervision of a qualified adult member.
Civil Air Patrol is the official volunteer auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, and the newest member of the U.S. Air Force’s Total Force. In its search-and-rescue capacity, CAP performs approximately 85% of in-land search missions, as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center. Approximately 75-100 people are saved each year by CAP members.
In addition to performing search-and-rescue missions, the Civil Air Patrol also performs homeland security, disaster relief, and counter drug missions, when requested to do so by local, state, and federal agencies. CAP also provides aerospace education and leadership mentoring to its cadet members.
For more information on CAP, please visit http://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/
