Over the weekend the Civil Air Patrol’s 95th Composite Squadron and local cadets based in Texarkana hosted youth from Little Rock, AR, and Gladewater, TX, for training occurred at the Boy Scout’s Camp Preston Hunt. Even though the rain came these kids continued to train.
Press Release:
Over this past weekend, April 20-22, 2018, cadets and senior members of Civil Air Patrol’s 95th Composite Squadron, a locally based unit participated in a simulated search and rescue exercise. The event, also included youth from Little Rock, AR and Gladewater, TX, occurred at the Boy Scout’s Camp Preston Hunt’s using its rugged terrain as their training area, where not even Saturday night’s rain showers could deter the participants.
The training is conducted to prepare CAP members in the event of an emergency, such as, a missing aircraft, missing/injured hikers or missing person searches. CAP Cadets, youth 12 to 21 years of age; and adult member also referred to as Senior Members, train in various aspects of search and rescue
Civil Air Patrol conducts approximately two-thirds of all inland searches received by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC). This is accomplished by providing diverse aviation and ground assets that are trained to locate Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELT), Personal Locator Beacons (PLB) and missing persons. ELTs and PLBs are activated in the event of an aircraft crash, boating incident, or other incidents that may prompt automatic or manual activation of the devices.
CAP trains ground team members to use specialized equipment to locate ELTs an PLBs that may be located in diverse terrain. Even as the rain moved in on Saturday night training progressed as the ground teams, mostly made of cadets, trained using various search techniques. The Ground Teams use techniques they have learned using an Urban Direction Finder, to locate the hidden ELTs or search patterns and land navigation to locate lost and/or injured persons in the woods of Camp Preston Hunt. Once a crash site or person is found the Ground Teams must assess the health of a person and identify possible injuries, how to treat those injuries and evacuate casualties from the area.
For part of their training, Arkansas State Police Air Support Unit, landed their Bell-407 helicopter at Camp Preston Hunt. Capt. Barry Saffold and Cpl. Corey Ray, who pilot the State Police’s helicopter and other aircraft assigned to the Air Support Unit. Capt. Saffold spoke with cadets about how the State Police coordinate with organizations, like CAP in real world missions. The cadets also got to tour the aircraft and speak with the pilots about the aircraft and their experiences.
The 95th Composite Squadron is located at 55 Globe Ave. #13, Texarkana, AR, near the airport and meets every Sunday from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. The 95th will be at this coming up weekend’s Scout-o-Rama at Spring Lake Park. CAP offers youth leadership training, emergency services and opportunities to fly in CAP aircraft. Civil Air Patrol supports America’s communities with emergency response, diverse aviation and ground services, youth development, and promotion of air, space, and cyber power. For more information, www.GoCivilAirPatrol.com, or navigate to the 95th’s Facebook page,www.facebook.com/SWRAR095/