STATE of the UNIT: Address

A Mid-Year Accounting of Goals and Accomplishments
By Major Joe Ely Carrales, CAP

SOUTH TEXAS – It has been a fruitful year for the Corpus Christi Composite Squadron. No such report could begin without a note of thanks to all the CAP Officers and Cadets of Texas Wing Unit 026, for none of this is possible without us being a unit that works together.

The back page of this weekly CAP Almanac contains a section that outlines our goals. The senior staff at our Squadron Holiday Banquet and Christmas party skillfully crafted these goals back in December 2006. Having direction for a unit is important…a Civil Air Patrol unit cannot operate without structure. Gone are the days of simply meeting to haphazardly talk. I will always try to provide an agenda to insure we cover all that is necessary and provide the Unit with the ability to contribute to the key elements of CAP.

The first area addressed involved operational training. During the First and Second Quarters of this year the Unit was able to deploy to all DSARex and SARex activities including a Mission Base and USAF Evaluated SARex. We have been a bit slow on qualifying all our pilots, however, this is being addressed by Capt Joe Pendergrast and Capt Bazemore, the later of which is in the process of planning aviation training in the Coastal Bend.

On the “ground side” our unit added three UDF members to the roster. In addition to that, cadets in Kingsville and Corpus Christi are getting pre-qualification training and practice in Urban Radio Direction Finding. Progress has been slow on creating Ground Team 3 personnel, however, it is hoped that the opportunity will present itself in later quarters of the year.

Other activities that we have been able to participate include 1) Attendance of the 2007 Texas Wing Conference, 2) Attendance of the 2007 Winter Encampment (Cadets Villarreal and Lozano) & the 2007 Summer Encampment (Cadets Nix, Beal and Resendez), 3) Attendance of Cadet Advisory Activities (Cadet Lozano’s Attendance of the Cadet Advisory Council) and 4) more local activities such as the Beach-to-Bay Marathon and Memorial Day Activity at the Rose Hill Cemetery in Corpus Christi. We were not able to attend the Buc Day’s Illuminated Night Parade this year; I submit we should make it a goal for 2008.

In terms of Communications, 1st Lt Mike Garmon was able to discover the location of the local repeater; it has some issues…but we are in the process of addressing repeater operations. We also have gained full control of all our COMM equipment, repaired our UDF equipment and resolved a major issue involving an old matter. 1st Lt Mike Garmon has also conducted a Basic Communications User Training, or BCUT, in Corpus Christi. Additionally, Major Paul Treptow has been instructing Cadets in Kingsville.

Public Affairs was very strong during the First Quarter in that most printed material was reinforced with guest appearances on the Eric Von Wade Radio Program and The 1440 KEYS Morning Show of the station of the same name. During the Second Quarter the focus for Public Affairs shifted to the media around Kingsville, Texas, namely the Kingsville Record and Bishop News newspaper. The Unit’s Public Affairs program also has been augmented by the addition of SM Monica Lozano as assistant Public Affairs Officer.

The over all goals of the unit, to recruit and double our membership with 100% growth is coming along nicely. In this year, we have seen important CADET growth in Kingsville, Texas and impressive additions to our Aviation personnel.

Thanks to everyone!!! SEMPER VIGILANS!!!