CAP: News of the Force Special Report

The CAP - An Outsider's Perspective
By Daniel C. Lopez, III, News of the Force-San Antonio

This past week, in San Antonio, Texas, from Sept. 3-5, the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) - America's Air Force Auxiliary - held its Annual Conference and National Board Meeting. Since I am a resident here, and NOTF's local bureau chief, I was asked to cover the story.

Before I continue, I must acknowledge the generous support and permission I received from the CAP's national commander, Maj. Gen. Amy S. Courter. She granted me access to the meeting and allowed me to see first-hand a fraction of the workings of the CAP. Without her generosity, this article would not have been possible.

My only prior knowledge of the CAP came from a former friend, Travis Lull, with whom I went to high school. He was a cadet member of the CAP in Phoenix, Ariz. Then, there are the articles which are published in News of the Force. I was informed that the editor and chief of News of the Force was getting live updates during the conference, so I chose to take a human interest angle - about the people behind the stories.

As I observed the proceedings, I thought about Thomas Jefferson’s belief that it was the duty of every American to rise up and take cause to serve the greater good.

My CAP public affairs liaison was Mr. James Tynan. He informed me that the attendance for this year's conference was over 625 members. Those in attendance ranged from the cadets (ages 12-18), many just starting out, to the senior adult members (age range 19 and beyond). Since the CAP is not a military reserve organization there are no age cut-offs for membership. Those who do leave the CAP do so when they see fit, however, they can come back if they so desire.

While attending the conference, the members were able to sit in on any of its more than 50 learning labs. These labs are designed to help refine the skills and training the members have.

With the help of Mr. Tynan, I was able to talk with several CAP members about their experiences in the Civil Air Patrol. For those who shared their stories with me - and to Jim Tynan, I say "thank you."

THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE STORY

The first member I spoke with was CAP Col. Richard Cooper. Col. Cooper is with the CAP's Washington Wing. He started out in the CAP as a cadet two years before he graduated from high school. He always loved aviation, he said, and the CAP gave him a chance to gain flight hours and achieve his pilot’s license in 1972. He was able to take his experiences from the CAP and transfer them into the U.S. military, where he served as an aviator. He left the military in 1991 and re-entered the CAP as a senior member. He felt that this was his way of giving back to the organization that helped him get to where he was. His wing focuses on a drug demand reduction program - this program is designed to help keep kids off drugs by teaching them to say "no" and showing them the dangers that come with drugs. Col. Cooper said that one of the things that adds to a member's success is strong family support.

The idea of a strong support unit sometimes leads to a legacy. That's what happened in the case of John Desmarias. He's been with the CAP for over 22 years. He started as a cadet in Rhode Island and worked his was through Phase IV of the cadet program quickly. While he was in the CAP as a cadet, his parents decided to join the CAP as well. Since his family all came from a firefighting background, they gravitated to the emergency services aspect of the CAP. When his brother was old enough to join, the entire family became a CAP legacy. He has served on ground search and rescue teams, then later on the wing/headquarters side. His father is now an officer in the CAP's Nebraska Wing. Mr. Desmarias is now working full-time at the CAP's headquarters at Maxwell AFB, Ala. He claims the CAP is what brought his family together.

But this sense of bringing people together does not stop with the families of the CAP - it reaches deep into the heart of the community. Take for example the job of Lt. Col. Jerry Leveque. He's an active duty soldier in the U.S. Army and is also a teacher in a Title I school in Houston, Texas. He brings the message and values of the CAP to his students via its cadet program. For the past seven years, his school has had the largest CAP cadet program in the region. He has a 72 percent completion rate among his cadet corps. Those who graduate high school after having been in the CAP wind up going to college and on to good careers. Col. Leveque credits the success in his program to parent involvement. Parents help with the chaperoning and fund-raising, all for the good of their children. Col. Leveque also believes in giving every cadet a chance - no matter where they are in life. Some of the cadets, he said, are too poor to travel to the competitions and events, but with the help of the community as well as the CAP, every cadet gets to go. It's important for them to see new places and meet new people, the colonel said. It's one of the lessons they will carry through into the rest of their lives, he added.

CAP Col. Edward D. Phelka is the commander of the CAP's Colorado Wing. One of the unique things about the Colorado Wing, he said, is their academy, which focuses on teaching emergency services CAP pilots how to do search and rescue missions while flying over the mountains. His wing command has 800 cadets and 1,000 adult members. Col. Phelka is also a long-time member of the CAP. He has been in for 22 years and is inspired, he said, by what the CAP is doing for the country.

The one thing that all the CAP members I talked to seem to have in common is their pride in the CAP and their wings; the sense of duty for the jobs they do for the community; and a love for the CAP.

ERIC BOE: FROM CAP CADET TO NASA ASTRONAUT

One famous member of the CAP is a NASA astronaut, Eric Boe. He's a member of the CAP who has gone far in life and is still involved in the organization as a way to give back. He still remembers being interested in aviation as a child and joining the CAP. He was able to solo in a plane as a CAP cadet, and this helped him earn fight hours towards his pilot's license. His membership in the Civil Air Patrol helped him enter the Air Force Academy, he said, and upon graduating he became an Air Force test pilot and moved to Columbus, Ga. There, he was a fighter pilot instructor.

In the back of his mind, he kept thinking about the time his parents called him into his living room to watch the Apollo moon landing. He claims that this is what got him interested in flying. After spending time as a fighter pilot instructor, he applied to NASA. Given his experience, he was accepted. He trained long and hard, and in November 2008, he was the pilot on the space shuttle Endeavour. For sixteen days he was docked with the International Space Station to help fix its solar array. At one point during the mission, he was given the task to fly around the space station itself. He says that being at NASA is like being in the CAP - it's a team working together to accomplish the mission.

Boe speaks passionately about the future of space travel and thinks that the CAP may someday play a big part in that as well. He believes that the continued exploration of space is "like Columbus finding America," and sees major commercial airlines one day offering trips into space.

Eric Boe is proof that dreams can come true, and the CAP, he said, has helped him make his possible.

MY TIME WITH THE GENERAL

Between her meetings with the National Cadet Advisory Council - the CAP's cadet "student body" that helps make policy for the rest of its cadets - and another event, CAP Maj. Gen. Amy S. Courter was gracious enough to sit down with me and share her story and her views on the future of the CAP.

Gen. Courter - like many adults who enter the Civil Air Patrol - began at the senior level. She came from a background with the law enforcement Explorers. After she graduated from a Michigan police academy, a friend of hers said, "Why not join the CAP?" The CAP has allowed her to use her knowledge of law enforcement in the CAP's emergency services ground search and rescue missions. "I completed the academy in the program, and someone told me about the CAP, where I could 'Use my emergency services skills forever!' And they have been right. Previously, I had not heard of the CAP, or I surely would have been a cadet member," the general said.

In the early years of this decade she was made the wing commander of the CAP's Michigan Wing. She feels that her experience commanding a wing helped her prepare for her position of Civil Air Patrol national commander. She said the key to any position - from cadet through commander - is listening and communication. She feels that the membership has stayed strong and is continues to grow because she and its board listen to the needs of the membership.

When she is not running the CAP, Gen. Courter has her own business management consulting firm. She brings her principles and values from the CAP to her own business. The CAP has helped her throughout her work life, she said, by teaching her to adapt and learn new jobs, and to apply the CAP's way of doing things to help make her endeavors more efficient.

Gen. Courter firmly believes that the youth and the people of America should get more involved in their communities. By helping the community, people begin to feel a sense of pride in their town - and there are several ways to help. Involvement brings growth and opens a person up to new experiences, she said.

When asked why the CAP is growing, the general said, "I would attribute it to planning carefully the long term position of the CAP, aligning the CAP with customers who have needs we can serve, assisting our members to develop themselves to grow and to be ready, and most importantly, honoring the service of our members. From this, the members build pride and find others who can help them serve their communities through the CAP."

I asked the general if it was still fun for her, even now that she is the commander of the entire CAP. She said that, for her, it is still fun, but in a different way. The position of CAP national commander has let her get out and see the differences that the CAP and it volunteer members are making in communities all across America. Her position also lets her spread the message of the CAP on a more personal level, and she gets feedback directly from its members. Under her command, the CAP has forged a great partnership wit the U.S. Air Force. It has led the CAP to forge ahead and expand its training into bold new areas, such as technology. She believes that in the future, the CAP will be right on the cutting edge with the rest of the U.S. military.

One of her greatest moments - on a personal and a professional level - was the day she went to Cape Canaveral, Fla., and witnessed the launch of Eric Boe's historic first mission into space. Her only regret, she said, was having to turn her back to the launch to pose for a publicity picture.

WHAT DID I LEARN?

Eric Boe's mission into space was an example of what one person can achieve through hard work and dedication. Like Gen. Courter in command, the regular CAP members who believe in what they are doing - and the cadets - hold the future of the organization. They come from every walk of life: young, old, rich, poor, businessmen, educators, military, home- makers - all gathered together to serve their communities in time of need and educate the young that there is another way to go. With President Obama's call to be more involved, the CAP has set the standard.

The Civil Air Patrol began in 1941 - just a week before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, propelled the United States into World War II - and it's volunteer members have continued to serve our nation - in war and in peace.

So, God's speed to the Civil Air Patrol - and it's volunteer members - who have performed their "Missions for America" for more than 68 years.