SPECIAL ENCAMPMENT COVERAGE

---

Cadet Change of Command in Batesville

By

1st Lt. Michael Young

 

(July 9)  The 97th Composite Squadron recently said farewell to its cadet commander.  Cadet Chief Master Sgt. Dallas Doffin relinquished his post as he prepares for college. The 2010 graduate of Southside High plans to attend West Coast Baptist College in Lancaster, Calif.

“I plan on majoring in youth ministry and minoring in music,” Doffin said. “After college, I will attend an independent Baptist church and work at the school and be a youth pastor there.”

Doffin said Civil Air Patrol has been an integral part in developing his maturity.  “I think CAP has helped me not only as a cadet, but also as a person. I learned how to act more mature, have more respect for adults and even learned more common knowledge,” he said.

 

But it wasn’t always a smooth path. “I had been in CAP for two years and then this guy joined as a senior member and we did not hit it off at all,” Doffin said. “At the time, I was the ‘class clown’ and he didn’t like that too much. I found something else to do on Monday nights so I wouldn’t have to put up with him anymore. I realized that the problem wasn’t only with him but it was also me. I realized how much I missed it, so I talked to him about it and apologized then went back to CAP. I stayed once I went back and was there for another three years. Overall, I was in it for five and a half years.”

 

“Overall, CAP gave me basic training for survival, first aid, and even how to have fun. My favorite memories of CAP were the camping trips we took to Sylamore Creek Campsite in Mountain View,” Doffin said. “We did our usual SAREX (search and rescue exercise), but after that the trip was just normally camping. I love to camp so when it came time to go, I was always super excited.”

 

 

Wing Honors Memorial Day

 

(May 31) Cadets from the 95th Composite Squadron helped Texarkana remember Memorial Day on both sides of the state line. The cadets posted the colors to half-staff to start the ceremonies at the Miller County, AR Courthouse Veteran's Memorial Site. The ceremonies featured reading of general orders establishing Decoration Day and “In Flanders Fields” as well as singing “God Bless America” along with speeches, presentations and other music. After the ceremonies closed with taps and a rifle salute, the cadet color guard lead the parade to the Korean-Vietnam Memorial in Bowie County, TX where the remembrance ceremonies continued.

 

In Monticello, Cadet Airmen Kaybriesha Lamb and Ricky Owens of the 67th raised the colors and lowered them to half-mast at a ceremony at the Drew County courthouse sponsored by the VFW and the American Legion. 

 

The 115th Composite Squadron was kept busy the entire Memorial Day weekend.  On Saturday about a dozen members planted flags on the graves of veterans at the Fayetteville National Cemetery and during the evening provided a color guard and parking attendents for a USO-style dance held at the Arkansas Air Museum on Drake Field.  Monday, a 10-man color guard carried the national and Arkansas colors with two rifles in a traditional formation, followed by the five armed service flags and another rifle for a ceremony at the national cemetery. 

 

 

Wing Descends on Fort Smith for a Busy Saturday

 

(May 22)  Today members of the Arkansas Wing traveled from throughout the state to CAP headquarters at the Fort Smith airport.  The order of the day consisted of a flight clinic, a SAR training exercise, and a Wing Commanders Call. 

 

The SAREX alone was an ambitious test of the Wing's ability to run a major mission with staff in two separate locations.  The scenario envisions an aircraft missing north of Ozark and with the Incident Command Post in Little Rock with a forward operating post in Fort Smith, from which 8 Wing aircraft and 1 ground team operated.  Unfortunately, the onset of bad weather around noon necessitated that the exercise be called off early and the aircraft directed back to their home base. 

 

While many of the aircrews were preparing their flights, ten aicraft of the the Arkansas Air National Guard's 188th Fighter Wing, landed at the airport after serving several months of combat duty in Afghanistan.  In an impromptu recognition of this happy homecoming, the CAP members lined up in front of our planes to and rendered salutes to welcome them home. 

 

 

120th Tours Whiteman AFB

By

Maj. John Brandon

 

(May 15) - Members from the 120th Composite Squadron oin Jonesboro recently were given a tour of Whiteman AFB, MO. The group was flown to Sedalia, MO in two King Air airplanes piloted by George Stem and Ed Dubar. Local businessmen graciously donated the airplanes and fuel, and after arrival in Sedalia, the group drove to Whiteman AFB and met with Jennifer Green, a Public Affairs Office at Whiteman, who coordinated the tour. The group received a briefing of the base mission and history from T/Sgt Ryan McKee of the 509th Bomb Wing.

 

The group learned that Whiteman AFB is the home of the 509th Bomb Wing, which is the only B-2 bomb wing in the U. S. Air Force. It is also the home of the Air Force Reserve’s 442nd Fighter Wing, flying A-10 Thunderbolt lls; the Army National Guard’s 1-135th Attack Battalion, flying the AH-64 Apache; and the Navy Reserve’s Maritime Expeditionary Security Division 13, which provides light, mobile, short-duration, point defense Anti-Terrorism Force Protection forces for USN ships and aircraft. CAP members learned that the 509th Bomb Wing is the group that made history on August 6, 1945, when the B-29 “ Enola Gay,” piloted by Colonel Paul w. Tibbets, Jr. dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

 

The wing is the only bomb wing in the world to have delivered a nuclear weapon. At that time, the wing was not located at Whiteman AFB, but was transferred to Whiteman in September 1990, and on December 17, 1993, the world’s most sophisticated and advanced aircraft, the B-2 Advanced Technology Bomber arrived at Whitman AFB. The B-2 first saw combat in March 1999, during NATO operations in Serbia and Kosovo, where the B-2 generated 49 sorties flown directly from Missouri to Europe and return. The missions lasted an average of 29 hours, demonstrating the global reach of the B-2. The bomber then flew missions in October 2001 leading America’s strike force in Afghanistan, hitting the first targets in the country to “kick down the door” for the air campaign that followed. In March 2003, the B-2 bombers again led a coalition air strike against the regime of Saddam Hussein. The famous “shock and awe” campaign saw unprecedented use of precision-guided munitions by the B-2 in an effort to minimize collateral damage and destroy key targets.

 

Since that day in 2003, the B-2’s forward presence has become a reality and proved that it can deliver combat airpower, any time and any place. Only 21 B-2 bombers have been built by the United States, and one crashed in Guam a few years ago. All of the rest are permanently assigned to Whiteman, and some have been deployed to Guam on temporary duty. The original cost of the B-2 exceeded $2 billion, and probably because of the importance of the aircraft, Whiteman AFB has the largest security force in the Air Force.

 

After receiving the above-mentioned briefing, CAP members were given a visual tour and briefing of the Apache AH-64 helicopter by CW2 Joshua Lee. CW2 Lee is a pilot with the 1-135th Attach Recon Battalion, and informed the group that he, too, was once a CAP Cadet. Following that, Captain Stephen Pippel, 394th Combat Training Squadron, gave a briefing and answered questions about the B-2 and the T-38 trainer. Captain Pippel is a former B-52 pilot, and is awaiting training to transition into the B-2.

 

The group also received a tour of the base tower and Radar Approach Control (Rapcon), and were allowed to observe aircraft operating in the air space around Whiteman via the scopes used by the Air traffic Controllers.

 

After the tour was concluded, the group drove back to Sedalia, ate lunch, and flew back to Jonesboro. The flight both ways were extended due to having to fly around a weather front that was producing thunderstorms. Each CAP member was very appreciative for the opportunity to receive the tour, and the experience is one they won’t soon forget.

 

 

 

	Subscribe to the Arkansas Wing  e-mail announcement list.  Get your news ASAP!
	Email:
	Arkansas Wing members only