Mark your calendars and save the date for the Group 5 SAREX!

Following this spring's wash-out, the SAREX is now scheduled for Saturday October 11, 2008. Operations will be conducted out of Mid-State airport. Check-in begins at 0700 with the safety briefing and operations commencing at 0900.

Training will be conducted for all ground team and aircrew positions.

COMMANDERS: Please send your duty rosters for this event to Ops no later than September 30.

From left to right: Group 5 Commander, Major Roy Long. Squadron 239 Cadet Commander, C/CMSgt Steven Lazar. Squadron 239 Commander, 1st Lt Rich Brnik, Jr. Former Squadron 239 Commander, Captain Justin Ogden.


At a recent meeting of Civil Air Patrol Mid-State Composite Squadron 239, a change of command ceremony took place. 1st Lt Rich Brnik, Jr., took command of Squadron 239 as Captain Justin Ogden stepped down from the position. Lt Brnik, of Grassflat, has been a member of Civil Air Patrol for 1 and a half years and prior to becoming Commander, he filled the roles of Deputy Commander, Communications Officer, and Testing Officer. Captain Ogden has stepped down due to starting a new career in Scottsdale, Arizona, as a design engineer for a Coast Guard search and rescue system called Rescue 21. Capt Ogden is the founder of Mid-State Composite Squadron 239, which formed in October 2006. CAP Group 5 Commander, Major Roy Long, assisted in the change of command ceremony.

Mid-State Composite Squadron 239 is based at Mid-State Regional Airport near Philipsburg. Weekly meetings rotate through a schedule of drill, leadership, aerospace education, moral leadership, and emergency services training.

Civil Air Patrol performs 95 percent of all inland search and rescue missions as assigned by the United States Air Force Rescue Coordination Center. These missions include missing aircraft and missing person searches. Volunteer opportunities exists for cadets, ages 12-18, and for CAP officers, age 18 and above. For more information on Civil Air Patrol please contact Lt Rich Brnik, Commander of Mid-State Composite Squadron 239, at 814-571-5866. Or visit the Mid-State 239 website at http://www.midstatecap.org.

The National Transportation Safety Board has released their probable cause for a glider crash that occurred at Centre Airpark on July 1, 2007. The report was released nearly a year later and listed the probable cause of the accident as "the pilot's inability to maintain control of the glider for undetermined reasons". The full report can be read at:

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20070718X00954&key=1

Members from Nittany Composite Squadron 338 provided crash site security following the accident.

This regulation explains general procedures for administering tests in Civil Air Patrol (CAP) and specific guidance for the HQ Air University A4/6 Education, Logistics and Communications (HQ AU A4/6) tests.

SUMMARY OF CHANGES
This revision incorporates information regarding ordering end-of-course exams from HQ AU A4/6 (formerly known as the Air Force Institute for Advanced Distributed Learning or AFIADL). Details about testing procedures for CAP members enrolled in Air Force Professional Military Education (PME) courses have been included. The term Test Administrator is substituted for Alternate Test Control Officer to align with Air Force usage. Requirements for appointment letters for the unit and wing TCOs and Test Administrators have been clarified. Details on establishing and using the “.gov” e-mail for official communication have been included. The annual Test Control Facility (TCF) revalidation process is clarified. A reminder was added for TCO’s to ensure that the course enrollment has not expired before administering a course exam. Various office symbols and sample dates have been updated.

Download the full regulation here: http://level2.cap.gov/documents/u_082503072752.pdf

From Slashdot: phobos13013 writes: "Fifty years ago yesterday, in 1958, President Eisenhower signed the United States Public Law 85-568, National Aeronautics and Space Act to create NASA. In the fifty years since its creation, NASA has made manned missions landing on the Moon, put a space station in orbit, launched numerous unmanned missions to the Moon, Mars, the solar system, and beyond, as well as launching reusable manned spacecraft in orbit. Some of the failures included the loss of two manned spacecraft and their crews as well as the loss of the Apollo 1 crew during a training mission. Although the future of the organization is in question, Americans, and the world, are looking forward to another fifty years of progress including a return trip to the Moon and an eventual manned mission to Mars."

16 July 2008


MEMORANDUM FOR ALL CAP COMMANDERS

SUBJECT: A Message on Professional Conduct at Cadet Activities

1. This December, Civil Air Patrol (CAP) will celebrate its 67th year of service to our great nation. Since CAP’s inception on 1941, our members have been willing to risk their lives to ensure the safety and welfare of our fellow citizens – some members have paid the ultimate price. Today, our organization stands proud of its long and enduring record of service to our country.

2. With summer, comes more CAP special activities – a perfect time to remind all to maintain a professional edge. Good supervision at cadet activities is the best way of ensuring the welfare and safety of our cadets. Commanders are requested to remind leaders of cadets that CAP has a zero tolerance policy concerning hazing, sexual harassment, and physical abuse, CAPR 52-10, CAP Cadet Protection Policy. This policy must be thoroughly explained to the activity staff, especially cadet staff members who are 18 years and older. Since cadets must complete Cadet Protection Program Training (CPPT) within 6 months following their 18th birthday, you must ensure they complete this training before serving on staff at any cadet activity. Please continually review the governing regulation, CAPR 52-16, Cadet Program Management, to ensure cadets and senior members alike are following our guidance on proper conduct.

3. Even momentary lapses of judgment by only a very few of our members can ruin the CAP experience for everyone touched by it. Always maintain the utmost in courtesy, professional discipline, and conduct. If you have any doubt about whether any conduct is proper, apply the CAP Core Values reasoning process: Does the conduct exemplify “Integrity,” the spirit of “Volunteerism,” “Excellence” in performance, and an attitude of mutual “Respect?” If what is going on, or is about to go on, doesn’t meet these standards, then ensure it doesn’t occur. It’s that simple. Our legacy of national service deserves no less.

4. Please take this message to heart. Thank you for all you do as devoted, respectful, and respected CAP volunteers.




AMY S. COURTER
Brigadier General, CAP
Interim National Commander


Download the original PDF here: http://gp5.pawg.cap.gov/filemgmt/visit.php?lid=20

The ENC/CLS Application process is now CLOSED. We appreciate all the inquiries but our staff is complete.

Cadets and their families are highly encouraged to REPEATEDLY check the ENC or CLS website for updates as well as the times and locations of sign-in and graduation. Due to military requirements this can change at a moment's notice. With enough advance notice, there will be specific instructions including maps available to download.

ENC: http://www.pawgenc.org
CLS: http://www.pawgcls.org

Cadets who were contacted by the Director of Administration about missing paperwork must hand carry this paperwork with them during sign-in. You will not be allowed to sign-in unless all paperwork has been completed. Please also double check that you have your CAPID!!!

The staff of ENC and CLS are looking forward to an outstanding week of training.

For the ENC Commander,
Heather Sterner, Capt, CAP
Deputy Commander
PAWG ENC 2008

15 July 2008
MEMORANDUM FOR CAP UNIT COMMANDERS (DISTRIBUTE WIDELY)
FROM: CAP/CC
SUBJECT: Clarification of CAPM 39-1, Cadet Grooming Standards

1. All cadet members must meet the grooming standards prescribed for AF-style uniforms in Attachment 2 of CAPM 39-1 whenever wearing a CAP Uniform, including CAP Distinctive Uniforms as well as USAF-style Uniforms. Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the National Commander as necessary to comply with the law.

2. When the National Board and National Executive Committee expanded uniform choices available to cadets to include uniforms previously worn only by senior members, the intention was to allow for those cadets not meeting the weight standards to have an authorized CAP uniform to wear. It was not changed to allow cadets to choose whether or not they would meet the grooming standards.

3. This clarification will be included in the next revision of CAPM 39-1.

AMY S. COURTER
Brigadier General, CAP
Interim National Commander
Maxwell AFB, AL 36112-6332

Download the original PDF policy letter at: http://level2.cap.gov/documents/2008_07_15_Cadet_Grooming_Standards.pdf

CAP members should be on alert for Internet fraud

Hackers of Vanguard site send e-mail requesting personal information
July 08, 2008

NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS -- Civil Air Patrol members making online purchases from Vanguard Industries -- vendor of CAP uniforms, insignia and numerous other items -- should be on the alert for the possibility of attempted internet fraud by someone recently hacking the company's site.

A notice posted on Vanguard's Web site today reads as follows:

In order to avoid exposure to pharming please verify if you are at vanguardmil.com. Vanguard will NOT send you e-mails requesting personal information. Please contact us at (800) 433-1334 if you have any questions or concerns.

Vanguard also stated they are pesently working with the FBI concerning this matter -- and that it remains safe for customers to conduct online business via http://vanguardmil.com. In addition, customers who placed orders this weekend and who may have been affected by the situation have been contacted via e-mail by the company.

"Pharming" refers to the hacker practice of redirecting traffic on a valid Web site to an alternate, illegitimate Web site that may appear identical. Such practices are summarized at http://www.pharming.org/index.jsp and at http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/phishing/pharming.mspx.

Vanguard learned from customers placing orders during the Fourth of July weekend that some had received a message similar to the following:

Thank you for your recent Order #XXXX-XXXXXX-XXX at Vanguard Industries, Inc.

We regret to inform you that we need further information to verify the status of the transaction that you made through your credit card number XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Please understand that this also helps to reduce the risk that any other person misuses your credit card. Anybody, who has your credit card number and expiry date, can you use your credit card on the Internet for making payment. For us, it is important to protect our customers and ourselves from fraudulent transactions.

To continue processing your order, please provide us following documents:

Front and backside of credit card that you placed this order with.
Photo-ID card (such as driver's license, passport) showing the same name & signature as the credit card.
One recent bank statement or utility bill (optional)

You can send the verification documents by replying or writing a new email to: order@vanguardmil.net.

Vanguard representatives have confirmed that such e-mails are fraudulent and stressed that the company "will never contact you requesting personal information after your order has been placed."