Soaring Into Service

They soar through treacherous mountain canyons, searching the rugged landscape for signs of downed aircraft and possible survivors.

In desert heat and across desolate terrain they fly precise routes conducting counter-drug operations for the government.

And they teach leadership and morals to cadets, not always an easy task, they say, given the extracurricular antics of their commander-in-chief and other political figures.

They are the men and women of the local chapter of the Camarillo Airport-based Civil Air Patrol, an organization that this year is celebrating its 50th anniversary as the civilian wing of the Air Force.

Yet the group and what it does is largely unknown, even to those in the tightknit aviation community.

“We’re one of the best-kept secrets around,” said Maj. Greg Chase, commander of the local squadron, “until people find out about it and find out what we really do. And then they want to be a part of it.”

Indeed, in something of a growth spurt this year, Squadron 61 has increased in size by more than 40% to 50 senior members. The cadet program, for youngsters between ages 12 and 18, has gone from 25 cadets at the beginning of the year to 98 today.

The membership increase is self-perpetuating, as youngsters discover from classmates the allure of such activities as flying in huge Air Force cargo planes, perhaps taking an evening spin up to Fresno, or even longer weekend excursions.

Often cadets draft their parents, and many other adults get involved because they are empty nesters. That is the case for Camarillo resident Dee Jones, a department store undercover security officer, and her husband, Ed, an elementary school principal, both of whom joined about three months ago.

The couple sought volunteer opportunities now that all but one of their six children have left home.

“They flew the coop, so now it’s our turn to fly,” said Dee Jones, before heading to McClellan Air Force Base near Sacramento for a weekend-long leadership training session. “There’s very few things you can do as a couple these days, outside of square-dancing, and that you feel you can help the community.”

*

The Civil Air Patrol has been helping the community since it was founded in 1941, one week before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

With war looming, avid private pilots formed the organization in part so they could keep flying. There was a fear that general aviation would be grounded for the duration of the conflict, as had occurred in other nations, Chase said.

The volunteer pilots performed such tasks as tracking enemy submarines, helping sink two, and rescuing crash survivors.

In 1948, the patrol was made the official auxiliary of the newly independent Air Force.

Now the organization flies the world’s largest fleet of civilian aircraft and boasts more than 52,000 members in 1,700 chapters.

The CAP has three congressionally mandated missions: aerospace education, cadet programs and emergency services.

Emergency services include humanitarian missions ranging from transporting organs for transplant to helping search for illegal immigrants brought over the border by guides then abandoned in the desert.

Those searches, which began last August, can consist of grueling 14-hour flights over a 30-square-mile patch of baking desert, Chase said.

In addition, the local squadron flies an average of 30 search-and-rescue missions a year, said Chase, an 11-year member who is also a helicopter crewman with the Sheriff’s Department.

Such missions, conducted in peacetime and reflecting contemporary social problems, are very different from those flown during World War II.

A little over a year ago, for example, patrol members began using the squadron’s Cessna 182 for low-level flights near the Mexican border, mimicking the strategy drug smugglers use to cross into the United States undetected. The patrols are made to test the capabilities of law enforcement agencies to intercept such flights.

“The Air Force doesn’t have anything slow enough to do that,” said Chase, who can only provide a few details of the classified missions. “We fly a precision course.”

It’s in keeping with the CAP’s heritage that volunteers take part in quasi-military operations. And it means that the patrol is as relevant today as it was when founded, said Maj. Jim Denton, a member of the Air Force reserve who is one of several military liaisons with Squadron 61.

Having volunteers perform such missions generally handled by military personnel is crucial in a time of defense cutbacks, he said.

“There’s nobody else who can fill the niche right now,” said Denton. “They’re just highly cost-effective professional people and they do it as volunteers, so what more could you ask for?”

The training required to participate in missions is rigorous--Chase notes it took him three years to become a mission pilot--and cadets aren’t cut much slack either.

Although adults supervise the cadet program, the youths essentially run it themselves, instructing classes and enforcing military discipline. Or at least as much discipline as possible with teenage volunteers.

“When are you going to get your badges?” barks 1st Sgt. David Fazio, 17, at a “flunkie” during the weekly inspection of cadets on a chilly November evening.

“When Mom teaches me how to sew, first sergeant,” responds 13-year-old David Crump with as much assertiveness as he can muster.

*

Such excuses may not fly in the Marine Corps, which David aspires to join when he graduates from Newbury High School. But the self-proclaimed “mean man” of the squadron--whose role is to set the tone and uphold the standard for cadets--has to cut youngsters a little slack. Discipline can only go so far when a cadet reports late because his mom didn’t get off work in time to drive him out to the weekly meeting.

“They’re 12 years old,” David said of some of his young charges. “You don’t want to have them go home and cry and complain to their parents.”

Not that youngsters have much time to whine.

Upon signing up, cadets receive a thick binder of paperwork that would make a college student blanch.

The material includes a uniform manual that is an exact copy of the Air Force text, two aerospace books detailing such arcane subjects as “the reciprocity engine,” a drill and ceremonies manual, several volumes of leadership tomes and a physical fitness manual.

The requirements span a weeklong boot camp in the summer, monthly moral leadership classes and physical fitness sessions that include a one-mile run once a month.

Kids respond to the discipline, said Capt. Neal Fowler, 75, who is the longest-serving member of the squadron. He joined in 1973.

*

“There’s no swearing, there’s no smoking, you have to have a military haircut,” said the retired Navy pilot. “The parents look at this and say, ‘I like that.’ You don’t get that in Boy Scouts.”

And it’s tough to duplicate the breadth of experiences cadets enjoy, whether it’s commanding as many as 80 youths or sitting at the controls of an aircraft at 25,000 feet.

“We get kids coming in who you would think are scared of their own shadow,” said Capt. Floyd “Dave” Davis, who supervises the cadet program. “After they’ve gone through this you see quite a transformation.”

Both senior members and cadets believe they are building character through teamwork and assertiveness training and teaching skills that include lifesaving techniques and aerial reconnaissance. To them, this is a unique way to contribute to the community.

“It’s something [members] want to do to give something back to their country,” Chase said. “A lot of people haven’t been in the military, so this is the closest they can get. They like the honor that provides.”