 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
March 4, 2006 I've been Squadron Commander now for 20 months and I can't believe it's been that long already! I had hard shoes to fill. When I joined, Col. Vollmers was Commander and a great leader and really helped bring me along quickly. Then Maj. Steiner took over, and again things went smoothly. Finally, Capt. Gonzales took over and led the squadron successfully until he moved to a warmer climate. When Capt. Gonzales left the squadron as Commander, I was asked to take on that role in July, 2004. It was a pleasure to take command of this squadron, with its proud history and such great members. Now, we are getting towards another Spring and another great Summer flying season. We have a glider to take Cadets on O'rides with. And we will always have our SAREX and actual SAR activities. The difference is that this fiscal year we are strapped with huge budget cuts. We have to be aware of this and work around it, but this doesn't mean that we stop delivering our primary mission and/or preparing for those missions. On the other side, we have some great new equipment. 830CP and 634CP are a pair of terrific C-182 aircraft, with one being just two years old and the other being a year old and with a Garmin G1000 glass cockpit! There are many jealous pilots around when they see this great equipment! The other item of note is our photo mission gear. We can now take a picture, and while we are still in the air we can email it to anyone, anywhere in the world via satellite phone! So let me meander now through a couple of other topics. Recruiting -- Please remember that we need TWO people in the plane other than the pilot. Most people don't understand this and assume we are only interested in pilots. Please don't forget those that you know that have an INTEREST in aviation, regardless if they are a pilot or not. If you have a friend that keeps talking about how they'd like to fly, tell them about this wonderful opportunity! Most pilots also enjoy bringing members along during proficiency flying, currency flying, etc., so there are lots of opportunities for these people to fly. Also, remember that more people mean less work for each of us. We have several unfilled positions in our squadron. If you know people that will fill those staff vacancies (See the Staff page), invite them to join! Flying -- Please remember as well that we need 200 hours on EACH aircraft. Right now we are very behind on plane hours. Please consider using the plane for more proficiency flights, it's still the best flying deals around! Participation -- Its great that you've joined the Civil Air Patrol. Now what do you want to do as a member? I would really like each of you to think about this. CAP isn't about us telling you what you want to do, it's about what YOU want to do. Please let me know what you want out of CAP -- REALLY!!! -- Come a bit early to the meeting, or call me and set up a meeting and lets discuss how to make CAP what you want it to be and have you in the position and/or activity that you want to do. Thanks!
Always Remember: Semper Vigilans ~ Always Vigilant
|
March 26, 2006 The following is an email that many of us recently received from Walt Vollmers, our current Wing Commander:
Hello, All,
The National Commander has demanded in a policy letter that Wings
charge the same hourly rates for flying as the Air Force reimburses us,
which is $30/hr for the C172 and $41/hr for the C182, plus fuel. Last
Monday I met with ten of the relevant Wing Staff to see if there was some
way around charging our pilots that amount, but we could not come up with a
workable scheme. Supplementing our pilots from Wing funds would be allowed,
but won't work, because those funds have lately been in pretty sad
shape. We also looked at using State funds to supplement the hourly fees,
but that would be paying ourselves with State Funds, which is not allowed.
We can only pay vendors out of those funds. National does not specifically
require that pilots to pay those amounts, so long as those amounts
appear from some source under each aircraft's maintenance account for each
hour flown. If the squadrons can raise funds, they would be allowed to use
them for that purpose. Perhaps you should try - I think there is money out
there.
When I first sent out the National Commander's letter to the Wing Staff
about a month ago, some of you pointed out that this policy appeared to be
in conflict with CAPR 66-1, and I agree that it is. I pointed that out to
the National leadership in an e-mail message. That e-mail of mine stirred
up quite a hornet's nest down there, and I was essentially told to zip up my
lips - though not in those exact terms. The Commander's policy, National
said, was not debatable, and they did not address my point that it was in
conflict with their own regulations. Perhaps they are working on revising
the relevant regulations, but if that is the case, we were not advised of it
at the recent National Board meeting.
I am sorry that what will probably be my last act as Wing Commander has
to be such a negative one, but I must now tell you that effective 1 April
2006 the squadrons must send to Wing the above hourly amounts for flying our
aircraft. The flying for March will still be at the old rates. I have no
doubt that our proficiency flying hours will be reduced because of this, but
there is still quite a bit of free flying available to our pilots, and even
at the new rates, CAP flying is still considerably cheaper than renting
from most FBOs, and our aircraft are for the most part in much better shape.
Hang in there!!!!
Walt.
I am very disappointed at our National Commander for usurping our regulations in this manner. If the National Commander wants to set this as policy or regulation, then change our CAP Regulations to support this, rather than doing something that is clearly against policy. Then, on top of it, to threaten people to shut up about it, that's just crazy. While I understand what they are trying to accomplish by this, the means of how they are doing it just make me feel like they ultimately don't care about the regs, just "CYA" mentality. This isn't leadership, this is dictatorship, and is not appreciated by myself and the time that I give to the CAP. Its too bad that we, as membership, don't get to select our leadership, as I think that some of us might feel that a change is due after this. While this has a limited shelf life as an issue, I think we need to never forget this, especially if it becomes his standard method of modifying our rules to suit his needs w/o approval of our governing body.
Thanks!
Always Remember: Semper Vigilans ~ Always Vigilant |
|
July 6, 2006 Well, it's been a busy summer so far. But the good news is that with the donations that Microsoft has given our squadron, we've been able to afford to hold some activities that we'd otherwise not be able to hold. Yet again this month, we'll be holding another local SAREX and inviting some of our surrounding squadrons to participate with us. Our glider program is soon to start, headed by Walt Vollmers. And our squadron members are being actively mission trained by many in the group, but I'd like to single out John Steiner on Scanner and Observer courses and Mark Carlson for Communication training. Thanks for being a great group to work with, and I'm hoping that we can continue this long into the future!
Thanks!
Always Remember: Semper Vigilans ~ Always Vigilant
|
|