<![CDATA[ Dutchess County Cadet Squadron - Blog]]>Fri, 29 Dec 2023 20:19:53 -0500Weebly<![CDATA[Emergency Services in the Civil Air Patrol]]>Fri, 25 Mar 2016 16:41:08 GMThttp://dutchesscountycadetsquadron.org/blog/emergency-services-in-the-civil-air-patrolThis past Saturday, March 19th, we had a Search and Rescue Training Exercise (TRAEX) at our Southeast Group headquarters in White Plains. There were 14 members of our squadron there for training and 124 CAP members total!!!! It was a great day with a lot of wonderful training.

One of the three missions of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is Emergency Services (ES). Many people are not aware that CAP flies more than 85 percent of all federal inland search-and-rescue missions directed by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fl. Outside the continental United States, CAP supports the Joint Rescue Coordination Centers in Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Approximately 75-100 people are saved each year by CAP members.   Below are  a few of the bigger missions that CAP has been involved in.
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9-11
On the evening of the  9/11 disaster, Civil Air Patrol was tasked by FEMA and then  Governor   Pataki with an  aerial photographic mission to   document the  destruction   from above, to help ascertain the full extent of the damage.   The following afternoon, on September 12th, 2001, the CAP Cessna 172,  was one of the few aircraft in the air that afternoon in all of America.

Air patrolmen recall post-9/11 mission
CAP a decade after 9/11

Steve Fossett
When millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett and his airplane went missing in Nevada on September 3, 2007, it was the Civil Air Patrol that led the search for him.    CAP  launched sorties from command centers in Minden, Nevada, and Bishop, California, primarily in Cessna 172s, 182s, and 206s and Gippsland Airvan.  They flew their search over five states; Nevada, California, Oregon, Utah, and Colorado.  Search teams ultimately scoured 30,000 square nautical miles  of some of the most rugged terrain in North America.  Despite a month of searches by the  Civil Air Patrol   and others, Fossett was not found and the search by CAP was called off on October 2, 2007. 

 The search presented a severe challenge from the standpoint of safely flying hundreds of hours in very difficult conditions.  By the fourth day, the CAP was using fourteen aircraft in the search effort, including one equipped with the ARCHER  system that could automatically scan detailed imaging for a given signature of the missing aircraft.     By September 10, search crews had found eight previously uncharted crash sites,  some of which were decades old .   All told, about two dozen aircraft were involved in the massive search, operating from the primary search base at Minden, Nevada, with a secondary search base located at Bishop, California. CAP searchers came from Wings across the United States, including Nevada, Utah, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas.

The Search for Steve Fossett   -  One tough job for the U.S. Civil Air Patrol.
Wikipedia - Steve Fossett

John F. Kennedy Jr.
At least 15 CAP pilots, from  five Wings - Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey,  and New York,  were searching along the coastline in small, single-engine planes. They were being coordinated in their search by an Air National Guard crew flying over the area in a larger HC-130 airplane.
John F. Kennedy, Jr.'s plane reported missing






​]]><![CDATA[Placing American flags on veteran's graves]]>Fri, 13 Nov 2015 04:20:56 GMThttp://dutchesscountycadetsquadron.org/blog/placing-american-flags-on-veterans-gravesThis past  Saturday, November 7th,  members of our squadron joined the Independence Belles at the Beekman Cemetery in Poughquag to place American flags on veteran's graves before Veteran's Day.  As is mentioned in the thank you note from the Independence Belles, it was wonderful to see the respect that our cadets showed while they did this.    Below is the note of thanks that she sent to our squadron.

Dear Captain Tartter,
I want to thank you on behalf of Independence Belles for sending the Cadets to help us replace the flags at the Beekman Cemetery. It is such a moving ceremony and the Cadets showed so much respect for our veterans on this day. They even found two more veteran's graves of past wars. They came so prepared in their neat uniforms and took time to salute each grave as the older flags were replaced. You are doing such a great job with these young men and I am sure, that in the future, they will continue their allegiance with our country.
Respectfully ,
Jacqueline Prusak,  Secretary for the Independence Belles ]]><![CDATA[Thank You for a Successful Clothing Drive]]>Sun, 04 Oct 2015 21:24:32 GMThttp://dutchesscountycadetsquadron.org/blog/thank-you-for-a-successful-clothing-driveHello Everyone,

 Our clothing drive was a great success! The totals are in and we collected a total of 4,048 pounds of clothing and "stuff"; from that we will be receiving a check for $688.16 for the squadron. Wow! The money will go towards the squadron's "wish list"of items that will help the cadets. 

 A very big "THANK YOU" goes to all the cadets, parents and senior members who gave up several hours of their Saturdays to help take donations, load the trucks (and SUV's), transfer bags to the storage units, help set up and take down the tent and banners, and much more. Without everyone's help, I couldn't have run a clothing drive. You all did such a great job, especially the cadets, who worked tirelessly throughout the day. The following is a list of everyone who came and helped out over the three Saturdays - some of you came more than one weekend. We are also very appreciative of those who helped us advertise and get the word out.

Parents and Senior Members:
  1. Capt Sunshine Tartter
  2. 2d Lt Sue Kline
  3. 2d Lt Alice Kobylack
  4. Mrs. Roeten
  5. Mrs. Rifenberger
  6. Mrs. Takacs
  7. Mrs. Baker
  8. Mrs. Roman



Cadets:
  1. C/Lt Col. Nathaniel Tartter
  2. C/Maj Eric King
  3. C/2d Lt Nick Kulbaski
  4. C/SMSgt Jacob Baker
  5. C/SSgt Alex Alvarez
  6. C/SrA Esther Roman
  7. C/A1C Emma Baker
  8. C/A1C Ian Rifenberger
  9. C/A1C Daniel Roeten
  10. C/Amn Ryan Seaman
  11. C/AB Emily Wilson
  12. C/AB Caleb Verdu
I would also like to thank CAP families who came and dropped off huge loads of donations - the Tartter family, the Nusimow family, the Smalls family, the Roetens, the Baker family, the Takacs family, the Bairan family, the Klines, the Romans and the Seaman family. Please forgive me if you donated and I haven't listed you; anyone who gave us donations gets a big thank you! 

We also want to thank Mr. Richard DeWitt, Property Manager for Guardian Self-Storage in Wappingers Falls for his generosity and unfailing willingness to help us get the clothing drive off the ground. And a big thank-you to Mr. DeWitt's assistant Christine for helping us out on the last weekend. They are terrific people and look forward to hopefully working with them for the next clothing drive.

Great job everyone!!  We are already thinking about another drive for next Spring so keep that in mind when you clean out your closets. Have a nice evening.


2d Lt Liisa Kulbaski
Public Affairs Officer

]]><![CDATA[Clothing Drive very successful so far]]>Mon, 21 Sep 2015 17:50:12 GMThttp://dutchesscountycadetsquadron.org/blog/clothing-drive-very-successful-so-farWe had great success  at the second Saturday of our clothing drive. We are up to  175 bags!! That means we collected a total of 106 bags of clothing in one day. How exciting! Mrs. Reifenberger made signs for us as well as CAP decals which worked out really well - thank you Mrs. Reifenberger. Then Mrs.Takacs came with her trusty pick-up truck loaded with bags first thing in the morning - that gave us a jump-start and we made several runs during the day with the truck so we were glad to have it; again thank you Mrs. Takacs. Please keep the donations coming and tell everyone you know that we will take their unwanted stuff off their hands. Again, I will attach the flyers so you can print them off and hand them out, post online or whatever you need to do to get the word out. I am confident we will exceed our minimum requirement of 200 bags needed for pick-up. I will touch base with everyone towards the end of the week with a list of volunteers for Saturday, 9/26, which will be the final day of the drive and also the pick-up day. 

Thank you to Captain Sunshine Tartter, 2d Lt Alice Kobylack, Mrs. Cindy Reifenberger, Mrs. Dawn Takacs, Mrs. Heidi Roman, C/Lt Col Nathaniel Tartter, C/Maj Eric King, C/2d Lt Nick Kulbaski, C/SSgt Alex Alvarez, C/SrA Esther Roman, C/A1C Ian Reifenberger, C/Amn Ryan Seaman, C/AB Emily Wilson, the Baker family, the Nusimow family, the Kulkarni family and the Roeten family. Also, thank you to Mr. DeWitt, property manager for Guardian Self Storage who has been so generous with us, collecting donations during the week and advertising the clothing drive for us on Facebook. We also had a brand-new cadet joining us for a little while on Saturday, C/AB Caleb Verdu; thank you Cadet Verdu for helping out.  Please forgive me if I have forgotten anyone - I thoroughly appreciated everyone's help!

Have a great week everyone and keep cleaning out your closets, basements, garages and attics; we have one week left to fill up the storage unit!

2d  Lt Liisa Kulbaski, CAP
POA  Officer

]]><![CDATA[Clothing Drive]]>Sat, 12 Sep 2015 03:53:52 GMThttp://dutchesscountycadetsquadron.org/blog/clothing-driveOur First Clothing Drive Fundraiser
We are excited  about this fundraiser.   This  is the result of a suggestion from a mom at a Parent Committee meeting last winter and it is finally happening over the next three Saturdays.  We are so very thankful to Guardian Self Storage for  donating a storage unit to store the collected items until they are picked up and for allowing us to use their location on Route 376 as our collection point.  They even put our flyer on their Facebook page.     THANK YOU Guardian Self Storage!!
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