The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Crookston Composite Squadron will hold an Informational and Recruiting Meeting for any new potential cadets and volunteers on Sunday, June 26, at 2:00 p.m. in the back room of RBJ’s. The meeting is open to everyone ages 12 and older who is interested in volunteering to help in various programs and services around the county and country.
Civil Air Patrol Crookston Composite Squadron Commander Captain Dan Morlan calls the Civil Air Patrol one of America’s greatest secrets. The organization was founded in December 1941, one week before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, when over 150,000 citizens voiced their concerns of war coming to the United States and the defense of the American coastline. Under the jurisdiction of the Army Air Forces, the Patrol has flown over 1.5 million hours and even sank two enemy submarines, and rescued hundreds of crash survivors during the second World War. On July 1, 1946, President Harry Truman established CAP as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit federally chartered benevolent civilian corporation, which Congress passed into Public Law 557 on May 26, 1948. In October of 2000, Congress passed Public Law 106-390 to provide that the Patrol is a volunteer civilian auxiliary of the Air Force when the services are used by any department or agency in any branch of the federal government. The Patrol is responsible for conducting about 90% of all inland search and rescue tasks over the continental United States and is involved with many natural disasters or attack rescues. “We’ve got ground team units and get involved in hurricanes, floods, tornados, and even BP Oil Spill. We were there at 9/11; we had one of the only aircraft in the air,” Civil Air Patrol Squadron Commander Captain Dan Morlan explained. “We have a fleet of over 500 aircraft, full of Cessna 172 and 182s, and we operate over 900 vehicles for ground team units, and we also operate VHF and HF Communication, which is one of the largest ones in the country,” he added.
The Informational Meeting is open to all volunteers looking to join the cadet program, which is available to all kids ages 12-18 to help build the Cadet Program, and volunteers to help in the program, ages 18+. Along with being volunteers for the Program in Search and Rescue missions, the senior volunteers also work as mentors for the Cadet Program, help local educators teach about aerospace, and support the communication network. The Patrol runs three programs, the first being Cadet programs to teach the cadets how to fly air crafts and multiple forms of training for leadership, First Aid, and Cyber Security. “As far as the Cadet program goes, that’s for kids ages 12-18, and they’ll have flying and leadership training, obstacle courses, rocketry, team building, hiking, camping, and they earn ranks as they go through different levels of training. They’ll also get involved in search and rescue and that sort of thing,” he added. The second is the Aerospace Education, where adult and cadet members learn the importance of aerospace to generate interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers with astronomy, flight simulations, robotics, weather, and computer programming. The final program is Emergency Services, where the Patrol conducts inland search and rescue missions tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and other agencies, such as transporting time-sensitive medical materials, blood products, and COVID-19 vaccines when commercial resources are unavailable.
CAP Commander Morlan reported that the Patrol is entirely run by volunteers, with currently over 56,000 members spread over 1,600 units nationwide with over 21,000 cadets. “By joining Civil Air Patrol, we’re all civilians, we’re all volunteers, you’re not in the Air Force, there’s no commitment, but if you do decide to go into the Air Force, you’ll be a part of those who earn the Gen. Billy Mitchell Award then you can go in at a higher pay grade,” CAP Commander Morlan explained. “Plus, if you go into boot camp, no matter what branch of service, you already know how to drill and wear a uniform, and you’re put in charge, you won’t be stuck doing all that dirty work,” he added.” Captain Morlan also explained that the program provides for college scholarships in several disciplines, opportunities to test-fly careers in aviation, space, and technology through several summer programs, and the International Air Cadet Exchange program that allows cadets to go overseas.
The Civil Air Patrol Crookston Composite Squadron’s Informational and Recruitment Meeting will be on Sunday, June 26, in the back room of RBJ’s at 2:00 p.m. IF you are interested in joining the meeting or looking for more information about the Civil Air Patrol, you can contact Civil Air Patrol Squadron Commander Captain Dan Morlan at 218-281-3954.
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