CTWG: 103rd's Trip To the Intrepid Sea, Space and Air Museum

The 103rd at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, November 14th in NY.

"The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is one of America’s leading historic, cultural and educational institutions. Opened in 1982, the Museum has welcomed more than 10 million visitors. The Museum is centered on the aircraft carrier Intrepid (CVS-11), one of the most successful ships in US history, and now a national historic landmark and one of the most unique attractions in New York City. In 1943, Intrepid was commissioned and served proudly in World War II. She went on to serve as one of the primary recovery vessels for NASA, three tours of duty off Vietnam, and submarine surveillance in the North Atlantic during the Cold War. Today she continues her service as a premiere educational center and a monument to all who have served our nation in uniform." More here...

Kyle Johnson
CTWG Public Affairs

CTWG: CT Wing's First Archer Mission

Connecticut members are pictured spinning up Archer for the very first time at the annual USAF SAR EVAL.

Kyle Johnson
CTWG Public Affairs

CTWG: SAR EVAL Message from The Commander

The Connecticut Wing underwent the biennial graded SAR Evaluation under the watchful eyes of CAP-USAF's Northeast Liaison Region. For several years, we had a checkered history of solid Guided Training Exercises in even-numbered years, only to be followed by troublesome graded SAR Evaluations in odd-numbered years. I am pleased to report that we broke out of that seesaw pattern this year with a strongly successful performance.

Our Incident Commander was a guest star, Lt Col Rui Rodrigues of the Rhode Island Wing. I can literally say that he was sent to us by Providence, and he did a masterful job at the helm. RIWG has asked for CTWG aircraft and personnel in their own SAR event in a few weeks time, and we are glad to help. These exchanges are ushering a new era of cooperation with Rhode Island Wing akin to what we have already established with Massachusetts Wing.

Our Air Branch and Ground Branch directors expertly briefed, multitasked, prioritized, and choreographed their assets towards successul outcomes. Our aircrews, ground teams, and communications folk worked together to swiftly locate assigned objectives. Admin/Finance and Public Affairs received high praise, often punctuated by the term "the best I've seen." We completed CTWG's first ARCHER sortie, and an SDIS sortie as well.

We had four Cessna aircraft on the ramp as well as the Region's Gippsland. Cadet turnout was outstanding, enabling us to field four ground teams. Standards of safety remained high throughout the SAREval.

Well done, all!

Pete Jensen, Col, CAP
Commander
Connecticut Wing

CTWG: Final SAR EVAL Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Hartford, CT) 8 November, 2009 - The Connecticut Wing of the Civil Air Patrol combined with staff from the Rhode Island Wing, conducted a graded, multi-incident simulated training exercise this weekend. Under the watchful eyes of United States Air Force Evaluation Judges, they successfully located and secured a simulated aircraft crash site and treated its victims, as well as a simulated missing person search in a Connecticut State Park.

In addition to the missions above, they also were tasked with other unexpected and concurrent operational emergencies. They air lifted emergency medications, secured the command facility from a potential outside threat, adapted to power and communications breakdowns, treated a senior team member’s emergency heart attack, located and inspected a potential hazardous waste dump and provided updated multi-media information to the press, public and State agencies throughout the exercise. These tasks required the detailed coordination of the highly trained, unpaid, volunteer members located all throughout the state.

To simulate the severity of real life emergency stressors, all of the missions were crammed into a very tight time period involving five fully operational aircraft and over a hundred team members including base staff, pilots, observers, mission scanners, photographers and many senior members and cadets in the field. Brainard Airport in Hartford was established as the Base of Operations. Mission flights launched from Brainard and other Connecticut airfields. The ground teams deployed from the Brainard Command Base and from other squadrons throughout the state.

The senior members served on the command staff, aircraft and on the ground teams. They flew a number of different search missions, ferried packages and conducted advanced photographic and surveillance technology missions. The cadets served as both mission base security and staff assistants and made up the lions share of the ground team force deploying in Civil Air Patrol vans to search their assigned areas on foot and with the aid of electronic tracking devices. The ground teams are the members who confirm the mission objective has been reached.

CTWG: SARX EVAL Update #2

THIS IS A SIMULATED TRAINING EXERCISE. THIS IS NOT A REAL EVENT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Connecticut’s Civil Air Patrol responds to multiple incidents

November 7, 2009
(HARTFORD, CT) – Civil Air Patrol’s Connecticut Wing members launched multiple aircraft and ground teams to search for a missing Cessna 172 aircraft and a missing person in Enders State Park, Granby.

Currently CAP aircraft are searching the western part of Connecticut and north toward Albany, NY for the missing Cessna. Other aircraft have engaged the Enders Park search both to assist CAP ground crews and the Connecticut State Police. An additional aircraft has been tasked with obtaining medications that may be important to the missing person’s health.

Ground teams consisting of senior and cadet members of the Connecticut Wings 13 squadrons are on site at both locations and additional search teams are enroute.

Earlier this morning, the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center asked the CT Wing to search for a missing single engine, red Cessna 172, whose pilot and passenger departed Tweed New Haven Airport. The pilot had planned a stop over in Waterbury with a final destination of Albany NY. The aircraft did not land at Waterbury and never arrived in Albany.

Concurrently, Wing members launched both air and ground assets in support of a request from the Connecticut State Police. A women, #### ####, age 53 wearing a ski jacket and jeans and carrying a personal electronic locating transmitter was reported missing in Enders State Park, Granby.

Anyone with any knowledge of either the missing aircraft or the missing person described above is asked to call the Incident Center information line at (###) ###-####.

Additional updates throughout these missions will be posted on the Connecticut Wing Command’s Blog, www.AlwaysVigilant.blogspot.com.


THIS IS A SIMULATED TRAINING EXERCISE. THIS IS NOT A REAL EVENT

CTWG: 7 November Search & Rescue Evaluation Initial Press Release

THIS IS A SIMULATED TRAINING EXERCISE. THIS IS NOT A REAL EVENT

The following represents the actions of the CT Wing as they treat the below USAF Training exercises as if they were very real.
CTWG PA

Initial Press Release 0730hrs

Civil Air Patrol’s Connecticut members mobilize for multiple incidents, Search and Rescue efforts.

November 7, 2009
(HARTFORD, CT) – Civil Air Patrol’s Connecticut Wing members launched multiple aircraft and ground teams to search for a missing Cessna 172 aircraft and a missing person in a northern Connecticut State Park

The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center asked the CT Wing at 7:00 p.m. November 6 to search for a missing single engine, red Cessna, whose pilot and passenger departed Tweed New Haven Airport. The pilot had planned a stop over in Waterbury with a final destination of Albany NY. The aircraft did not land at Waterbury and never arrived in Albany.

Wing members, launched their air search and rescue effort at sunrise to trace the planned route of the aircraft and to monitor the airwaves for the emergency electronic locating transmitter the aircraft was equipped with. Additionally, ground search units consisting of both senior members and cadets were tasked with searching the immediate areas surrounding the airports along the pilots intended course.

At virtually the same time, Wing members launched both air and ground assets in support of a request from the Connecticut State Police. A women, ######, age 53 wearing a ski jacket and jeans and carrying a personal electronic locating transmitter was reported missing in Enders State Park, Granby.

Anyone with any knowledge of either the missing aircraft or the missing person described above is asked to call ###-###-#### immediately.

Next Press Release and Briefing: Aprox.10:00 AM
CAP/CTWG Incident Command Center

THIS IS A SIMULATED TRAINING EXERCISE. THIS IS NOT A REAL EVENT

USAF: Space Debris Challenges

11/5/2009 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The chief of U.S. Strategic Command wants better tools for protecting against threats from space debris -- an estimated 20,000 pieces of manmade material orbiting around the planet.

Gen. Kevin P. Chilton laid out what he described as his "wish list" Nov. 4, emphasizing the importance of being able to predict collisions between debris and valuable satellites.

Given the scarce number of personnel tasked with carrying out this mission, "we are decades behind where we should be, in my view," General Chilton said in a speech at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.

The collision in February of an American and Russian satellite changed an assumption underlying the use of space. General Chilton called the collision between the Iridium and Kosmos satellites the "seminal event" of the year for STRATCOM.

"The big space theory, like the big sky theory, kind of came to a close when that happened -- the thought that we wouldn't have to pay attention to the movement of every satellite up there because there's so much space up there and such a low probability that they'll run into each other," he said.

Those working in the field likely never bought into the theory that a collision was unlikely, the general said, and the event drove home the reality to those responsible for budgeting.

"It's amazing what one collision will do to the resource spigot," he said. "Once that happened, we started to see some resources start to flow in the right directions and some creative thinking going on to improve our ability to predict collisions between the 800 satellites that we care about up there that are active and the more than 20,000 pieces of total debris." More here...

USAF: New cyberspace support career field stood up Nov. 1

11/5/2009 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Air Force officials here converted more than 43,000 total force enlisted Airmen from former communications career fields to cyberspace support Nov. 1.

The new Air Force specialty is made up of three former career fields: communications-electronics, 2EXXX; knowledge operations management, 3AXXX; and communications-computer systems, 3CXXX.

The new cyberspace support career field family is 3DXXX, which is broken into 11 new Air Force specialty codes: 3D0X1, knowledge operations management; 3D0X2, cyber systems operations; 3D0X3, cyber surety; 3D0X4, computer systems programming; 3D1X1, client systems; 3D1X2, cyber transport systems; 3D1X3, RF transmission systems; 3D1X4, spectrum operations; 3D1X5, ground radar systems; 3D1X6, airfield systems; and 3D1X7, cable and antenna systems.

In addition, Air Force officials converted more than 8,800 civilian-equivalent positions. The conversions were driven by force reductions and skill-set convergences required to meet both cyberspace support and cyberspace operations missions, said Chief Master Sgt. Kevin Call, the Air Force knowledge operations management and postal career field manager. The current 33S communications officer transformation is under way and should be decided in near future, the chief added.

"Folks at Air Force personnel (A1) and the Air Force Personnel Center did a remarkable job implementing both personnel and manpower conversions," Chief Call said. "This effort was one of the largest AFSC transformations ever accomplished by these teams. At midnight Oct. 31, all personnel and manpower positions automatically converted to a primary 3DXXX AFSC path." More here...

USAF: Air Force engineers help keep Afghan roads safe for travel

Our primary goal for this mission is to make sure the cages and covers, which our contractor installed, are still properly secured the way they are supposed to be," said Capt. Rick Vermillion, an engineer assigned to the PRT and deployed from Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. "Insurgents have been using the tactic of filling the culverts, which run directly under the road, with explosives."

According to the captain, the cages have slowed the insurgents down, making it more difficult for them to complete their mission.

While on patrol, safety and security is paramount for all involved.

"We take every precaution when it comes to inspecting these ditches," said Tech. Sgt. Erik Field, the NCO in charge of quality assurance for the PRT, deployed from Ramstein Air Base, Germany. "We have to make sure there is nothing inside the culverts. We do that from a distance just in case we are being watched and they decide to detonate it."

Once the scene is secured, the engineers can get up close to the area, looking to make sure the work has been done as agreed to in the contract. They will, for instance, check to see if the contractor used the proper type of concrete. They also look for signs of tampering and to see if anything has been removed or filled. More here...

CTWG: CT Wing Conference 2009

Col Mary Feik with one happy cadet.
Maj Dill after meeting Mrs Vice.
The last 5 CT Wing Commanders.
A very mysterous Col...
(Nathan Hale Inn, UCONN, Storrs CT) 23-25, October - The Senior Officers and Cadets of Connecticut’s 700 member, Civil Air Patrol met October 23rd through 25th at the University of Connecticut to review the results of 2009’s events and plan for the upcoming challenges of 2010.

Attending hands on workshops ranging from communications and first aid certifications to the discussion of pilot specific issues in open forums, the members of Connecticut’s Air Force Auxiliary focused their attention on the critical themes of pride in self, pride in unit and most importantly, service before self.

The weekends special guests included, hero of the Pentagon’s 9/11 terror attack, Col John Davies, US Army Retired who is also a UCONN Alumni. Col Davies was the key note speaker at the evenings formal Banquet and Cadet Ball. Also in attendance, Women in Aviation, Pioneer Hall of Fame member, accomplished pilot and aerospace engineer, Col Mary Feik, the last five sequential Commanders of the Connecticut Wing, representatives of the Air Force Association, the United States Air Force, United States Army as well as other dignitaries from CAP’s National Headquarters, North East Region Command, Connecticut Wing Command and its thirteen Connecticut based squadrons.

A number of special awards were proffered upon Connecticut members including Commanders Commendations and Meritorious Service awards as well as the precious Life Saving Medal. Col Feik, personally handed out a number of awards to Connecticut cadets. Col Feik, age eighty six, currently travels the country presenting a special CAP Cadet Achievement Award named in her honor. To date, she has bestowed more than 5000 cadet awards, all in person.

Some of the CT Wings 2009 accomplishments were highlighted. These include, a nation leading rise in membership base over the last three years, from 500 to 700 members, the stand up of the States first CAP Cadet academic program at New Fairfield High School - with its membership reaching full squadron strength almost immediately, a summer cadet encampment that surpassed 100 cadet basic attendees and a ground breaking five General Billy Mitchell Awards awarded in a single evening.

On the operational mission front, Connecticut leads the nation in hours flown per aircraft including orientation flights, Long Island Sound Patrols in cooperation with the US Coast Guard and the State of Connecticut, storm damage assessment missions, Homeland Security infrastructure missions and missions in support of the Drug Enforcement Agency and other Federal and State agencies.

A special highlight of the Friday evening Commanders Reception, Colonel Jack Swift, USAF (Ret), former commander of the 103rd Fighter Wing at Bradley Field gave an in depth talk about the Air Force Association’s current activities and how these activities can support its members, CAP programs and our communities.

Public Service: Project Valour-IT, Soldiers Angels

Project Valour-IT began when Captain Charles "Chuck" Ziegenfuss was wounded by an IED while serving as commander of a tank company in Iraq in June 2005.

During his deployment he kept a blog (an online personal diary, opinion forum, or news analysis site-called a milblog or military weblog when written by a servicemember or about military subjects). Captivating writing, insightful stories of his experiences, and his self-deprecating humor won him many loyal readers. After he was wounded, his wife continued his blog, keeping his readers informed of his condition.

As he began to recover, CPT Ziegenfuss wanted to return to writing his blog, but serious hand injuries hampered his typing. When a loyal and generous reader gave him a copy of the Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred software, other readers began to realize how important such software could be to CPT Ziegenfuss' fellow wounded soldiers and started cast about for a way to get it to them.

A fellow blogger (blog author) who writes under the pseudonym FbL contacted Captain Ziegenfuss and the two realized they shared a vision of providing laptops with voice-controlled software to wounded soldiers whose injuries prevented them from operating a standard computer. FbL contacted Soldiers Angels, who offered to help develop the project, and Project Valour-IT was born.

In sharing their thoughts, CPT Ziegenfuss (now a Major) and FbL found that memories of their respective fathers were a motivating factor in their work with the project. Both continue their association with this project in memory of the great men in their lives whose fine examples taught them lasting lessons of courage and generosity.

In the years since its founding in 2005, the project has acted to meet emerging needs and its mission of supporting the the severely wounded has expanded. In addition to voice-controlled laptops, Valour-IT now helps provide active and whole-body video games such as Wii Sports, which is used to great effect in physical therapy, and personal GPS systems that help compensate for short-term memory loss and organizational/spacial challenges common in those with brain injuries.

So if the calling seizes you, hit the AF button below and start catching up!

Morale: Army & Navy opinions of the AF

The Army and Navy are having a bit o fun about the AF. How does one get even?

Current Events: Control of Iran is no longer in the mullahs hands

The Revolutionary Guards are no longer hiding their absolute, defacto control of the Iranian government.

Published: October 23, 2009
Iranian authorities arrested the wives and family members of a number of high-profile political detainees at a religious ceremony in Tehran, several reformist Web sites reported Friday.

Related:
Iran Delays Its Decision on Shipping Nuclear Fuel (October 24, 2009) The raid happened Thursday after the family members of one detainee, Shahab Tabatabee, announced on the Web site Norooz News that they were holding a prayer ceremony for his release. Mr. Tabatabee, a member of the reformist party Islamic Iran Participation Front, was sentenced to five years in prison last week.

The police raided the ceremony at a private home a few minutes after it began, according to a relative of some of the people who were arrested.

Officers arrested nearly all the guests except for several young women who were attending with infants and toddlers.

There were conflicting reports on the Web sites as to the number arrested. The relative, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said 60 people had been arrested, which would make it the largest mass arrest in recent months.

Two senior clerics, Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri and Grand Ayatollah Yousef Sanei, denounced the raid, opposition Web sites reported. At least three opposition Web sites reported the arrests, each citing witnesses.

The wife of Abdullah Ramezanzadeh, a prominent prisoner who was the government spokesman under former President Mohammad Khatami, and the wives of several former members of Parliament were among the detainees.

USAF: EB-52 Discontinued, Navy EA-18G Growler version more affordable

October 28, 2009: The U.S. Air Force has backed away from developing a new electronic warfare aircraft. Now it will rely on UAVs equipped with jammers, and electronic jamming pods on non-specialized (as jamming aircraft) warplanes. This was not the preferred approach. Last year, the air force revived a program to convert some of its B-52 heavy bombers into radar jamming aircraft. This would be done by equipping the bombers with jamming pods (that are similar in appearance to large bombs). More here...

Current Events: US and Israel reiterate to Moscow: Military option is on the table

October 31, 2009, 8:20 PM (GMT+02:00) DEBKAfile's US intelligence sources report indications of impending war preparations against Iran after Tehran's rejections of the UN-brokered proposal to ship its enriched uranium overseas for further enrichment. These sources reveal that the administration is seeking congressional authorization to open America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Furthermore, the US-Israeli joint US-Israel Juniper Cobra ballistic exercise is in full swing. Finally, US and Israel officials have been instructed to warn Moscow that the military option is still on the table if Iran's nuclear program is not halted by diplomatic means.

The US SPR which contains 727 million barrels of petroleum is only opened in time of war. Under an agreement signed with Israel in 1975, Washington undertakes to supply Israel with its fuel needs for five years in an emergency.

Word of these apparent war preparations appeared Saturday Oct. 31, the day after Iran's senior nuclear negotiator delivered a counter-proposal to the UN-brokered plan to the IAEA in Vienna which excised its main object, which was to reduce the enriched uranium stocks in hand for Iran to make a nuclear bomb.

The joint US-Israeli military exercise which ends Tuesday, Nov. 3, moved to the Tel Aviv arena last Tuesday with US forces drilling defensive action against a prospective Iranian missile attack or a seaborne strike from the Mediterranean on Israel's central conurbation.

For the last three days, Moscow has had nothing to say about the Iranian rejection of a plan which would have sent Iranian uranium to Russia for reprocessing, although Tehran previously indicated to the Kremlin that the international plan would sail through. DEBKAfile's Moscow sources regard the rebuff as Tehran's response to the suspension of Russian S-300 missile defense batteries after they had already been packed for delivery to Iran.

USAF: Training Internationally

10/28/2009 - AIR FORCE STATION AGRA, India (AFNS) -- U.S. and Indian air force officials are pleased with the positive results of all of the joint-training operations executed here during Cope India, Oct. 19 to 23.

Cope India is a United States and India airlift exercise that provides training for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations. A combined total of 25 sorties were flown on the C-17 Globemaster III and C-130 H and J Hercules during the exercise, which took place here.
Cope India is a United States and India airlift exercise that provides training for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations. A combined total of 25 sorties were flown on the C-17 Globemaster III and C-130 H and J Hercules during the exercise, which took place here. More here...