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Commander’s Commentary—October 2016

Col Robert J Bailey

CAP Safety Pledge

As a Civil Air Patrol member I pledge to promote an uncompromising safety environment for myself and others, and to prevent the loss of, or damage to Civil Air Patrol assets entrusted to me. I will perform all my activities in a professional and safe manner, and will hold myself accountable for my actions in all of our Missions for America.

 Members of NCWG,   

The last couple of months in NCWG have been extremely busy.  It has been the end of the Fiscal Year for us and it has shown.   

Many members of NCWG attended the National Conference in Nashville, TN.  For those who attended, I am sure you can appreciate all of the attention to this being the 75th anniversary.  We were able to attend working labs and some special awards.  You may have noticed that I was able to receive many awards on behalf of the Wing.  These reflect the tremendous efforts of our members. 

The awards presented to NCWG included the Mission Awards for Cadet Programs and Aerospace Education awards.  NCWG was included in the Air Force Northern Command/1st Air Force Commander's Award for outstanding mission work during the October 2015 Floods in SC.  Additionally, some of our members were recognized with some pretty outstanding awards as well.  These included Major Brendan Kearns as the National Finance Officer of the Year and Capt Lynne Albert and Lt Annette Hubbard receiving Balsem awards for their Public Affairs work  

While several of us were living it up in the Nashville area, back at Wing HQ, the Cadet Programs staff was supporting the first Cadet Programs Leadership Symposium.  Fifty-three personnel gathered for the event.  This included a Training Leaders of Cadets Basic and Intermediate course.  The cadets were involved in a Cadet Commanders School.    

August 20th was the NCWG Commanders Call at Wing HQ.  The Groups and Squadrons were well represented.   Thanks for all for a productive meeting.   

We ended the month with the Cadet Competition at Seymour Johnson AFB.  We had five Squadrons compete (some had members of other Squadrons supporting them as well).  Those Squadrons were: 

  • 111th Search and Rescue Squadron 

  • Boone Composite Squadron 

  • Franklin County Composite Squadron 

  • Goldsboro Composite Squadron 

  • Winston Salem Composite Squadron 

 The awards were given to: 

  • 1st Place Indoor Presentation - 111th Search and Rescue Composite Squadron 

  • 1st Place Outdoor Presentation - 111th Search and Rescue Composite Squadron 

  • 1st Place Uniform Inspection/Prep - Boone Composite Squadron 

  • 1st Place Written Exam - Boone Composite Squadron 

  • 1st Place Team Leadership Problem - 111th Search and Rescue Composite Squadron 

  • Highest Score for Written Test – C/CMSgt Mason Berger, 111th Search and Rescue Composite Squadron 

  • Impromptu Speech – C/SrA Isaac Friday, 111th Search and Rescue Composite Squadron 

  • 1st place overall - 111th Search and Rescue Composite Squadron 

On August 27th, a G1000 class was held at Wing HQ.  The class was full of members from across the Wing including three cadets. There was a great deal of question and answer which helped those of us with little to some experience to gain knowledge from those who are intimately close with the technology and how each person used the strengths of this technology.   

I was able to attend the presentation of the Ira C. Eaker award to C/Lt Col Brendan Kearns of NC-301 with Col Larry Ragland and to C/Lt Col Aiden Maxfield of NC-022 with Col Roy Douglass (retired).  Congratulations to these Cadets and to their units.  Looking forward to a Spaatz presentation to one of the Cadet Officers.   

There was a Wing Operations Meeting to be held at Wing HQ on September 3.  Unfortunately, the Wing Operations Meeting was cancelled due to weather.  The Operations staff, determined to accomplish the aircraft inspections rescheduled the inspections for visits to the Eastern and Western sides of the Wing and then followed up with an extensive and impressive Monthly Operations Call with many of the Squadron Operations Officers flying planes to the East and West  

On September 10, the monthly Wing Staff meeting was held, we covered many topics and then had break out sessions for preparation for the Corporate Inspection.  While this was profitable and necessary, we are looking to accomplish our preparation at the same time that many of the staff areas are working on their goals and events for the 2017 Fiscal Year.  Some goals had to be sorted and approved in July/August such as the 2017 Operations and Emergency Services planning and budgeting.  The staff did a great job of getting this completed and uploaded.  Other directorates have items that are still being approved.  I look forward to seeing the planning put to practice.    

Encampment seems like it was yesterday in June, however, planning has already started for the 2017 NCWG Encampment in July at the Stanly County airport.  The Encampment Commander selection boards were held on September 10.  We had three very qualified applicants.  Major Brendan Kearns was selected as the 2017 Encampment Commander.  He is working on staff and activities with the Cadet Programs Staff already.  There will be much discussion regarding this highly attended event through the Cadet Advisory Council, the Operations Staff, and of course the Cadet Programs staff. 

Pitt-Greenville submitted an article for the Wing regarding their Rocketry and Remote Controlled aircraft weekend. I recommend that you read the article when you have time.  They really put a lot of effort into this weekend and it was a big hit.   

September 24, was a very busy day in the Wing.  A couple of high visibility items included the Group II and III SAREX with the Incident Command Post being operated in RDU with many members receiving new training and others updating their qualifications.  Special thanks to Raleigh Wake Composite Squadron for hosting and to the many members who made this event a success.  While the SAREX was going hot and heavy, the Cadet Programs staff held a successful National Character day at Wing Headquarters.  Speakers such as the National Executive Officer Col Larry Ragland, and the honorable Karen Morrisette of the DOJ, among other speakers from our membership. Booth areas were occupied by Durham PD forensics and the Burlington PD K-9 team.   

This weekend, the Command Staff and Group Command staff from each Group are attending a retreat to discuss how NCWG and each Group will be implementing the National, Region, and Wing Strategic plans at the local level.  We will also be identifying needs and plans throughout the Wing.   

We have just ended our Fiscal Year, and the numbers are amazing.  We will be discussing them at the November Commanders Call in more detail. There will be some significant statistics for your Commanders to review from Cadet Programs on promotions this year.  Also, the Quality Cadet Unit award winners that were announced previously.  There will be some Professional Development discussion for all of the persons that achieved PD awards.  The list goes on and on, however, wew already have statistics in for the year showing that NCWG vehicles were driven for a total of 122,255 miles this year (our goal was 96,600 for the number of vehicles we have).  And of course we have to speak of Operations.  You flew a total of 3,887.7 hours for an average of 306.12 hours per aircraft for this past year.  Operations has this broken down by which plane flew which hours. Not one plane was flown less than the goal of 200 hours per aircraft.   

Thank you for each task accomplished, each SAREX participation, each PD course attended, and especially for so many safe meetings, safe hours flown and safe miles driven (A quick plug for Major Annechiarico and Lt Col Duemmel). 

Thanks to all of the Commanders and finance committees at each level, we had a need to get all CAPF 172’s in for the 2017 Fiscal Year by the end of September.  Each Squadron and Group had their documents to Wing to send out for Sertifi signatures by the 29th.     

Wing Conference is a big topic as we get closer to the end of the calendar year.  Our dates are February 3-5, 2017. This event will be held at the new JB Duke Hotel in Durham, NC.  We are very excited about securing dates at this state of the art facility for our event.  This property is being built by the same management that owns the Washington Duke Inn. The project officers for this event are Capt Lynne Albert as the primary since she is very close to the facility and Lt Col Frank Parker.  There will be many events held at the conference this year.   

Please keep placing your events on the Wing Calendar and check there for events that support your goals in any of the three missions of Civil Air Patrol.  As you will see October is full of opportunities already and I believe that there are many more that are not even on the Wing Calendar occurring at the Group and Squadron levels.  Thank you to all of our members for the high operation tempo that NCWG maintains in every area and at every level.  I look forward to having much more to report over the coming months.  

With appreciation and respect, 

 

 

R. JASON BAILEY, Colonel, CAP
Commander, North Carolina Wing