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NC Wing Helps American Heritage Girls with Search & Rescue Training

Josh Stange teaches
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C/CMSgt Joshua Stange teaches search and rescue skills to American Heritage Girls. Photo Credit: 1st Lt Dawn Stange, CAP (click image to view full size)
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Search and rescue badge skills taught in Raleigh

5/2/2018––The American Heritage Girls (AHG) contacted the NC Wing of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) and asked us to help them learn the tasks needed to earn their Search and Rescue badge. The AHG were camping at Falls Lake in Raleigh as they worked on tasks necessary to receive this badge. 

The girls ranged in age from 5-17 years old. The younger girls were taught the importance of having a buddy and the most important items to carry in their “go packs.” We expanded on this with the elementary girls by taking them on a short hike in the woods and pretending that we were lost. We relied on their knowledge to help us to be found. These girls were very attentive and asked really good questions. We continued the training with the high schoolers by teaching them map and compass skills, how to find and purify water and a few other tasks necessary for the badge requirements. 
 
It was very difficult to find anyone qualified to teach these girls their necessary tasks on 28 April 2018, since Staff RTW Training was on the same day. C/CMSgt Joshua Stange was the only cadet present who was GTM qualified, so he did the majority of the teaching. C/CMSgt Stange did an amazing job at explaining each of the tasks and answered the many questions that the girls and their leaders had. 
 
The other CAP members who assisted with this event were Capt Ron Long from the Orange County Composite Squadron with two of his cadets C/SSgt Parks and C/A1C Hernandez, and from the Franklin County Composite Squadron were C/TSgt Nugent, C/SrA Wilkinson and C/AB Celeste Nugent who is also a member of the American Heritage Girls. 
 
When we were done, the leaders said that even they learned a lot from the lessons. The girls and their leaders were going to review all that they had learned during their evening group time. Hopefully they will put to practice what they were taught and will never become lost. 
 
Two of the high schoolers approached CAP members afterwards to learn more about Civil Air Patrol. It was a beautiful day to be outdoors and to teach these girls how to be found and how to stay found.