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Introduced Version Senate Resolution 49 History

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SENATE RESOLUTION 49

(By Senators Weld, Prezioso, Stollings, Boso, Beach and Plymale)

[Introduced March 22, 2017]

 

Designating March 22, 2017, as Civil Air Patrol Day in West Virginia.

Whereas, The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is the official auxiliary of the U. S. Air Force and, in 2016, was placed on equal footing as part of the Air Force’s “total force”, along with the active duty elements, the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve; and

Whereas, The West Virginia wing of CAP has 16 units throughout the state with a total of nearly 600 volunteer cadet and senior members; and

Whereas, The West Virginia wing performs vital homeland security missions that help ensure the protection of our citizens, infrastructure and the state as a whole by performing search and rescue, photographic and other homeland security-related missions and operations in support of the West Virginia Army and Air National Guard units, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and other state and local emergency and law-enforcement agencies; and

Whereas, The West Virginia wing works very closely with our state’s Army and Air National Guard units, emergency services and homeland security agencies and personnel in training for response to natural disasters, terrorist attacks as well as air and ground search and rescue operations; and

Whereas, The West Virginia wing, with its small, single-engine aircraft, vehicles and all-volunteer force, trains for and is constantly prepared to immediately respond to search, rescue, disaster relief and other emergency and homeland security missions here in West Virginia; and

Whereas, As soon as the skies cleared following the historic, devastating 2016 flooding across many West Virginia counties, the West Virginia wing immediately initiated a search and rescue mission from June 24-27, and then transitioned into two disaster relief missions on June 28, 2016, the longest of these two missions lasting a month, until July 28, 2016; and

Whereas, During these missions, more than 40 wing personnel seamlessly conducted disaster relief operations throughout the state.  On 93 air sorties, mission aircrews logged 159.3 flight hours and produced, for FEMA, the National Guard and the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, 5,982 geotagged, high resolution photos, assisting greatly in the ongoing recovery efforts, efforts that lasted for many months to come and which are still ongoing today, the wing’s photos even being used to brief the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the ongoing disaster relief operations; and

Whereas, During the mission, the onsite incident commander received the following short note from the West Virginia National Guard’s Joint Operations Center:  “Fantastic. Looking forward to more great imagery. You guys are making a big impact on ops across the spectrum. Thank you.”; and

Whereas, On the ground, mission staff ensured that the information generated from each air sortie was accurately documented, categorized, processed and sent to the appropriate emergency services agencies for their actions as soon as the wing’s aircraft landed and began refueling for the next sorties; and

Whereas, The timely tagging and coding of impact assessment photos became a high priority as the flights were of no use to anyone without the substantive information they generated; and

Whereas, The wing’s mission staff ensured that 100% of all federal, state and local disaster relief mission taskings were completely fulfilled in a timely manner, and as a result they provided the citizens of West Virginia with exemplary volunteer emergency response services during a critical, statewide disaster; and

Whereas, The most amazing fact of all is that the West Virginia wing accomplished this month-long mission at a cost to the taxpayers of less than $18,000, or less than it would have cost to fly a single Blackhawk helicopter for only three hours; and

Whereas, Another vital, yet largely unknown, mission performed by the wing is counterdrug operations, and in 2016, the West Virginia wing conducted counterdrug operations over portions of the Monongahela National Forest, spanning across five counties on behalf of the U. S. Forestry Service; and

Whereas, CAP also operates one of the most effective Drug Demand Reduction programs in the nation, assisting units at all levels to instill an aggressive, positive, drug-free attitude in CAP members, Air Force families, DoD civilians and school-age children through a comprehensive program that:  Promotes CAP as a positive community service lifestyle; encourages youth to remain in school; focuses on drug abuse awareness, education and prevention; and provides positive activities as an alternative to drugs and gang violence through programs such as the Red Ribbon Campaign; and

Whereas, The West Virginia wing endeavors to educate its cadets in the principles of cyber defense and cyber ethics through participation in CyberPatriot, a National Youth Cyber Defense Competition, which tasks teams of high school and middle school students with finding cybersecurity vulnerabilities within an IT network and hardening the system while maintaining critical services.  The wing’s teams compete for top placement within West Virginia, the Civil Air Patrol nationally or to be the top team in the nation across all service branches.  Cadets are also encouraged to pursue careers in cybersecurity with opportunities to earn scholarships and internships, helping to grow West Virginia’s technical workforce; and

Whereas, CAP provides other exceptional education and growth opportunities for youth through its nearly 26,000-member strong cadet program, celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2017, which annually provides access to top national summer flight academies to learn to fly powered and glider aircraft; state and regional youth leadership academies; as well as to approximately 30 national programs emphasizing leadership and careers in aviation; therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate:

That the Senate hereby designates March 22, 2017, as Civil Air Patrol Day in West Virginia; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Senate hereby commends the officers and cadets of the West Virginia wing of the Civil Air Patrol and extends its sincere appreciation and gratitude to them for their service; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Clerk is hereby directed to forward a copy of this resolution to the West Virginia wing of the Civil Air Patrol.

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