We meet every Wed night from 7 PM to 9 PM at the Walter F Duke Terminal at the St Mary’s County Regional Airport .
!!!!New SQTR page added!!!!!! Page contains links to 28 SQTRs in PDF format, these are fillable on your computer. All you need is acrobat reader to fill/print them out.
For many of us, we’ve conquered the school year only to find just one more month of freedom (cadets). For others, we’ve graduated from highschool, went out and got a job, locked in our future options of military service, college, or just plain ole work. While others, have been on extensive travel with their work or bound to their positions day in and day out (seniors). But somehow, we have bolsterd energy to show up weekly on Wednesday night, participated in SAREXs, went on actual ES Missions, or gone to encampment! ALL GOODNESS to the organization we support! So if I havent said THANK YOU, I say it here now.
Summer is upon us, with temps in the 90s and humidity on the Oh My Goodness scale. What this should mean to all of us is to remember to stay hydrated, minimize exposure to long periods in the heat and sun….and the topic of this post WATCH OUT FOR EACH OTHER.
Hurricane season is also in full swing. Units, who find themselves so wrapped as individuals with summer activity outside of CAP, were found in total chaos during Katrina and Ivan. I know because I lived it. Recently we had an accountability matter that caught my attention. We are an organization that prides ourselves in our military-like professionalism and programs to include a “rank structure”. With “rank” comes responsibility to people other than self. The accountability matter would have been resolved if the ranking members present would have taken one step…..REMEMBER THE COMMUNICATION FLOWS UP as it FLOWS DOWN. When this is applied correctly, units become more and more at the ready for any thing coming their way. Katrina and Ivan were just examples, where a unit “thought” they knew where everyone was at, but when tasked to man damage assessment crews etc, their Operations Officers, ES Officers, DCCs were completely NOT READY. Sadly, two cadets and a senior member parished in Ivan…and even worse their unit didnt know for two weeks. All while the family wondered where the beloved CAP was to come help them at their property.
Obviously, that was an extremis story but one worth sharing for the bigger importance that as we get caught in the excitement of all this activity, let’s take a minute to ask our selves “I wonder how cadet(s) is doing? I wonder if they need any help? Is there something I should be passing up line to the chain?”
Press hard, stay active, and stay Vigilant…..of ourselves, families, and fellow countryman…not just a motto but compass to steer with.
—MAJ John Harris
This year at CAP St Mary’s we are planning a series of training events to increase our readiness. We are starting right away with Prep and Fam training for UDF at last nights meeting. Saturday we will perform local UDF training to complete cadet SQTRs for UDF! This is the initial ground team requirement. To participate you must do the following in order:
1) Complete your GES
2) Print or acquire a UDF SQTR worksheet
3) Get either the Commander or Deputy commander’s approval signature on your SQTR
4) Take and complete the Prep and Fam tasks (if you missed it Wed night we can repeat it Sat)
5) Get either the Commander or Deputy Commander’s signature to continue
6) Complete each task on the SQTR (the goal for Sat 16 Mar at the terminal)
7) Participate in two missions (one of which will be Sat 16 mar)
Fill out your online SQTR using eServices so that it matches your written SQTR worksheet
9) File your written SQTR in your personnel file
10) Notify either the Ground Ops officer or the Emergency Services Officer through your chain of command.
Once you complete step 5 you are a trainee and may participate on any of our ground team missions!
Our readiness goal is to have all members at least UDF qual’d! Trust me when I say, this is an easy SQTR and you will use these skills all the time as a ground team member.
What does it get you? Potentially a Find ribbon! If we hvae a real mission (4 over the last year) and we locate an ELT or PRB a Find ribbon can be awarded!
Gotta train to win!
1st Lt John Lamb
Deputy Commander/ESO
UPDATE: Resounding success. Our Wall of Honor is complete because of a successful UNIT DAY. More to come as we get into the more active months of CAP!
COF Days will likely be on Saturday’s when we have the funding. If you are a COF Pilot, check with AIR OPS to get your availability. If you are a Cadet get with your Flight Commander to get you on the Cadet Commander’s Schedule to get your rides!
