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 m
usic,”
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 establishi
ng
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 a
n
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.
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