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Randolph Composite Squadron Holds ES Training

CAP members follow tracking dog
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(L to R): Maj Michael Smith, Cadet Russell, C/Amn Will Garner and C/Amn Eric Barr assist Deputy Jordan with the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office in tracking a missing person. Photo Credit: 2d Lt Brent Wooters, CAP (click image to view full size)
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NC-107 does overnight training in Asheboro

By 2d Lt Brent Wooters, CAP
Randolph Composite Squadron Public Affairs Officer

5/20/2018–ASHEBORO, NC–On 4/28/2018, members of NC-107, the Randolph Composite Squadron, took part in an overnight Emergency Services (ES) training mission that was created to prepare the cadets and senior members for a real life scenario. The mission began on Saturday 04/28/2018 at 0900 hours and all available members reported to the Asheboro Regional Airport (HBI) to be briefed on the mission and training. The premise of the mission was to safely track and locate a missing person, assess the needs of the missing person when located, and extract that person to a safe environment for further evaluation as needed.
 
The selected training scenario allowed the members of NC-107 to incorporate many training objectives into the two days. Maj Robert McGlohon, the squadron's ES Officer, began the morning showing the cadets how to use a compass and how to locate points and successfully walk to and return from the points that may be used to hike in and retrieve the missing individual. C/Amn William Garner stated that, “I really liked the compass training and being able to use my imagination out in the woods to survive and create a shelter.”
 
Once the cadets were briefed and some basic elements of the ground team training was covered, the cadets loaded their 24 hour packs into the CAP van and were taken to the training location. The cadets were shown how to set up a basic shelter by Maj McGlohon and then they were off. C/TSgt Matthew Foland stated, “The fact that we had to camp out surrounded by friends and the wilderness was my favorite part.” The cadets used the equipment that they had in their 24 hour packs to create shelters from the very extravagant, such as C/Amn Eric Barr’s pop-up one man tent to C/Amn Zach Spaulding’s shelter made from a military poncho and tarp. The cadets learned the responsibility that comes with starting a fire in the wilderness and exactly how cumbersome that can be to accomplish.
 
Once each cadet had a base camp set with shelter for the evening and all the provisions needed to make it through the night, the squadron Commander, 1st Lt Melissa Smith, informed the members that today they would be joined by the K9 unit of the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office (RCSO) for a joint training exercise. Two of the Deputies of the the RCSO K9 unit set up a missing person exercise and showed the members of the 107th how the K9s track and how CAP members can help them when they are on a mission to locate a missing person. The K9s and CAP members successfully located the missing person on both of the exercises.
 
The members of the 107th spent the night in the shelters that they had crafted and got to see how an overnight training mission would be conducted. The last day of the training exercise commenced with the members having to extract a lost person from the wilderness that was unable to walk out under their own power. The cadets that had taken part on the previous first aid training days were able to assess and package the missing person for transport out of the wilderness to a safe environment.
 
The Civil Air Patrol fills a great need within the Total Force of the Air Force and to the local communities that they serve. The members of NC-107 took pride in completing this training that bolsters the Civil Air Patrol’s Vision Statement, “Civil Air Patrol, America’s Air Force Auxiliary, building the nation’s finest force of citizen volunteers performing Missions for America.”
 
The Randolph Composite Squadron meets weekly on Thursday evenings at 1900 hours at the Asheboro Regional Airport at 2224 Pilot’s View Road in Asheboro, NC.