Emergency Services
CAP Emergency Services conducts a variety of non-combat and benevolent missions to support homeland defense, disaster relief, and search and rescue. CAP’s search and rescue operations assist both the Air Force in locating missing civilian and military aircraft and emergency beacons (through the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center) and state and municipal authorities with local searches.
Civil Air Patrol provides aide to communities with disaster relief assistance, including aerial photography, live aerial video, aerial damage assessment, and ground teams. Some examples of CAP volunteering their Emergency Services are Hurricane Katrina, BP Gulf Oil Spill, and Superstorm Sandy. After Hurricane Katrina, CAP members contributed over ten thousand operational hours for relief efforts. CAP took to the air after the BP Gulf Oil Spill covering thousands of miles of aerial shoreline using photography to help with assessment. They also provided aerial imagery for state and federal agencies in New England following Superstorm Sandy. The first aerial photographs of Ground Zero on September 11th were provided by a CAP aircrew from the New York Wing.
In the Emergency Services Program, cadets will learn how to read a compass & map, pace count and look for clues for down aircraft. They also learn how to make a fire, set up tents, first aid techniques, CPR, hot/cold weather survival, locate ELTs (electronic locating transmtters) and much more.
If a cadet is dedicated and obtains a certain rank and additional extensive training through CAP, they can be qualified to help in real CAP search and rescue missions.
