Nine members of the Wicomico Composite Squadron recently participated in a weekend bivouac and field training exercise on 18-19 May. Airmen were instructed and reviewed all the tasks necessary to earn the CAP Ground Team Member and Urban Direction Finding emergency services ratings. Topics included wilderness survival, attraction and search / electronic beacon locating techniques, basic first aid, compass and map use, a two mile, full-pack march, and night navigation exercises.  

Participants included Squadron Commander Capt David Argentieri, Deputy Commander for Cadets 1st Lt Zachary Mitchell, and Cadets Joshua Caldwell, Andrew Crowley, Matthew Lindsey, Kevin Rumbley, Josiah Sansone, Nicholas Sumner and Kenneth Wyatt Jr.

						Mission accomplished! Go Civil Air Patrol

Lt Col Ric Trimillos, USAF and MSgt Bryan McCoy, USAF, of the 314 Air Force Recruiting Squadron, made a presentation and update to the squadron members describing the challenges and rewards of serving in the U. S. Air Force.   Both are career members of the CAP's parent organization and emphasized that the training received by the cadets provided an excellent foundation for later military service as well as any civilian occupation chosen.   Highlights of their varied assignments provided examples of the opportunities available.  The "team concept" of the USAF and the CAP was a consistent theme throughout the evening.

Accompanying Lt Trimillos and MSgt McCoy were two USAF recruits scheduled to report to active duty in the near future as well as an airman recently graduated from basic training and awaiting a new assignment.  Questions were asked of these visitors by the cadets with a productive and informative exchange resulting.  Parents were also present and were included in the question and answer session that followed. 

Cadet Chief Master Sergeant Brandon R. Fleming recently received the Cadet Information Technology Officer (Technician) specialty designation and badge from the Wicomico Composite Squadron Commander Captain David Argentieri.  He earned this award, one of only a few senior member specialties available to CAP cadets, after completing a rigorous schedule of study and information technology assignments.

In additional to his ongoing duties to monitor and maintain all cadet email addresses for the distribution of timely squadron communications to the cadets, Cadet Fleming demonstrated knowledge of applicable CAP internet, security and specialty track issuances and regulations. 

Demonstrating a thorough knowledge of the squadron, wing and national websites, Cadet Fleming presented a tutorial and demonstration to the squadron membership and parents, of select portions to insure knowledgeable use of these resources.  Additionally he mentors new members in the use of the CAP’s on-line systems.

Cadet Fleming assists the squadron’s senior Information Technology Officer/Webmaster in maintaining the quality and currency of the squadron website.  He also participates in the routine maintenance of security software on the squadron‘s computers including completing the associated documentation.

Cadet Chief Master Sergeant Fleming will graduate in May from the Broadwater Academy in Exmore, VA. He has been on the honor roll for three years and was named All Conference as a cross country runner wining the Metro Conference championship and MPV honor.  He will enter the Virginian Military Institute in the Fall of 2012 with the goal of being commissioned in the U. S. Air Force or U. S Army.

C/SMSgt Brandon Fleming, C/SSgt Matthew Truitt and C/TSgt Kevin Rumbley were promoted to their new ranks in a ceremony conducted by Wicomico's Deputy Commander for Cadets, 1st Lt Zachary Mitchell.  C/SSgt Truitt also received the Wright Brothers Award.  Assisting Lt Mitchell was C/Lt Ryan Murray.

The newly promoted cadets as well as the other squadron members were inspired by comments from CAP alumni Corporal Daniel Nicholson, USMC.  He shared how his positive experience in the CAP prepared him for a military career.  Corporal Nicholson, recently returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan, served as a cadet in the Wicomico Composite Squadron for many years achieving the rank of cadet captain.  He continues to support the squadron and cadet program when home on leave from his current duty assignment with the Second Marine Division at Camp Lejune, NC.


             Lt Mitchell and Cadets Rumbley and Murray                                 Corporal Nicholoson, USMC, Lt Mitchell and Cadets Fleming and Truitt

Selected photo credits:  C/Sgt Truitt

On 01 December 2011, Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, observed 70 years of vigilant service. But the celebration won’t be complete until CAP’s earliest members – now in their eighties and nineties – are “rightly honored” with the Congressional Gold Medal.  (Pictured at left prepared for a mission.)

CAP, an all-volunteer service of more than 61,000 members, was founded 70 years ago on Dec. 1, 1941, less than a week before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor led to America’s involvement in World War II. Known at the time as the Coastal Patrol, members soon proved their worth by conducting aerial missions at the request of the Office of Civilian Defense, displaying heroism that discouraged and eventually stopped deadly German U-boat attacks on supply ships leaving American ports headed to support the Allied war effort.

The “subchasers” flew at great personal risk. In all, 90 CAP planes were forced to ditch at sea. Of the 59 CAP pilots killed during World War II, 26 were lost while on Coastal Patrol duty and seven others were seriously injured while carrying out the missions. Their wartime service was highly unusual because they were civilian volunteers flying combat missions in their own aircraft at a time when the military could not adequately respond the U-boat threat. The military decided to arm their aircraft soon after the patrols began and, all told, they sank or damaged two or more submarines and attacked 57.

Legislation has been introduced and is pending in both houses of the U.S. Congress, H.R. 719 and S. 418, that would award CAP a Congressional Gold Medal for its World War II service. It will be a diminished victory, however, if none of the World War II-era CAP members are alive to see this law’s passage.

“These members from our earliest days as an organization helped save lives and preserve our nation’s freedom,” said Maj. Gen. Chuck Carr, CAP’s national commander. “They were truly unsung heroes of the war, using their small private aircraft to search for enemy submarines close to America’s shores, towing targets for military practice, transporting critical supplies within the country and conducting general airborne reconnaissance. They provided selfless service, without fanfare, in defense of their homeland.”   To see General Carr's letter to the CAP members, go to the bottom of the page.

Time, instead of a German submarine, is now the enemy of the roughly 60,000 CAP volunteers from World War II. Only a few hundred of them are still alive today.  “Each week, each month, others are lost,” said Carr.  “We want to make sure those who remain, and those who have passed, are rightly honored for their great service to America.”These early CAP heroes included men like 94-year-old Charles Compton, the father of ABC News Radio White House correspondent Ann Compton. He was in his early 20s when he left dual jobs in Chicago — one as an advertising salesman for the Daily News, the other working in a plant that manufactured aircraft parts — to go to the East Coast as a CAP citizen volunteer based on “a desire to be more actively engaged in the war effort.” There he was part of the flight staff of Coastal Patrol Base 1 in Atlantic City, N.J., flying missions to search for enemy submarines or to provide an escort for American convoys as they sailed along the Eastern Seaboard.

During the war, CAP operated 21 such units up and down the Eastern Seaboard and into the Gulf of Mexico. The duty was dangerous, Charles Compton recalled. “There was nothing like GPS,” he said, as he told about using partially sunken American merchant ships, which were plentiful, as a navigational tool.

Wylie Apte Sr., who died in 1970, was a seasoned pilot, having flown with the Army Air Corps during World War I and later owning and operating White Mountain Airport in North Conway, N.H. As a CAP member, Apte was assigned to a unit of the Coastal Patrol based in Portland, Maine, to search for enemy subs off the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

Flying his own Waco YKS-7 biplane, Apte trailed an antenna, longer than 100 yards, for communication back to his land base, which would in turn be used to notify the military to dispatch fighters and bombers in the event a sub was spotted.

Propelled by duty and love of country, Joseph W. Leonard joined CAP the day it was established, six days before Pearl Harbor. Leonard, who remained a CAP member until his death in March of this year, was a member of the Pennsylvania Wing’s Chester Squadron. He flew out of Coastal Patrol Base 2 at Rehoboth Beach, Del. Base 2 was populated by such CAP heroes as Eddie Edwards, who received the first Air Medal of World War II from President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his daring all-night rescue of a downed CAP pilot from the Atlantic waters.

In a journal he left behind, Leonard wrote: “On my day off I was in the habit of going surfing. There I had a close encounter with a torpedo that was fired at a convoy a few miles offshore and missed. I was about a half mile beyond the breakers, watching a convoy heading north. I was focusing on the ships and didn’t notice the bubble trail approaching me until it was pretty close. I rolled the surfboard to one side, and the German torpedo slid by me.”

To support CAP’s Congressional Gold Medal legislation, contact federal legislators, both senators and representatives, and ask them to cosponsor H.R. 719 and S. 418. In both houses, two-thirds of the membership must sponsor a bill before it can be brought up for a vote. Sample letters and other details, including a list of current cosponsors, are available at www.capmembers.com/goldmedal.

Meanwhile, anyone with information on adult CAP members who served the organization during World War II is encouraged to upload their information into the World War II Congressional Gold Medal database at www.capmembers.com/goldmedal.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with more than 61,000 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 was credited by the AFRCC with saving 54 lives in fiscal year 2011. Its unpaid professionals 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 nearly 27,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 70 years. It is a major partner of Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans. Visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com or www.capvolunteernow.com for more information on CAP.

Source:  28 November 2011 Press Release from the Civil Air Patrol National Headquarters' Public Affairs Office, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama

With retired Lt Col Melvin Smullen, USA (ret.), the American Legion Commander for Maryland, as the keynote speaker, members of local veterans organizations and community members gathered to observe Veterans Day 2011.  The ceremony and service, sponsored by the Southeastern Shore District of the American Legion, was held at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Hebron, MD where the local Four Chaplains Memorial is permanently located. 

Wicomico Composite Squadron was again invited to participate by providing logistic services, program distribution and assistance to those attending the outdoor event.  Representing Wicomico were the squadron commander, Capt David Argentieri, Capt Mollie Harrison, 1st Lt Zach Mitchell, Lt Col George Murray and Cadet Matthew Truitt (shown on the left meeting Commander Smullen). 

 Left to right:  American Legion Southeastern Shore District Chaplain Russ Franklin; Wicomico Composite Squadron Senior Members (Harrison, Argentieri, Mitchell, Murray); American Legion Dor-Wic Post 218 Color Guard.
Click on photo to enlarge.

During the 2011 Summer, two Senior members of the Wicomico Composite Squadron participated in and served on the staff of two national activities.  Capt David Argentieri, Squadron Commander and Lt Col Kenneth Thom were present at the Air Force Space Command Familiarization course and the 2011 AirVenture, respectively.

With the Boy Scouts of America observing their "Youth Protection" theme during April, Boy Scout Troop 185 of  Salisbury's St. Francis de Sales Roman Catholic Church, invited the Wicomico Composite Squadron cadets to talk about the CAP program with particular attention to their training and experience in search and rescue operations.  Of interest were the steps a scout may take do to facilitate being "found" if "lost."  Additionally, the squadron members reviewed the troop color guard offering advice and guidance in executing their duties.

Under the leadership of Capt Mollie Harrison, squadron recruiting and retention officer, and 1st Lt Zach Mitchell, Deputy Commander of Cadets, seven cadets participated:  Gary Austin, Noah Austin, Christian Duke, Brent Horner, Nick Moore, Ryan Murray and Kevin Rumbley.  After a  general CAP overview with special  attention to the cadet program by Capt Harrison and Lt Mitchell, the topics covered were: Color guard (Moore), physical training (Noah Austin), training and promotion opportunities (Gary Austin), search and  rescue operations (Murray), model rocketry (Horner), aerospace education (Duke) and Character Development (Rumbley).  In the course of the presentation the role of the CAP Ground Team, "24 hour" equipment, encampment, promotion requirements, uniforms and other topics were covered.  At the end of the program the cadets were asked why they joined the CAP and continue as active members.  CAP brochures with contact information were distributed.

Fourteen scouts attended with their Troop Leader, Mr. Thomas Taylor.  After the meeting Mr. Taylor commented on the pride and discipline the CAP "team" showed and their confidence in responding to questions.  His concluding remark was "Thanks to Capt Harrison and Lt Mitchell and to the cadets for sharing their time with us."