What Makes a Great Man?

DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas – As a new staff officer in Group III, I met Judge Robert Decatur at a nearly private dinner in a small Dallas restaurant. Many Group III staff members were there. It must have been the winter of 2006. Those present paid particular attention to a well-dressed, no-longer-young black man who handled the crowd with ease. His voice impressed me. He was calm, respectful, self assured, courteous, and every now and then found something humorous in the routine of meeting, greeting, and handshaking. He never raised his voice. These are qualities seldom found in the same person. When I was introduced to him, he looked at me with kind, wise eyes. He smiled and shook my hand without affectation. A firm but not crushing grip. A few words of polite conversation made me sense a vast personality behind these expected motions of formal though friendly social exchange.

I also sensed suffering, patience, and tolerance. His name hadn't meant much to me, but I noticed right away that the man was charismatic. He carried the weight of years, position, and standing upon his shoulders, wearing these burdens with apparent ease. Accustomed to being respected, he respected everyone around him. "He's a Tuskegee Airman," someone told me. Years before, I had watched the movie made about them, their war exploits, and the plight of their isolation from the other (white) servicemen, but of course the real subjects had been depicted in their youth. The man before me was 61 years older than those Airmen I had seen re-created on the screen.

Intrigued, I read up on the Tuskegee Airmen, learning much about them. They had done more than their share, and received nearly no recognition. They gave all they had, for little or no reward. Those were America's shameful days of segregation.

Later, the memory of that meeting still fresh in my mind, I heard him speak to a CAP audience. The movie had been screened, the lights were turned back on, and Judge Decatur walked up to the front, chatting to the audience as he moved. A consummate public speaker, he sketched the bigotry and injustice of the Airmen's treatment after the Second World War had ended. He didn't dwell on his efforts to educate himself, his Law career, his accession to the Bench, his honorable retirement. He simply spoke in measured words about the sacrifice of the war years, of those who had not returned, of the coldness and loneliness of isolation, an averted glance, a sneer half-disguised but meant. He then repeated his plea. Two words that, out of his mouth, emerged as one, repeated into a unique litany, "Thankyou... thankyou... thankyou..." It wasn't that he was thanking anyone in particular. He was simply asking for the right thing. It was a prayer of hope, a simple request for recognition, dignity, human warmth from a Nation he and others like him had defended in time of war, doing so with honor and success, actions in which a good number of them had died.

Later yet, Col. André Davis, the Southwest Region Vice-commander (East), asked me to cover for Southwest Region a double celebration. Youth Day at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Addison, Texas, an event sponsored by the Tuskegee Airmen, and a banquet on the occasion of the Tuskegee Airmen having received the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, an occasion reported on an earlier issue of this Newsletter. Of course, I accepted with pleasure. To my disappointment, however, Judge Decatur wasn't among them. I met many other Tuskegee Airmen, all wonderful, noteworthy, vibrantly alive, many highly successful. Small wonder about that last characteristic, since the Army had selected brilliant college students for "The Tuskegee Airmen Experiment."

Having met Judge Decatur in private and heard him speak in public, I had witnessed two sides of the man's personality. He had moved me deeply and I felt his absence, since I had wanted to speak with him again. But that was not to be. On Wednesday, 16 August 2009, Judge Robert Decatur, surviving Tuskegee Airman, age 88, died of natural causes at his home in Florida. His life may have come to an end, but not his work. He pioneered equality, not only for blacks but for anyone who is different. The charismatic man I had met in 2006 had practiced his speech and plea for many years, eventually paving the way for real equal rights. In fact, the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor had been awarded for a collective lifetime spent contributing to the Nation.

I Googled "Robert Decatur" and, up front, got two pages' full of notices, obituaries and write-ups. Does this make him a great man? The same search popped a Twitter group devoted to his memory, with many postings. Does this make him a great man? He retired from his position as appellate judge covered in honors. Does this make him a great man?

There are many, I included, who shed a tear for him. Also, I wished him a good and faithful flight, through clear and untroubled air.

That's the greatness I would wish for myself.

Maj. Arthur E. Woodgate, CAP, Editor

Duty and Teamwork

Lt. Col. Owen Younger, CAP, Commander

Texas Wing Tops SWR Mission Awards

OPSEC and Social Networking

TYNDALL AFB, Fla. – Maj. Gen. Hank Morrow, 1st Air Force (Air Forces Northern) commander, has written a concise guide to safely straddling the worlds of Operational Security and Social Media. It is easy to establish online friendships believing the other person to be friendly, when in fact the opposite could be true. Guarding against this remains in the hands of the person online.

All of us have a responsibility to be mindful what we say or write. His advice is both sound and practical.

Maj. Arthur E. Woodgate, CAP, SWR Director of Public Affairs and Director of Organizational Excellence

Dispatches from the Front

BAGRAM AFB, Afghanistan – Lieutenant Colonel Jayson Altieri, an Active Duty Army Officer, is deployed to Afghanistan assigned to the tough job of helping Afghanis build their nation. These are his comments on the recent elections, which he addressed to the senior members and cadets of North Carolina Wing. Col. Roy Douglas, the NC Wing Commander and a personal friend of Lt. Col. Owen Younger, forwarded it to him. The latter asked Lt. Col. Altieri whether it would be OK to publish his letter on this newsletter, to which he replied,

Sir,

LTC Altieri

Maj. Arthur E. Woodgate, CAP, SWR Director of Public Affairs and Director of Organizational Excellence

The Joys of Google Earch

    GEORGETOWN, Texas – Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips. It's quite amazing! You can view almost any location on earth from high above as if you were floating in orbit.

This is a free site, and so is the program. It does require registration, though.

Be an armchair traveler. Get Google Earth and go visit places. And don't miss NASA's World Wind, either.

 1st Lt. Sue Kristoffersen, CAP, AEO

NASA's Greenspace Initiative

GEORGETOWN, Texas – The new NASA website has devoted an entire branch of the NASA Ames section to its Greenspace Initiative, as it explores alternative sources of energy and practical applications of energy-saving technology capable of creating Sustainable Systems. The latter are a must if humanity is ever to succeed in colonizing other parts of the universe, especially in relatively hostile environments such as the the Moon and Mars. The idea is to create a system that can be transported to the distant colony and, once erected, become self-sufficient for the human colony.

Do visit this fascinating website for a peak into the future. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/greenspace/

 1st Lt. Sue Kristoffersen, CAP, AEO

CAP Chaplains Seem to Be in Short Supply

Although Group III is looking, real hard, the Civil Air Patrol seems to be extremely short on chaplains. Or, rather, no chaplain is willing to take on this flock.

Not to worry. Someone will show up, and we'll be blessed again. In the meantime, your editor looks for words of wisdom and caring from our senior service, the U. S. Air Force. This month, I've selected Strife enemy to Airmen and relationships by Ch. (Lt. Col.) Philip Barker, USAF, who focuses on peace of mind as an essential element of happiness and well-being.

"Chaplain Marc," with whom I communicate regularly, gave it his blessing, "I like it!"

Maj. Arthur E. Woodgate, CAP, Editor

The Changing Frequency Spectrum, 13 August

Once upon a time, when the world was young, the frequency spectrum was unused. But at that time there wasn't anyone to transmit to, nor was there anyone able to listen. Through the years, we took advantage of the available frequencies and crammed them full of signals, until the available frequencies simply vanished. Something had to be done.

The adoption of digital signals has made it possible to double our existing frequencies. But is that the answer? How long will it be until we no longer have any available frequencies? Only time can tell. But for the moment, in his article Big Changes In The Frequency Spectrum Cultivate New Wireless Possibilities published on Electronic Design's online e-zine, Louis E. Frenzel answers some questions.

 2nd Lt. Roger Courtney, Communications Officer

Mass Evacuations

FEMA has posted a series of links to after action reviews and lessons learned in the aftermath of massive movements of populations. Here is the link to Emergency Management: Actions to Implement Select Provisions of the Post- Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act -  This testimony was before the House Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness and Response. This statement discusses select issues within the basic elements related to (1) findings from the response to Hurricane Katrina, (2) provisions of the Post-Katrina Act, and (3) specific actions the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have taken to implement these provisions. These comments are based on GAO products issued from February 2006 through November 2008, and selected updates in March 2009.

To read and/or download this document, you need an account at the https://www.llis.dhs.gov/index.do site. Your membership in the Civil Air Patrol will entitle you to it. Once you create your account, if you don't use it for a while, the password will expire.

Lt. Col. Brooks Cima, CAP, Texas Wing Director of Emergency Services

Emergency Response Training

This link http://www.teex.org/search.cfm?pageid=search&area=teex  will take you to the TEEX webpage – the state agency responsible for all ground operations. They do monthly training at their Disaster City facility, and need volunteers to be victims, assist with logistics, set up victims with moulage injuries, and other essential tasks. They train in a number of areas, including dog teams.

If you have ground team expertise, I strongly urge you to put on your best BDUs and go train with the TEEX professionals.

Check out the website above. TEEX has a fantastic volunteer appreciation program.

Lt. Col. Brooks Cima, CAP, Texas Wing Director of Emergency Services

Special Training Opportunity for Texas CAP Members

It is a fact that NIMS training is mandatory, but the ICS 300 and ICS 400 courses cannot be taken online. They must be taken in person at an approved location, taught by certified instructors. Many TXWG members who would otherwise be able to take these courses, at times cannot because of the cost, since they are taught in few places, mostly the large cities in Texas.

This is a Great Deal!

ICS training is available through the Governor's Division of Emergency Management. This program will reimburse CAP members for travel and living expenses incurred to attend mission-related training.

• Schedules and program details are available at www.preparingtexas.org

• Visit http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/ftp/dem/training/08trainingcal.pdf and read page 9 for information regarding reimbursement.

If in doubt, or if you have any other questions, please contact the Group III Emergency Services Officer.

Maj. Arthur E. Woodgate, CAP, Editor

Group III Patch Available

Are you on Group III Staff? Wear the Group III Staff patch proudly. At $5.00 each, they are a bargain and show your commitment to Group III and the CAP program. (Click on the image for a larger view.)

Group III Coins Available      Our mint has delivered a batch of new Group III Commemorative Coins, and you may own as many as you wish, for $10.00 each. They make wonderful gifts for your loved ones ... or even yourself. (Click on the images for larger views of the obverse and reverse.) To purchase either Group III Patches or Group III Coins, please contact Maj Laurie Lancaster - laurielancaster@yahoo.com

Maj. Laurie Lancaster, CAP, FO

Internet Etiquette

DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas – Half a century ago, be "presentable" people had to wear the right clothes, and that included an appropriate hat. The men had to be in a suit and tie (or a sport coat and trousers in less formal occasions), and the ladies wore a dress (or a blouse and pants for informal gatherings). The well-dressed lady wore gloves for evening wear. The gentleman was expected to have a Tuxedo and, for galas, a traditional "white tie and tails." Manners were groomed to match, requiring formal address in public. Today, all this is considered "stilted."

The absolute opposite, though, is today's custom of addressing a perfect stranger by the first name, or just barging into the meat of a message with no salutary clause at all, and the same stranger who addresses someone by the first name (though they've never met), or no name at all, habitually signs the message formally as "Dr. Robert Roberts, M.D." or "Mr. Larry Lantry, C.P.A." or some such. No wonder CAP e-mail messages are often the mess they are. Cadets addressing themselves to senior members without a trace of respect, or senior members addressing cadets by their first name and no mention of cadet grade.

The senior member who addresses a cadet by the cadet's first name opens the door for the cadet to do the same (or worse) towards the senior member, often leading the message exchange into a contest of rudeness, to see who will outdo the other. Yet, as CAP members, they both are honor bound to embrace the Core Value of Respect.

Some cadets, trying to be polite but not knowing how, send me otherwise respectful messages using "Maj. Woodgate" as the salutary clause. Surprise! "Maj. Woodgate" is what my commander calls me. Since the cadet is not my commander, and the cadet wouldn't want to pass himself off as my commander, the polite address for that cadet would be the same I use with my commander. Just, "Sir," a respectful was to acknowledge that my commander outranks me. Of course, if the cadet is addressing a female senior member, then, "Ma'am" would be appropriate.

But there is the other side of the cadet problem. According to CAPP 151, Respect on Display (the re-write of the old Customs and Courtesies document), cadets should address each other by "their grade" but, in practice, cadets drop the "cadet" part and call each other "Sergeant," "Captain," "Senior Airman," or "Major." Even if they do this in private, away from senior members, it creates a habit that is difficult to shake. The result is that, all too often, I get messages from cadets who sign themselves "Captain Lucky Looney, Commander, XX Squadron" with the glaring omission of the "leading Cadet" statements, one in front of Captain, the other one in front of Commander.

There is an even greater problem, and that is that cadets who behave this way, given enough time, start believing that they are, indeed, Captains, Majors, or whatever. To put this issue to rest, I ask all cadets who have acquired this habit and now read this article, to please visit page 16 of the document cited above. Notice that the column headed GRADE has all the cadet grades preceded by that magic word, "Cadet," and all the cadet abbreviations are preceded by "C/"

It might help cadets to visualize the person they are writing to. My advice is simple, "Write to them as you would speak to them in person."

Now, many CAP members use social media, and they have an etiquette of their own. Christopher Null, a staff writer for PC Magazine, has written an excellent article on this subject. I hope you enjoy it.

Maj. Arthur E. Woodgate, CAP, ITO

A Facebook Security Loophole

DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas – When the Internet was very young, and users didn't have that many sites they could visit, we took it for granted that if you visited site ABC, you would need to login using your user name and password, and once you got in there and clicked on a hot link to site DEF, you would be required to login all over again. It was a minor inconvenience, but we put up with it.

Then the Internet grew, the number of users grew too, and people got impatient. Whenever people aren't happy, there is always someone willing to provide a solution, in the hope of making a profit. Thus, the "Common ID" concept came about, letting you login to one site, then jump to another site that was managed by the same Common ID protocol and not have to login a second time.

These things came at a price, and eventually it got steep. Enter the ultimate solution: "Open Source." This is the simple concept of "free software" whereby a program is released to the public domain, making it free, and the source code is made available for others to improve on it. The catch is that all promise not to sell the software but give it away for free instead. Linux is an example of this.

At first, hackers or spreaders of malware didn't target open source programs, but as the program gains popularity, it also becomes more attractive to attackers, and is more likely to suffer from these.

Dave Kearns, a Network World staff writer, has written a good article about a security vulnerability in Facebook. I couldn't say it any better.

Maj. Arthur E. Woodgate, CAP, ITO

The Babbling of Twitter Addicts?

DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas – CAP hadn't yet published the updated, contemporary, ultra-useful replacement to CAPP 190-1, Vols. 1 & 2, a project we've been working on for some months now (it will be published soon), when social media became the place to be in. Each medium has its personality. According to Wikipedia, Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace and others like them are considered "Communication Social Media," but Twitter falls under "Communication Micro-blogging/Presence applications."

There are other types of sites: Collaboration, Social tagging, Multimedia, and so on. Each has its proponents and ignorers (in this area, it seems that detractors are hard to come by, since most sites have been created to cater to "people on the go" who are too busy for detraction.)

As a rule, social media users have much in common with the domestic bee: they flit from bloom to bloom, gathering what they like and leaving something behind. The question soon arose, "How can we make money out of this?" Naturally, the immediate task was to establish the nature of each, how it was used, and how it could turn a profit. That last part, though, has been quite elusive.

Twitter, currently the micro-blogging site of choice, soon acquired its own character. People just dumped 'stream of thought" stuff within the limitations of the medium (shortest is best, get long-winded and your prose will be cut off in mid-word) Although it was popular with the very young for a while, it was soon "invaded" by adults, so many young people left. Then trouble started in the embattled Gulf and dissidents needed to express themselves. They used Twitter. The government tried blocking it. Dissidents got around the government by using anonymous login. Twitter carried their synthetic, terse, poignant messages to the world. The government was unable to cover it up. The result? Twitter 1, government 0.

More recently, Twitter was overwhelmed by denial of service attacks that rendered it useless. It has been theorized that this was the revenge from "the government" that had sought to silence it.

Distant, suffering people found a use for Twitter that astonished the world. However, in the humdrum progress of daily existence, and the safety of life in America, the results can be different. A study conducted to examine this traffic, to no one's surprise, stated that most tweets may be considered "pointless babble."

Stefanie Hoffman posted a commentary on this subject on The Channel Wire's blog. It parallels some of the thoughts that have come across the PAO Forum.

Maj. Arthur E. Woodgate, CAP, ITO

Is Linux the Solution, after all?

DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas – Before the PC was invented, the world of computing belonged to "big iron" - mainframes (IBM and the like, conceived as enterprise-wide solutions) and minicomputers (notably Digital Equipment Corporation's VAX and Micro VAX, offered as departmental solutions). The operating systems were very expensive, the equipment was also very expensive. IBM mainframes were not offered for sale but "for lease" and, worse yet, every time there was a hardware upgrade, a new operating system and, of course, re-written application would need to be purchased as well. In short, the user paid a lot for, and the manufacturers had a sure profit maker.

AT&T, the mighty "Ma Bell," needed to modernize its long distance service, so it tapped the brain pool of their own Bell Labs. "We need a computer," they said. AT&T gave them a VAX 9 (the smallest, weakest, and cheapest available). Then in 1969 Bell Labs created an operating system for it and called it UNIX (a pun based on Multics, the enormous operating system that ran the most powerful computer of the day). From then on, AT&T had much better long distance service, and as their business prospered, so did the demand for technicians who knew UNIX.

Universities got UNIX for free, so they could teach it to their students, who in turn went to work for AT&T, or taught at other universities, or ended up in Corporate America, bringing UNIX along with them. Thus, UNIX escaped from Bell Labs and became a business. It was attractive because it was "scalable" - that is, capable of running on any machine, because the operating system itself was fairly small and resided in "the kernel." Porting the operating system from one type of computer to another was relatively easy. Then UNIX, too, became expensive. And many flavors of UNIX were born, each with its own special talent.

Linus Torvalds, a Swedish-speaking Finn who was a computer science student, in 1990 wrote his Master's Thesis on a new portable operating system that worked the same as UNIX. He called it Linux, and was a great enabler of the "open source" movement, since he placed it on the public domain under the Free Software License Agreement. Today, there are many flavors of Linux as well, and the operating system itself is free. The cost is largely due to the specific enhancements... and the technical support needed to get it going and keep it running.

Since it is "free," many have proposed it as a replacement operating system for everything, from mainframes to personal computers and beyond. The question is, "How far can Linux run?" Today, it isn't just for computers but also for smartphones, network attached storage, netbooks, and a plethora of mobile devices. Information Week's Serdar Yegulalp wonders, Is Linux Irrelevant?

Maj. Arthur E. Woodgate, CAP, ITO

Do You Use Skype? Beware of this Attack!

DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas – The shady world of online thugs and hackers thrives on the latest form of malicious code, designed to do damage to your computer or have the attacker gain control of it, in some way. Their target, as a rule, is the operating system itself or a popular program.The latest malware attacks a widely-used Voice-over-IP application.

Skype is a peer-to-peer, Internet-based telephone application that can access the phone of any other Skype user in the U.S. for free, and in other countries as well, for a fee. It is also useful for conference calls. The application was developed in Estonia, soon organized as a group in Sweden, and grew in popularity very quickly. In 2005, eBay bought it for $2.6 billion. A programmer recently posted the source code of a Trojan horse that injects code into the Skype data stream to convert the incoming and outgoing voice data into an encrypted MP3 that the attacker can use at will. For the details, please read Dancho Danchev's posting to the ZDNet blog.

Maj. Arthur E. Woodgate, CAP, ITO

USAF Academy's Inaugural UAS Class Pins on Wings, 11 August

Members of the Class of 2013 pinned on their first military ranks Wednesday after the Acceptance Parade on Stillman Field. The parade marked the official acceptance into the cadet wing as fourth-class cadets of 1,306 (of the original 1,387) basic cadet trainees who in-processed June 25. The new “doolies” began their academic semester Thursday. Aside from their military training, athletic competitions and character development activities, each new cadet will take 15 fall-semester hours.

Members of the first class of the Academy’s Unmanned Aerial System and Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Education Program received their UAV wings during a ceremony Tuesday in the conference room of the dean of the faculty in Fairchild Hall.

9/11 Revisited, With Compassion

DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas – On September 11, 2001, in Rhinebeck, N.Y., I awoke at 5 a.m. to a totally empty house, on the bed that was the sole item of furniture left. Only our harlequin Great Dane "Gorm" was there, looking at me with intelligent, puzzled eyes. His little world had been destroyed by strangers, who had packed everything and taken it away, perhaps never to be seen again. But I had allowed it, so it must have been all right. For him, this was not an issue of understanding but faith. My wife Audrey had left earlier in the wee hours of the night, as friends had taken her to Newark airport for her early morning flight to Austin, where she would close on the house we were moving to.

I had intended to leave later in the morning but, since I was already awake, I fed Gorm, had breakfast, took a quick shower and was on the road to Dripping Springs, Texas by 6:30 a.m. Gorm, who weighed 200 lbs. and measured 37" at the shoulders, had the entire rear of the station wagon to himself. After a half hour, as expected, my favorite radio station faded out of range, so I inserted an audio cassette with more of the same. I would travel this way to our new home in Texas.

By now going west on Interstate 84, I crossed the Hudson River and made my way to the New Jersey Parkway and points south. Having a very large dog along limits the places you can go to, unless you're willing to leave the dog alone in the car. Experience had taught me that doing so was not a good idea, because when he was alone in the car he went on alert mode and always drew a large crowd. Therefore, fast food consumed in the car at the parking lot was best. I ate and he slept, unseen.

After a while, I noticed that the traffic going in my direction was light, which was unusual for a Tuesday. As I drove past the Washington, D.C. area, the expected rush of cars and trucks from D.C. failed to materialize, and I was grateful for it. Thanks to that, I made great progress, so I didn't give it a second thought. To my surprise, I got to Kentucky before nightfall.

At the motel, out of habit, I turned on the TV set with nearly no sound and called my wife at her Austin hotel. "I'm sorry, Sir. I have no one registered by that name," said the hotel clerk. I insisted, somewhat worried. "Perhaps she left a message for me?" "No, Sir. No messages. I'm sorry." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the World Trade Center with black smoke coming out the top.

"Why are they rehashing that old footage?" I thought. Then one of the towers collapsed. Now yet worried, I checked that this was the news, not a movie. It was CNN; they don't make bad jokes about the news, nor do they play movies. I turned up the volume, listened to the broadcast and slowly understood, though I couldn't believe my ears. Then the details. The planes from La Guardia and Newark. The targets. They had taken off at about the time my wife Audrey's plane had. What was the flight number? I couldn't remember. An icy-cold steel hand gripped my heart, and I felt my anxiety level rising.

Panic began to creep in, but I had no time for that. I needed to know. I starting calling the numbers I had, and one of them was the real estate agent's. "Oh, I'm so glad you called," she said, "Audrey is in Houston, because all flights were grounded and she's there, staying with her son. I'll go pick her up tomorrow at Madisonville, half way to Austin." Relieved, I thanked her profusely then called Audrey. We cried together, "What's happening?" she said, "How can this be?" – echoing what all  Americans were asking themselves. That sort of thing just didn't happen in our country. It must be a bad dream, for sure. Reality can be quite unreal.

As I watched the news, I saw the horror, the desperation, the carnage, the total waste of human life, the frustration of the rescuers, and the death of nearly all. In some measure I knew what the relatives of those who died there must have felt, as I had feared that Audrey, too, had been a victim. This collection of images has been making the rounds on the Internet. Let us remember all innocent victims of terror, let us pause and thank those who watch over us, let us support our troops, and let us work for peace and concord.

What took place on September 11, 2001 must never happen again.

Maj. Arthur E. Woodgate, CAP, Editor

Dear Colleagues,

I wanted to let you know that I have posted several updates to www.ncrpao.org. They are listed below:

• The whole website has been re-designed with a different interface. I will complete the migration of content to the new template over the weekend.

• The Mission Information Officer Page has been updated with a New Tool Kit and MIO Handbook http://www.ncrpao.org/mio.htm

• 2009 NCR PAO Academy Materials have been uploaded for your use http://www.ncrpao.org/academy/paoa_2009_06.htm

• Resources Page updated http://www.ncrpao.org/resources.htm

• Presentation on CAP Public Affairs for Cadets uploaded http://www.ncrpao.org/director_presentations.htm

• The July 2009 edition of NCR News has been loaded to the website. http://www.ncrpao.org/ncrnews.htm

• NCR Conference information is available including registration http://www.ncrpao.org/ncr_conf/index.htm

• The "Specials and Features" Webpage has been updated. The 2008 and 2009 Flood Pages Can be accessed at this page. http://www.ncrpao.org/specials.htm

As always your comments are welcome.

Thanks and have a great day.

Al ~

Maj. Al Pabon, Major, CAP, NCR Director of Public Affairs

Passion

We in the Civil Air Patrol show our enthusiasm for this organization, this activity, this service by the way we talk about it; our devotion to training, study and teaching; our constant giving of time, talent and treasure to this one thing that fills our minds and hearts with ideas and hopes to make it better, stronger and more useful to our neighbors, communities and nation.

Passion is a simple word, just two syllables, easy to spell, harder to explain. The Oxford American Dictionary defines it as including 1. Strong emotion. 2. An outburst of anger. 3. Sexual love. 4. Great enthusiasm for something… This fourth meaning is my subject, so let’s dwell on it for a bit.

I joined CAP to get some cheap flying, at the urging of a friend who wanted to pass on his duty position to someone else who had a like attitude. It soon revealed itself as a much more expensive way to ‘go play airplane.’ The duty position I assumed very quickly and well, but the flying part took me several years of study and waiting for a properly qualified instructor. Not just any qualified instructor, but one who had the time and inclination to see that I was good enough, safe enough and careful enough to be entrusted with an expensive aircraft bought with public funds. Eventually it became rewarding. The passion then, for me, was flying.

As time passed, and the number of missions flown mounted, there grew within me an appreciation for the people who were giving so much of themselves to seeing that we were trained in all the aspects of service to the Civil Air Patrol, such as Search and Rescue in the air and on the ground, Disaster Relief and Damage Assessment, and other community and law-enforcement support activities. One day, “There is a lot more to this than just flying pretty airplanes” I thought. Indeed, the passion has now become helping people.

More recently I’ve seen something else that makes me proud to be in the Civil Air Patrol. It is the all-consuming program to nurture, challenge and train our country’s youth. We continually strive to mentor them as they become smarter and stronger, giving them great ethics, morals and a sense of duty and honor to their country. It is richly rewarding to watch them develop and mature into outstanding young citizens. We swell with pride at their every new achievement and shout “Hurrah!” when our military branches or other service organizations pick them up. 

Behind these personal triumphs lie all the Civil Air Patrol people involved in working so hard and long, and giving so much of themselves to help the youth of our country become superior citizens who set the pace. They are showing us all what passion really is.

Because passion without a future is not passion at all…

Maj. Robert Brecount, CAP, Texas Wing PAO

Monthly Safety Briefing

Each Squadron is required to provide both a flight safety briefing and a ground safety briefing each month. The Sentinel, the national CAP Safety newsletter, should be briefed as a minimum. Briefings need not be lengthy presentations - a 10 to 20 minute talk (and optional group discussion) is enough.

Maj Jeff Yevcak, formerly the Randolph AFB safety officer who was also the Randolph AFB liaison officer to CAP, kindly offered the following for the month of September, should you want to use them at your own squadron.

September Flight Safety Briefing (MS Word document)

September Ground Safety Briefing (MS Word document)

Recurring Reports

Editor

Strife enemy to Airmen and relationships

CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. -- There was a baker who used to buy his butter fresh every day from a dairy farmer. As time went on, the baker began to suspect that the farmer was cheating him by not giving him his full weight of butter. One day, he carefully checked the weight of the butter, and found that his suspicions were indeed correct.

The disgruntled baker had the farmer arrested and thrown into jail. At the trial, the baker got up and told the judge his side of the story. It seemed to be an open and shut case.

That soon changed, however, when the farmer got up and explained that he did not own a set of scales, so he used balances ... and for a weight, he used a "one pound" loaf of bread bought daily from the baker.

There you have it ... another example of the universal truth, "We reap what we sow." Nowhere is that more true than in our relationships. For better or for worse, our relationships with our spouse, family, friends, co-workers and God are largely a product of what we sow or invest into those relationships. This is important because one of the keys to personal and family readiness is healthy relationships.

When our relationships are stable, we have a greater sense of well-being, a greater ability to cope with stressful situations, and a greater ability to focus on our part of the mission. When a relationship goes sour, the emotional and mental turmoil that often results can be consuming, causing us to be distracted and preoccupied, and in some cases, unsafe to ourselves and others. As a chaplain, I have seen this happen in countless people's lives, regardless of rank, gender or Air Force Specialty Code.

One of the things we must do in order to keep our relationships healthy is to eliminate strife. Strife is an enemy that tries to infiltrate our homes, marriages, workplaces, social groups and churches. If it is not dealt with, it grows like a cancer and takes its toll on everyone involved.

Because each of us is different, we are bound to have varying opinions, different ways of doing things, personality conflicts and misunderstandings. And since none of us are perfect, we sometimes say and do things that hurt or offend others and vice versa. The bottom line is that we have plenty of opportunities to get into strife with other people. This often causes anger and resentment in the relationship. When that happens, we have a critical choice to make -- we can become bitter or we can become better.

It's amazing how many people are holding on to hurts, anger and resentment from things that happened weeks, months and even years ago in their life. If left unchecked, it slowly turns our hearts callous and bitter. Perhaps you may know someone who always seems to be negative and cynical. Most likely persons such as this one have been hurt and have some unresolved strife in their life.

However, we can choose to become better by sowing the seed of forgiveness -- I know that's easier said than done. When someone says or does something that hurts me, I rarely "feel" like forgiving. I'd rather hold on to the resentment, respond in kind, or entertain a revenge scenario or two in my mind; but I learned long ago in my own life that there are amazing benefits to sowing forgiveness. When I made the decision to get the strife out of my life and forgive those who had hurt me, a powerful work of healing and restoration began to take place inside of me and a deep peace replaced the anger and resentment that I had felt. Now, whenever I get into strife, I deal with it immediately before it has a chance to take root and rob me of that peace and, worse yet, the joy of life.

For your health and well-being and that of those around you, I highly recommend life without strife!

Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Philip Barker, USAF, 437th Airlift Wing chaplain

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The Day the Machine Died, 20 August

GLADEWATER, Texas – It was a wonderful day, Thursday, August 20th, sunny and pleasant. It was a hot summer day, of course, but not as hot as it had been. It was a "Business as Usual" kind of day, with the familiar routine. That is, until I turned the squadron PC on. Or, rather, did not turn the squadron PC on. Don't take me wrong, I tried to turn it on but it rudely declined to come to life. I simply couldn't believe it. It had worked perfectly just two days ago, at the squadron meeting. Why was it not responding now?

Do you remember, "Houston, we have a problem"? Well, no lives depended on this one, but to us it was as giant a problem and tragedy as if they had. All our information was in there. Oh, no! All our articles, too! And photos! And our wonderful SIMS electronic records system! What do we do for the Group III Newsletter? What to do about those records? I had erased my photos from my camera, because I had downloaded them to the computer. What did the others do? -- I didn't want to hear this, but they, too, had erased them from their cameras. This is a very hard lesson, folks.

For some reason, New Year's Resolutions, those time-honored lies that we tell ourselves, are solemnly announced on the last day of the year. But there's no reason to wait that long. When something really dreadful happens, I decline to wait until the end of the year to do something about it.

From now on, even if we manage to get the data out of the hard disk (I think that might be possible), from now on we'll back up our data every week. My friend Arthur said to me, "Backing up your data? How often? That's easy. If you can afford to lose it, don't back it up..." You know, it is always going to happen to someone else, never us. We are invincible and infallible, until our turn comes and it actually happens to us.

(Capt. Harold Parks, CAP)

Two Nights Aboard the USS LEXINGTON, 31 July - 2 August

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Cadets from Crusader Composite Squadron (Grand Prairie) and Black Sheep Composite Squadron (Mesquite) recently experienced a part of history as they participated in the camping program aboard the USS LEXINGTON.

Commissioned in 1943, the USS LEXINGTON served longer and set more records than any aircraft carrier in the history of the United States Navy. This great ship was reported sunk four times in World War II, but always returned to the fight, leading propagandist Tokyo Rose to name her the “Blue Ghost.” The USS LEXINGTON is a retired Navy aircraft carrier that is now a Naval museum on Corpus Christi Bay.

The cadets spent two nights aboard the USS LEXINGTON, had a special guided tour of the ship, and experienced the personal quarters in which thousands of sailors, pilots, and crew actually lived for months at a time aboard a warship. Shown at right, the CAP members get up close and personal with the F-14 Tomcat displayed on the USS LEXINGTON's flight deck.

Taps was played at 10:30 each night, signaling lights out. The cadets took turns on fire watch. Each shift lasted 2-1/2 hours. Four cadets were assigned to each shift, in groups of two. The shifts continued rotating until 6:45 in the morning, when Reveille was played. C/MSgt Joshua Gullace said, “It was a little creepy patrolling the ship at night, especially after hearing the ghost stories.”

(C/1st Lt. Robert Severance IV)

O Canada!  An IACE Adventure, 22 July - 5 August

AUSTIN, Texas – Last year I had the honor of being selected an International Air Cadet Exchange (IACE) cadet escort for Central Texas. During that time, I learned about many nations, became more familiar with IACE itself, and made many new friends. This year I learned about IACE from a different perspective, as I was now the one selected to go visit a different country.

On an early Wednesday morning, I woke up excited about the new fun-filled 3 weeks to come, yet also filled with an awesome responsibility. I felt extremely honored to represent my home country and home state to the rest of the world. That morning I flew out of Austin, Texas to see our Nation’s capital.

I had seen Washington, D.C. only once before, at a very young age, so seeing it now was special to me. In D.C. we had a few briefings on what we would be expected to do and how we should behave abroad, and were also able to tour the awesome metropolis. We saw the Lincoln Memorial, the 9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon, the White House, the Supreme Court, and even got to sit in the audience quarters of the U.S. Senate in the Capitol. Other sights were very important to me personally – the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial and the new, beautiful World War II Memorial all sent shivers up my spine. Meditating about the members of my family who had served in these conflicts gave me much room for thought. To cap it all off, the Arlington National Cemetery humbled me more than anything else I had seen in D.C.

Living in Austin, I’ve visited the State Cemetery numerous times, and I always found it to be an amazing experience. At Arlington, though, we saw some of our country's most important heroes and events. There was the mast to the USS Maine, the ship whose tragic sinking sparked the Spanish-American War, and also the Challenger Memorial, the Civil Air Patrol Memorial Tree, the burial site of one of my heroes, Audie Murphy, the most decorated American soldier in history… and a Texan! The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was an awesome experience, as were the Sentinels and a Changing of the Guard Ceremony. It gave me another reason to reflect on what it really means to be an American.

Our D.C. tour also included the U.S. Navy Memorial, the Naval Museum (where I learned that the U.S. Navy Seabee's mascot stole my name), the Library of Congress where all of us got library cards, and many other amazing sites.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

[1] U.S. Capitol. [2] U.S. Supreme Court. [3] U.S. WWII Memorial. [4] Changing of the Guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier [5] Vietnam Memorial.

A couple of days after we arrived in D.C. we got our assignments. We were on our way to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada!  There we met the Canadian escorts and saw our accommodations at Carleton University. In Ottawa, we saw the Canadian Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, many memorials and had an in-depth tour of the Canadian Parliament. The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum was wonderful, and there we met our new host families and left for Niagara, where I was lucky enough to stay with Captain David Jeffrey who has been active with the Royal Canadian Air Cadets for many years and is just as active in IACE. In Niagara, of course, we saw the beautiful Niagara Falls every day, and took a ride in the Spanish Aero Car over a monstrous whirlpool that not even the Maelstrom of Nordic mythology could produce. The huge canals were impressive, we ate at an old fashioned 50’s diner called the “Flying Saucer,” and saw many battlefield landmarks going back to the American Revolution, American invasions, and the War of 1812. On the following day, it was off to Ft. George and eating at Navy Hall. One of the coolest parts of the whole trip was the ride on the Maid of the Mist that took us to the bottom of the falls.

6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

[6] Canadian Parliament. [7] Canadian Ceremonial Guard. [8] IACE cadets at the Russell Aviation Group. [9] White-water rafting on the Ottawa River was challenging. [10] The very impressive Olympic Tower in Montreal.

On Monday morning we said goodbye to our host families. Throughout east Ontario and western Quebec we had many fun activities. For example, we visited the Air Cadet League’s facilities at Trenton, saw numerous museums, climbed onto the largest ropes course I’ve ever seen (I was dead tired after the third quarter), rode in Gryphon helicopters, saw the Olympic tower and Bio-Dome in Montreal, visited Canada’s Wonderland Theme Park and, of course, went white-water rafting on the Ottawa River. All this interspersed with many other fun activities.

In Quebec City, I re-united with a very good friend I'd met during IACE 2008. Francis Thibodeau had been one of the cadets who stayed at out home last year and I had the pleasure of seeing him again, staying at his home, and meeting his family. With the Thibodeau’s in Quebec City, we visited the old Quebec City, both lower and upper town; saw a movie about Quebec City on a 4-story high screen; visited La Citadelle; went bowling and even had a Quebec delicacy called Poiton (French fries with mozzarella cheese curds and brown gravy - yummy). Come early Monday morning, it was time to leave our host families yet again.

11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.

[11] Canadian 438 Squadron Helicopter O-Flights. [12] Canada's Wonderland Theme Park. [13] (L-R) Keita Mizuno (Japan), Edward Lau (Hong Kong), Sean Stewart (USA), and Eycke Ng (Hong Kong) at Canada's Wonderland. [14] Castle Hotel in Quebec City. [15] (L-R) Sean Stewart (USA), James Ralph (Australia), Monique Ray (UK), Chantalle Doiron (Canada) and Daniel Gabay (Israel). [16] (L-R) Sean Stewart (USA), Patrick Robertson (UK), Capt. David Jeffrey (Canada) Monique Ray (UK) and Kirsten Choumont (Canada) - Capt. Jeffrey's IACE group re-united at the Farewell Banquet.

We spent the last couple of days in Montreal, where we had a farewell banquet and I got to see Captain Jeffrey one last time before leaving. Our visit to an aeronautical engineering institute was fascinating. On August 5th it was finally time to go home. I don’t think I’ll ever forget all the good friends I made, from all over the world. They came from Japan, Hong Kong, Israel, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, France, Canada, the Netherlands and also from all over the U.S. Neither will I ever forget Captain Jeffrey’s hospitality, Francis Thibodeau’s friendship, nor even our Canadian escort, Mr. Michel Lefort’s words with which he concluded every day, “Isn’t Canada a great country?”

I had an awesome time, and highly recommend IACE to any CAP Cadet.

(C/Maj. Sean Stewart, CAP)