Iowa Wing News Online
Friday, August 24, 2007
Major General Dardis, the Adjutant General of Iowa (center), stops by the State Emergency Operations Center to thank CAP officers for their hard work during the flood relief efforts.
A continuous stream of storms has continue to dump rain across Iowa. The Civil Air Patrol has supported State and Local agencies during flood relief operations. The Civil Air Patrol has staffed the State Emergency Operations Center and has been tasked to fly numerous impact assessment and photo reconnaissance sorties.
CAP has flown these sorties across Iowa sending back images to officials to help them guage the situation to better prepare relief efforts.
Labels: Iowa Wing Supports Flood Relief Efforts
Friday, August 03, 2007
IOWA WING PARTICIPATES IN “IOWA FLAG” EXERCISE TO BE HELD IN NORTHWEST IOWA AUGUST 7-18
The Iowa Army and Air National Guard, various active duty units, and the Iowa Wing of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) will participate in a joint training event, Iowa Flag, August 7-18 in northwest Iowa.
Iowa’s participation in the Global War on Terror requires joint reconnaissance and combat support missions. In combat theaters of operation, Iowa Air and Army National Guard aircraft are required to track human and vehicle movement, both friendly and hostile, through urban environments, as well as on open stretches of highway and in sparsely-populated rural areas. These types of missions, and certain Close Air Support operations, require lower altitudes not currently available in Military Operating Areas (MOAs).
To train effectively and in order to support multi-faceted combat missions, Iowa Air and Army National Guard units have teamed up to launch the Iowa Flag exercise. This joint exercise will include the establishment of a temporary operating area at approximately 8,000 feet which may extend as low as 1,200 feet in a rectangular area situated in northwest Iowa. The military operating area will extend from Rockwell City, south to Carroll, west to Charter Oak, north to Ida Grove, and then west to Rockwell City. Given the temporary operating altitudes during Iowa Flag, aircraft may be visible at lower altitudes as late as midnight throughout the temporary operating area. All aircraft and vehicles participating in Iowa Flag will be clearly marked, and vehicles will have U.S. Government license plates. All personnel involved in the exercise will be in uniform.
This multi-faceted event utilizes many different military assets from fighter aircraft to ground vehicles. Here’s what Iowans may see over the course of the exercise:
1) A number of ground teams will operate in and around the Carroll, Storm Lake, and Pocahontas areas. These teams will operate a variety of vehicles, including tractor-trailers, delivery-type trucks, Humvees, various military cargo trucks, green or blue pick-up trucks, white Civil Air Patrol vehicles, plus other equipment. Personnel will operate both in town and out in the country.
2) The ground teams will utilize sophisticated optics and communications equipment, including night vision equipment, laser ranging equipment (eye safe), satellite communications systems, and Line of Sight (LOS) radio equipment
3) Small military convoys will operate on numerous roads between Cherokee and Carroll.
4) The Iowa Wing of the CAP will be flying circular and “Figure 8” search patterns over Carroll, Storm Lake and other northwest Iowa locations during the exercise. These aircraft are white, single-engine propeller aircraft (like Cessna 172s and 182s) with CAP markings in dark blue and red. These aircraft and personnel may also utilize airports in various northwest Iowa communities.
5) For the duration of the exercise, Iowa Army National Guard UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from Boone and Waterloo will be operating at the Carroll and Storm Lake airports, and near various northwest Iowa communities. These aircraft will be offloading and loading troops.
6) Iowa Air National Guard F-16 fighter aircraft from the 132nd Fighter Wing in Des Moines will be operating over much of northwest Iowa, from Carroll to the Minnesota border, and from Fort Dodge to west of Storm Lake. People may also see red flares in the sky (especially at night) that look like fireworks.
7) KC-135 tanker aircraft from the Iowa Air National Guard’s 185th Air Refueling Wing in Sioux City and other units and locations will be operating in areas from Spencer to Estherville. The tankers will be conducting refueling operations with F-16 fighter aircraft above 20,000 feet, but it may be possible to observe their missions. There might also be flares associated with the refueling operations.
8) Additional aircraft, including the RC-135, E-8 JSTARS, E-3 AWACS, and B-2 Spirit bomber may also participate but their altitude or operating orbit will make it difficult to actually see the aircraft. The B-2 bomber may be visible at a high altitude over numerous northwest Iowa communities.
Monday, May 21, 2007
On 19 May 2007 Iowa Wing was evaluated on its readiness and ability to respond to emergency situations. Iowa Wing deployed five aircrews and two ground teams to Ames, IA to participate in the exercise. Fourty five officers and cadets signed in for the exercise. The weather was sunny, but the winds picked up and by lunch aircrews had to divert to Ankeny because the wind gust and direction made it unsafe for them to land at Ames. Iowa Wing was given four emergency scenarios to respond to. Iowa Wing responded to all four taskings. The exercise was conducted within the guidelines of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the Incident Command System (ICS) was used for management.
Overall the evaluation team thought that Iowa CAP did an excellent job. The teamwork and motivation of the personnel involved was impressive. Our ability to work together to quickly get the mission done took them by surprise. Our ability to deal with the challenges they created and what mother nature dealt us were equally impressive.
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.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Photo courtesy of KCCI TV
Civil Air Patrol has joined the search effort to locate a Grinnell College student who went missing on Monday.
Paul Shuman-Moore, 19, was reported missing at 10:25 p.m. Monday but was last seen on campus at 1:23 a.m. Monday, according to a school news release.
Shuman-Moore is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs about 138 pounds. He has medium-length brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a green T-shirt, a light-colored plaid shirt and white sneakers, the release said.
Civil Air Patrol aircrews have joined a search that's being conducted on foot, on ATVs, by car, and now in the air.
Those with information are asked to call the Grinnell Police Department at 641-236-2650.
Monday, September 11, 2006
The 2006 Staff Assistance Visit (SAV) is now finished. We are almost complete with the process of moving all wing files to Wing HQ. Now we can begin the process of putting them in correct form and keeping them current for the April 2007 Compliance Inspection (CI).
I want to thank all of you who gave freely of your time to perform your Staff duties, maintain the files and records and came to HQ and participated in the SAV.
Our work is not complete, however we have completed the first phase of inspection. Squadrons are asked to cooperate with the Wing Staff as we tweak our programs and policies in preparation for the CI in April.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
This week Iowa Wing prepares for a Staff Assistance Visit (SAV). The SAV comes every three years and is an un-graded assessment by higher headquarters and/or CAP-USAF Liaison Region personnel intended to provide assistance in improving mission effectiveness.
The SAV is designed to help identify deficiencies in programs and administration to prepare for the Compliance Inspection. The SAV team is comprised of CAP-USAF Officers and CAP Region Headquarters personnel that will examine the operations of the Wing.
While the Wing receives no official “grade” for this inspection it does help the Wing prepare for the Compliance Inspection (CI) that comes 6 months from now in April. The CI is a graded inspection and the results are published throughout CAP. This inspection is more rigorous than the SAV and the grade that the Wing gets affects its ability to get more money and equipment from CAP.
The Wing Staff is working hard to ensure Iowa Wing scores high marks. It will take the support of every unit to make it that way. After the SAV a report is published to the Wing Staff to help them work to improve the quality of the Wing. The Staff will then work with the units to help improve their programs and procedures to make sure that Iowa Wing is the best Wing in the country.
So be proud of your Wing Staff and understand the burden they bear in making sure that everyone is in compliance with the CAP regs so we can support our community safely and efficiently.
Monday, August 28, 2006
One hundred and ten officers and cadets of the Iowa Wing participated in the August Drill Weekend at Camp Dodge. Officers and cadets were able to participate in either the ES Academy to get qualified in a new job, the Operations Exercise allowed crews to remain current and proficient in their jobs, and for the first time our cadets had a separate track that focused on their leadership and aerospace education if they were not a part of any of the other events.
In all we flew 38 sorties and 50 flight hours in less than two days of operations. Aircrews flew against over a dozen practice and training scenarios during the day and even had two scenarios at night.
Saturday started off with an in-briefing from the Wing Staff. Brenda Brock with the National Weather Service provided crews with a weather briefing both days. Missouri Wing pilots Maj David Plum and Capt Larry Burch flew up their Wing’s new GA-8 Airvan and flew many of our aircrews on practice sorties.
Sunday we flew a practice sortie with the US Coast Guard Auxiliary at Lake Saylorville. Two aircrews rotated in to help locate a simulated missing kayaker and lead the US Coast Guard Auxiliary’s boat to the site to look for the boater. Also on Sunday the STAR1 Search and Rescue team supported the ground teams with K-9 handlers and dogs to go out on several mock missing person searches on Camp Dodge.
If you didn’t make it to drill this month, you missed a lot. So come on out in September and see what you missed.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
This past weekend was busy with CAP Missions and activities.
Saturday at 0530 hours Iowa CAP was alerted by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center to an Emergency Locator Transmitter signal on 121.5 mHz. The Search and Rescue Satellite System (SARSAT) indicated the signal was originating west of Grimes, Iowa. Maj John Halbrook headed up the CAP response. Weather in the area did not allow for aerial search so a ground team from Central Iowa was sent to track the signal. Unfortunately the next satellite passes were negative and the ELT was not heard from again.
At 2140 hours Iowa CAP was again alerted by the AFRCC to an ELT signal. This time the SARSAT coordinates indicated it was east of Charles City. Maj Doug Jansen headed up the CAP response and launched an aircrew from Des Moines Senior Squadron and a ground team from the 78th Cadet Squadron. The next satellite passes were again negative and the crews returned to base at 0530 hours.
At 1500 hours on Sunday Iowa CAP was once again called into action by the AFRCC. SARSAT coordinates indicated the signal source was south of the Cedar Rapids Airport. A Cedar Rapids aircrew was re-tasked in air to locate the signal while a ground team from the 78th Cadet Squadron was dispatched to aid in the search. This aircrew’s Becker DF system directed them to the source on the west side of the Airport. They landed and met up with the ground team. The ground team tracked down the signal and airport authorities opened a hangar and silenced the ELT.
What a WEEKEND! This weekend was also busy with flying cadets on orientation flights. Cadet orientation flights were scheduled to be flown in Ames, Fort Dodge, and Davenport. Now that all of this flying is done several of our aircraft are in the shop for scheduled maintenance (and a break). You can get some flying in too, come out to the Drill Weekend this weekend!
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Four cadets from the 78th Cadet Squadron participated in the National Emergency Services Academy at Camp Atterbury, Indiana last week:
C/1st Lt John Sullivan
C/2d Lt Kyle Kephart
C/CMSgt Landon Jones
C/CMSgt Andy Tiemann
These cadets served in various capacities at the activity which focused on educating new ground team personnel from across the county in the latest SAR tactics.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Story County Officials alerted Iowa Civil Air Patrol to another missing person in the early hours of Friday. The individual was last seen in a trailer park Nevada, IA and disappeared without his belongings or identification late Thursday evening.
CAP aircrews from Ankeny and Cedar Rapids as well as ground team personnel from Ames, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Fort Dodge, and Red Oak were called upon to help locate the objective.
Searchers found the objective, safe and sound, Friday morning.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Iowa Civil Air Patrol crews located Mr. Michael Geyman late this afternoon after mounting a search and rescue operation. Mr. Geyman was reported missing to the Eldora Police Department by friends late Sunday evening after he did not return home after a gathering with friends. A thorough investigation into his whereabouts and activities was conducted by the Eldora Police Department. This morning Chief Twedt of the Eldora Police Department launched a Search and Rescue operation to try and locate Mr. Geyman. Chief Twedt contacted local authorities, Iowa Homeland Security, and the Iowa Civil Air Patrol for support. Fifty searchers began to comb rural Hardin County to try to locate Mr. Geyman.
Search operations continued until 3:30 pm when Mr. Geyman was located by the Iowa Civil Air Patrol in rural Hardin County near Eldora. Iowa Civil Air Patrol had deployed trained aircrews and ground search personnel to the area to help coordinate the search effort.
Mr. Geyman had perished due to injuries sustained during a motorcycle accident. This accident is now currently under investigation by the Hardin County Sheriff’s Department.
Iowa Civil Air Patrol is available to support local search operations at no cost to local authorities. CAP Personnel from Ames, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, and Fort Dodge participated in the search.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Lt Col Nick Critelli discusses what CAP can do for a packed room full of local Iowa emergency officials
The third annual Governor’s Homeland Security Conference is presently being held at the Polk County Convention Center in Des Moines. The conference brings together all of the players in the emergency service business. County and regional EMA’s, HLSEM planners and operational officers , FEMA and military personnel as well as responders meet, network and exchange ideas. It is the Iowa emergency services “think tank.” This year the Iowa Wing was invited to participate and exhibit. Attendance was estimated to be approximately 275 most of whom visited the CAP exhibit. CAP promotional material
was provided as well as instructions regarding when and how they could engage our services.
The exhibit was staffed by Col. Tomlinson, Maj. Tomlinson, Maj. Jansen and Maj. Butters.
HLSEM also gave us the opportunity to host a break-out educational seminar on Wednesday afternoon. Entitled CAP: Iowa’s Low-Slow flying Air Force attracted over 110 participants. Maj. Halbrook was able to brief them regarding when and how to engage our services and the type and nature of specialty services we can deliver. The briefing was well received and hopefully we will receive more taskings.
Iowa CAP staffed an exhibit to explain what Iowa CAP can do for local authorities during emergencies and to answer their questions
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Capt Leo Bertling Instructs A Student
Iowa Wing is supporting the Minnesota Flight Academy in Mankato, MN. Three instructors and one officer are helping to teach cadets from across the region how to fly.
Iowa Wing has dispatched three of our C-172’s and our glider to support the efforts of the academy. This week-long training will give cadets approximately 12 hours of flight instruction and ground school training.
These cadets, including 4 from Iowa, were selected this winter to attend either the powered glider tracks of the academy.
Cadets from Iowa include:
Cassie Brownell—Davenport
Dakota Foley—Burlington
Robert Morse—Burlington
Chris Oglesby—East Iowa
Good luck and fly safe!
