West Texas Civil Air Patrol Participates in Statewide Exercise

ODESSA - Saturday, November 15th, the West Texas Civil Air Patrol Units participated in a statewide exercise.

Odessa served as a staging area for emergency services training for Civil Air Patrol members across West Texas at the Schlemeyer Airport.

Members deployed to staging areas throughout the state to enhance their skills in performing border and other homeland security missions. It also allowed the trainees to practice managing multiple scenarios simultaneously.

Civil Air Patrol U.S. Air Force Auxiliary, Major Nicholas Roman IV, spoke to the media about the qualifications that the members gain through the training, and why it’s necessary to help prepare for missions.

"Things like looking for downed aircraft or maybe photographing critical infrastructure like dams and bridges, and things like that, searching for missing people, suspicious vehicles, whatever the job might be," Roman said.

The Civil Air Patrol currently has nearly 60,000 members volunteering their time to service, and in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs 85 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions. They’re also credited by the AFRCC with saving an average of 80 lives annually.

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 more than 26,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet programs.

- Source:  http://m.cbs7.com