FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 26, 2013
ICE BOWL underway
The Illinois Wing of the Civil Air Patrol
has commenced its annual winter Search and Rescue training exercise at
locations throughout the state of Illinois. The activity, which runs from 25-27 January,
is dubbed ‘The Ice Bowl’, and works to ensure efficiency in responding to cold
weather incidents throughout Illinois.
The mission operation is based in Elgin at Paul Wolff F.P., with satellite locations at
Dupage, Moline, and Alton.
From these varied locations, a total of 7 aircraft and over 75 personnel
are reinforcing their training through a variety of scenarios, including
natural disaster, missing aircraft, missing persons searches, and critical infrastructure
photography tasking.
The cold weather training helps to address a number
of situations that arise for emergency services personnel. Cold weather poses certain challenges on
aircraft, vehicles, and responders, and can be a factor affecting
communications. This type of ‘train
like you fight’ activity, allow CAP responders to gain proficiency when a
real life is not in actual danger. Mission
commanders from around Illinois, believe this
is critical in a state like Illinois, where weather
is often different at opposite ends. One
staffer offered his thoughts during a briefing, “Given the tasking we receive, and the varied weather that may exist at
any one time in Illinois,
it is important that we are ready to respond anywhere, at anytime in any
weather.”
Civil Air Patrol, the
official Air Force auxiliary, is a nonprofit organization with almost 62,000
members nationwide. It performs 95% of
continental U.S.
inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue
Coordination Center. Volunteers also
perform homeland security, disaster relief, and counterdrug missions at the
request of federal, state, and local agencies.
The members take a leading role in aerospace education and serve as
mentors to the almost 27,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet
programs. CAP has been performing
missions for America
for 70 years.
