December 2011
December is upon us, the winds are high, and snow
is deep in the mountains of Nevada. And
while the Turkey carcass has been boiled into broth, the next round of
holidays are upon us.
December brings a host of different holiday celebrations including
Christmas, Hanukah, Ashura, Bodhi, Santa Lucia, and many other cultural
versions of a holiday. The
final day of the month of December brings us to the eve of a New Year.
It also brings December 1st.
The day the Civil Air Patrol came into being.
1941 was a turbulent year in the United States.
The entire world was at war, except us, at least officially.
There were Americans flying P-40 Warhawks in China as mercenaries
in Chennault’s Flying Tigers.
There were Americans that joined the Canadian Military to fight
against the Germans in Europe.
A great portion of American believed in isolationism and wanted
nothing to do with some other countries war.
Then came 7 December, 1941 and the attack on Pearl Harbor.
It was declared a day that will live in infamy by
President Franklin D. Roosevelt because it was a sneak attack.
But it was never meant to be that way.
The time change between Japan and a decoding error kept the
Japanese Ambassador to the United States from informing the Secretary of
State of the Declaration of War until
after the attack.
Because of military draw downs following the war to end all wars,
and the sudden shipment of US forces out of the country, the newly
formed Civil Air Patrol stepped up and became a large portion of this
countries homeland defense.
Our CAP forefathers flew those “damned little red and yellow airplanes”.
For many years following that, we were simply the
civilian search and rescue arm of the Air Force.
The next attack on US soil was a sneak attack.
It was not by a nation that declared war, it was by a group of
fanatics hiding behind religion, that is still to this day, determined
to rule the world in the name of a religion that decries it.
It matters not that you are Christian, Jewish,
Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist, or no religion at all.
It matters that you are American.
It matters that you are a member of an organization that time and
again steps up to the plate without hesitation and performs missions for
this great country. It
matters that you care enough to answer the call during the day, at
night, during holidays, and any other time that call comes.
As the Wing DO I asked you to stay ready, the call
would come again. As the
Wing Chief of Staff I asked you to be Professionals,
every day.
As the Wing Commander, I ask you to be proud, take ownership in
this organization, stay prepared, and be a professional while doing this
job every day. Please take
the time to enjoy what you have in front of you, that of families and
friends this holiday season.
Drive and fly safely.
The Nevada Wing Members are the greatest in the
Nation. And it’s their wing,
every day!
November 2011
The Nevada Wing just finished up its annual
Education Conference in Las Vegas.
It was a special conference for me as I took the reins and became
the Commander of this great Wing of volunteers.
Col Ralph Miller did an outstanding job over the past four years
and I have high marks to maintain.
It won’t be easy.
Budget cuts are tearing at our training and proficiency funding,
and flying was completely restricted until November 4th when some
restrictions were lightened.
We are still operating under continuing Congressional resolutions and
there is no end in site to how long those may continue.
It is a wonderful feeling indeed when pilots call you to ask if
they can still fly proficiency and training if they pay for it
themselves.
The conference this year had the largest number of
participants ever. We held
our first annual bowling tournament and those in attendance had a great
time!
During a meeting with the Commanders at the
conference, I took time to make certain that one major agenda item for
me is ownership. Everyone in
this wing has a stake and is entitled to tell anyone that will listen
that the statement “this is MY wing” is taking that type of ownership.
There is pride and care in ownership, and this is not a rental
wing.
I have also been told that we are setting our goals
too high, yet consistently, this wing and its squadron meets and often
exceeds those goals. We were
told that the goal for the SUI grade of Highly Successful was
impossible, that it would never be met.
Within three months two squadrons had met that goal.
We were told that a no-finding survey audit was not possible,
something was ALWAYS wrong.
We just completed a no finding Survey Audit.
Our financial house is in order; we just completed a SAV that
left the Air Force and CAP inspectors HIGHLY impressed.
They were told that our goal is a no-finding CI and we asked them
to be especially hard with us.
Our goal of a no-finding CI in March is not only possible; I’ll
start calling it likely.
The Nevada Wing Members are the greatest in the
Nation. And it’s their wing,
every day!
