N.D. Wing of Civil Air Patrol recognized for excellence

The Civil Air Patrol’s North Dakota Wing was presented an award recognizing the wing and its members for its excellence in disaster relief in the North Central Region.

Each year the Air Force organization that oversees Civil Air Patrol, CAP-USAF and the Civil Air Patrol’s National Headquarters presents awards within each region for the wings with the best search and rescue, disaster relief, counterdrug and homeland security programs.

Selection of the wings receiving these awards is accomplished based on the results of required Air Force evaluations of CAP performance, the quality and quantity of training activities during the year, performance during actual missions and cooperation between the CAP wing and state and local agencies.

The North Dakota Wing was selected for recognition because of its outstanding work in the floods of 2009 and 2010.

Members of the North Dakota Wing served on the ground by supporting sandbagging operations in Fargo and other locations. They also assisted with cleanup and other disaster related assignments in locations all over the state.

The wing was also instrumental in providing high resolution digital images of the flooding to state and federal agencies including the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services. Emergency managers were able to use these images to see the level of flooding and damage in the areas devastated by the floods in near real time.

The wing also utilized the Archer Hyper-spectral Imaging System to create detailed maps and images of the flooding and damage that followed in its wake.

The award was presented to Col. Dean Reiter, North Dakota Wing commander by the CAP national commander, Maj. Gen. Amy Courter at the CAPs Annual Conference in San Diego early in September.

“The training and preparation by North Dakota Wing really paid off with all of the excellent work by the wing’s members during the state wide floods over the past few years. North Dakota Wing truly lives by the CAP motto of ‘Always Vigilant!’” said North Central Region Commander Col. Steve Kuddes.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with more than 60,000 members nationwide. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and has been credited by the AFRCC with saving more than 100 lives this fiscal year. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies.

The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the more than 25,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 68 years.

For more information on CAP, visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com.

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