Iowa Wing News Online
Friday, April 06, 2007
C/SMSgt Sarah Trenkamp searches for a missing ISU Studnet
Iowa Wing was requested to support the search for a missing Iowa State University Student. 19 Year old, Abel Bolanos, an ISU student from Rolling Hills, IL, was last seen leaving a party off campus early Saturday morning. Iowa CAP was requested to provide trained ground searchers, aircrews, communications personnel, and mission managers.
Iowa CAP flew low-level searches over the search area on Monday to try to identify if Abel was in some of the remote fields and forests that surround the Iowa State University Campus.
Trained CAP ground search teams canvassed fields, woods, and urban areas Monday along with the local STAR1 Search and Rescue team's trained searchers to locate signs of Abel's whereabouts. Monday afternoon CAP officers lead teams of student volunteers on a door-to-door search to canvas the area with flyers and ask residents to check the buildings on their property for him. On Tuesday the decision was made by search managers to enlist the help of the public to help search. Teams of spontaneous volunteers were sent out to search areas in detail along with trained CAP search team leaders and leaders from other trained search teams.
CAP personnel worked in the command post in the planning section and communications section to help plan and coordinate the search with other authorities. They were able to integrate seamlessly into the incident command system and help make the search as productive as possible.
"CAP worked closely with local authorities to help augment their search efforts and work together to try and locate Mr. Bolanos as quickly as possible," said Major Doug Jansen, Iowa Wing Director of Public Affairs. "Iowa Wing was activated under the Iowa Mandatory Leave of Absence Bill granting our officers and cadets the ability to leave work without prejudice."
The Mandatory Leave of Absence Law allows CAP Officers and Cadets to leave their jobs when called to duty for actual responses without fear of losing their job or having their vacation time reduced. The law was passed last year by the Iowa Legislature to help make it easier for CAP personnel to deploy for real-world emergencies when needed.
Iowa CAP responded to a similar mission this fall in Grinnell, Iowa for a missing student there, exercising the Leave of Absence Law for the first time. CAP searched alongside local officials for several days until the search was called off. The subject of that search has not been found.
