Wreaths Across America

 By Lt Col Juan Tinnirello, CAP (and pictures, except as noted)

 Stuart Highlanders Pipe Band

Saturday, 12 December, 2015 was a sunny and wind free morning that helped to make the ceremony more enjoyable.  Members from Squadrons 18 and 188 were in attendance, as were veterans, soldiers’ family members and over 100 members of the general public.

This ceremony started with the Stuart Highlanders Pipe Band saluting each branch of the Armed Forces with a different song.   The Master of Ceremonies was Kevin Graves, Founder and President of “Some Gave All - The Joey Graves Foundation”.  Then the colors

where presented by the Daly City Police Department, followed by the National Anthem, led by Regina Gonnella from the Avenue of Flags Committee.

Color Guards

U.S. Army Veteran
 William Jackson

The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Kristen Matthias, Regent, San Andreas Lake Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. After that, a call for a minute of silence took place at exactly 9:00 AM. The minute of silence occurred simultaneously, at each National Cemetery across the nation, from Washington DC to Guam, and all the Armed Forces and Merchant Marines were honored.

Members of Squadrons 18 and 188

It was a very emotional ceremony, especially during the presentation of the wreaths by individuals and when saluting each one of the different branches of the Armed Forces as well as the Merchant Marines and the POW/MIA.  Gold Start Families, parents of sons/daughters that are buried in the cemetery, also presented a wreath to honor them.

After the main speaker, Lt Col Jeff Brooks from the 23^rd Marines, instructions were given about how to place the wreath on each tombstone. 

The closing remarks were given by Kevin Graves, a Gold Start Father.  He was in Afghanistan not too long ago, right in the battle field. He placed soil from that spot in vials that he presented to other Gold Start Families attending the event, as remembrance of the place where their sons/daughters had shed their blood.

Sq. 188 Commander, Capt Luis Rivas,
placing a wreath with 
Lt Hipp & Lt Bitz 

Taps was played by Petty Officer Lena Gemmer and Chief Petty Officer Jared Zygarewicz from the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps Band of the West, and the colors were retired.

 Attendees placing wreaths.

1300 wreaths were placed by the attendees in a specific section of the cemetery. Every year, a new section is covered, so eventually all 145,000 tombstones will be honored.

It was a very moving ceremony and a good way to honor and remember our fallen heroes.

You are invited to return on Saturday, 2 January, 2016 at 8:00 AM to help with the wreath cleanup.

Lt Jim Hipp, Lt Pat Bitz and Lt Col Juan Tinnirello
 (Photo by volunteer)

Tombstones after wreaths were placed

All Hands Meeting, 1 December, 2015.

By Lt Col Juan Tinnirello (and pictures)

Deputy Commander Capt Jordan Hayes welcomed everyone and invited Lt Col Juan Tinnirello to lead the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. Commander Maj Rivas is in New York on business.

 Capt Jordan Hayes

November was a quiet month, compared to September. In the events department, the glider is back from its yearly inspection in Nevada. About 15 CAP members, from Squadron 188 as well as other units, helped to assemble the glider on Saturday 21 November. It was a fun day and the writer had a chance to be the second member to fly in the glider.

Lt Patrick Bitz

1st Lt Bitz thanked everybody participating in sales for the Wreaths Across America project and invited members to help in placing the wreaths at the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, Saturday, 12 December at 8:30 AM.  Anyone wanting a ride, go to the squadron that Saturday by 7:00 AM. Please contact Lt Bitz to coordinate.

For the Aero Space Education moment, Lt Bitz showed a video regarding the advancements done by NASA during work experiments right at the Space Station, in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin at Madison.  The main effort of the project is to grow food for future space travelers going to Mars. For more information go to 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3fYlBadTJU. You may have to copy and paste the information in your browser.

1st Lt Al Chavez

1st Lt Al Chavez attended a meeting at the California Earthquake Authority and made a presentation to us about all the information available about “Hazards” related to all types of natural disasters.  Going to the following Web site myhazards.calema.ca.gov  will provide information about earthquake, flood, fire and tsunami. Placing your home or business address in the designated block will provide customized information for your particular location.  Lt Chavez also talked about the expected weather influence of El Niño.  More information can be found at www.elnino.noaa.gov.  He distributed a Fact Sheet about both events. This presentation was the Safety Education for the month.  If you were not at the meeting, you missed a lot of good information.

.

One mission took place 5 November for an ELT in Auburn. Maj Chris Johnson was the IC3-T, Maj Noel Luneau the MP, and Maj Mark Fridell the MS.  This was the first find for Maj Fridell. Maj Kathy Johnson completed her CD certification. Capt Rivas and Lt Choate renewed their Form 5 and Lt Gast completed his CAP Instructor Pilot for Gliders. The aircraft flew 18.2 hrs. and the van was driven 457 miles. 

Capt Hayes reminded us that squadron’s dues must be paid now.

The Squadron’s Holiday Party will be held at the Oakland Aviation Museum on 15 December at 6:00 PM. Contact 1st Lt Eric Choate for details.

The squadron will be dark until 5 January, 2016, our All Hands Meeting. On 9 January a G1000 ground school is scheduled to take place. Contact Capt Georgios Michelogiannakis for details.

Capt Jordan Hayes and Maj Mark Fridell
 receiving the Find Ribbon

Maj Fridell received his rescue Find Ribbon (with propeller) for his first find.

The entire staff of Squadron 188 wishes everyone very Happy Holidays and a prosperous New Year 2016!

All Hands Meeting, 3 November 2015

By Lt Col Juan Tinnirello (and pictures)

Capt Luis Rivas

Squadron Commander Capt Rivas welcomed everybody and asked Col Tinnirello to lead the pledge of allegiance to the flag. Commander Rivas welcomed new member James Weeks and proceeded to give a review of all the events in another very busy month for the squadron. Besides the participation in the Group 2 SAREX at Palo Alto, the FEMA mission for the forest fire was the main one, with a large participation of squadron members where more that 14,000 pictures were taken altogether.

Also, there were a couple of ELT missions and one for the State of California.

Maj Luneau renewed his Form 5 and Maj DeFord renewed his Ground Team Leader. Also on the assets usage, the aircraft flew 30.8 hours and the van traveled 516 miles.

1^st Lt Patrick Bitz 

Lt Bitz talked about the importance of remembering the armed forces personnel that gave their lives to defend our freedom.  What better way to do it that by placing wreaths on their tombstones at the Golden Gate National Cemetery, in San Bruno this coming December.  The program called Wreaths Across America is helping to do so and we can participate by purchasing wreaths. More information is provided at the end of this article.

Maj DeFord announced that there is a new way to have a small last minute planned ES mission to help with training a few people.  Contact him for details.

Also, Lt Gast is our newly minted CFI-G for gliders. Congratulations - and members, take advantage of this new opportunity.

Coming up on November 17, Capt Hayes will have an improved talk from the one he gave at the Wing Conference about “Radios for Aircrew” and for everyone that uses CAP radios.  A pot luck is planned, so call him to coordinate if you plan to attend.

December 1, is our next “All Hands Meeting”. During the meeting there was a majority of members that wished to have a Holiday Party.  More will follow as Capt Rivas looks into the different possibilities.

Most of the 14 members awarded Disaster Relief award

Capt Michelogiannakis 
receiving award

On the awards list, Capt Michelogiannakis obtained his Level 3 (Grover Loening Award), Lt Choate received an Orientation Pilot Award for completing more that 50 sorties. Lt Kraus was granted a Rescue Find Ribbon (with prop device) first find. Lt Adams received a Leadership Award (1^st Technician rating LOGISTICS). SM Carter, Level 1 Membership Award.  Forteen members awarded Disarter Relief Ribbon with V device for Presidencial Declared disaster for the Butte and Valley Fires.

Promotions: Lt Adams was promoted to 1^st Lt and SM Roudnev was promoted to 2^nd Lt. 

           Lt Choate receiving 

           Orientation ribbon award

Lt Kraus receiving Rescue ribbon award

   
Lt Adams receiving
 Leadership award

In the Safety Education Maj Fridell made a very interesting presentation about “Bird Strikes”. The inspiration for the topic started at the Livermore Airport while doing some work and a strange noise started to become more pronounced.  It was a flock of geese!  The statistics for this type of incident are very impressive. If you were not there, you missed an excellent presentation plus insights to protect you about this type of accidents.

Capt Rivas and Lt Adams’s 

 wife, Pamela, attaching the epaulets

        Capt Rivas and Capt Hayes 

        attaching epaulets to 2^nd Lt Roudnev

 Capt. Rivas finished the meeting thanking SM Wayne for facilitating press coverage on the Concord mission and also thanking Capt Rex Beach for all the work he did during his participation as a squadron member and who is now leaving for the East Coast.  Fairwell Rex, we will miss you.

Maj Fridell presented 
“Bird Strike”

           

Wreath Sponsorship Program:

Go to www.squadron188.org   on the left side column go to the bottom to “Wreaths Across America” and click on it. On the “Contents” list click on 5Donate.  Then follow the directions for Webb Order.

If you have problems, please contact 1^st Lt Patrick Bitz at 925-858-9590

Besides honoring our heroes you help Squadron 188 finances, as we receive $5.00 for each wreath sold.  Thank you for participating and tell your family, friends and coworkers about it.

 Bird strike just before it happened!

Capt Rex Beach saying goodbye!

Disaster Relief Mission - California Fires

By Maj Kathy Johnson, photo provided by CAP

The Civil Air Patrol’s California Wing completed an airborne photography mission over the Butte and Valley fire areas near Sacramento, CA on behalf of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  FEMA will use the images to assess the burn areas and identify the damage to burned or destroyed homes, buildings and other structures. These photographs will support their effort to provide financial aid to the affected home and land owners.

“The Civil Air Patrol, as part of the Air Force’s Total Force, is proud to support FEMA with aerial photography,” says California Wing Incident Commander Lt. Colonel Mitch Richman.  “Within a relatively short period of time, we were able to cover a wide area and provide high quality, GPS-referenced photos to FEMA.”

For seven days in September and October, California Wing flew 49 flights that photographed approximately 232 square miles of both burn areas.  Flying relatively close to the terrain, Civil Air Patrol provided nearly 4,800 images of the devastated regions.  The Butte and Valley fire areas covered about 92,000 and 69,000 acres, respectively.

Aerial Photograph Taken by Civil Air Patrol of an Area Affected by one of the California Wildfires 

Fleet Week Event at Moffett Field

By 1st Lt Doug Teeple, Sacramento Composite Squadron 14, photographs by Maj Noel Luneau

CAP Aircraft at Moffett Field for Fleet Week Event

The Fleet Week event at Moffett alongside the presence of two MV-22 Ospreys for a First Responders exercise was very successful.

Representing multiple California Wing squadrons, Lt Teeple, Capt Joshua Edwards, and Maj Luneau were present.  Major Luneau flew in the 2013 T206H from Auburn, which we positioned very close to the 129th ANG Wing and the Ospreys, which flew in from Miramar.

MV-22 Osprey

The Osprey exercise was to demonstrate the ability to convert it to a mobile hospital room for air rescue operations that can be deployed by CalOES and FEMA who were represented in large numbers.

The presence of CAP was appreciated by Fleet Week organizers, and future partnering is welcome.  I met the Fleet Week executive leadership to discuss future participation and it was stated that they look forward to partnering with us in the future.  Lt Teeple’s brother, James Teeple, the Program Manager for the V-22 with Boeing, was instrumental in positioning our partnership with Fleet Week leadership.  They understand that CAP can bring more assets for static display or operational demonstration with more advance planning.

Fleet Week Activities at Moffett

CAP Aircraft at Moffett Field

Many Marines, Air Force and CalOES officers and crew learned about CAP as an important component of the CA First Responders portfolio and as part of the total Air Force capabilities.

Organizing for Fleet Week 2016 kicks off in April, so it’s not too soon to start thinking about next year.

We would like to send a thank you to Lewis Lueben, executive leader of Fleet Week, for supporting our participation.

Urban Shield 2015 - Mass Casualty Event Training Exercise

By 1st Lt Karin Hollerbach and Maj Steven DeFord, photos as noted

Lt Hollerbach and Maj DeFord both participated in this year’s Urban Shield exercise, albeit in two totally different functions:  Maj DeFord in the field, working on medical scenarios, and Lt Hollerbach looking at the big picture.

For those unfamiliar with Urban Shield, here is some background information on Urban Shield and Yellow Command, taken from the Urban Shield website (paraphrased slightly):

The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office hosted Urban Shield 2015, a planned training exercise involving local, national, and international first responder agencies.  The event began Friday, September 11, 2015 and ended on the following Monday.

Urban Shield is separated into 10 operational Area Commands designated Black, Blue, Gold, Green, Silver (all tactical), Red (fire), White (EOD), Yellow (mass casualty event), EMS (no color designation), Medical Branch (no color designation).

Maj DeFord, who is also an emergency room physician, helped with SWAT team training for mass casualty incidents (MCI), where SWAT teams got EMS teams to work with them, going in after the scene was secured to help triage and evacuate the victims.  According to Maj DeFord, the scenarios were “a whole lot of fun!”  Anywhere between about eight and several dozen victims were out to be sorted and moved to casualty collection points with a certain need for haste, given how much the victims outnumbered the rescuers.  The victims were in full moulage, and even a few mannequins to represent more gruesome injuries (amputations and the like).

Dr Maj DeFord Putting to Good Use His ER Skills with
a Simulated Victim, photo by Sun Lin

One of the other scenarios Maj (Dr!) DeFord participated in was the MCI drill:  An EMS team had a small fleet of ambulances and a large number of victims that they had to re-triage, load on ambulances, and bring to the scenario, where Maj DeFord and others played the receiving emergency room, handling a flood of victims requiring more definitive care (blood, chest tubes, surgery, and the like).

As part of her ongoing PIO training, Lt Hollerbach was fortunate to be invited as observer into the Oakland Emergency Operations Center (EOC), as part of the Yellow Command training.

In 2013, the Bay Area Regional Catastrophic Planning Team collaborated to establish a “Yellow Command” component to Urban Shield to complete a full-scale exercise to test the Regional Catastrophic Earthquake Mass Fatality Plan.

The goal of Yellow Command 2015 was to engage EOCs throughout the Bay Area Region and promote coordination across agencies and jurisdictions in response to a complex coordinated terrorist attack. It involved live communication from two field play sites to local EOCs, driving regional coordination regarding needed resources and mutual aid. The exercise focused on validating the roles and responsibilities of regional transit agencies per the Regional Catastrophic Earthquake Mass Transportation and Evacuation Plan.

Yellow Command also provided an opportunity for Bay Area agencies to practice the use of regional tools such as Cal COP (CA Common Operating Picture) and Web EOC for maintaining situational awareness and communications with regional partners during planned and unplanned events.

• Cal COP leverages local and regional risk management and critical infrastructure assessments—layered with real-time, intentional, technological, and natural hazard threat information—to create a common threat awareness picture.
• Web EOC is the crisis information management system used by emergency management officials during an activation of their Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

Two-way integration of Cal COP and Web EOC significantly enhances situational awareness across emergency management and public safety agencies.

In the exercise that Lt Hollerbach participated in, the EOC was activated a few minutes after 9 AM, continuing until noon.  The scenario started with simulated attacks in various parts of the Bay Area, with Oakland monitoring the situation. Throughout the morning, the scenario unfolded, with additional crises and coordinated (simulated!) attacks continuing.

Although most of the training was communications oriented, the EOC was staffed with IC, Planning, Logistics, Operations, and other sections, in addition to PIOs.  This was great, to see the whole incident management system come together.

This Year's Urban Shield T-Shirt,
photo by Lt Hollerbach

Since Lt Hollerbach was the least experienced person in the room (at least in the context of handling mass casualty events), pretty much every conversation she had with team members was a learning experience - both in furthering her PIO training and and in seeing firsthand the entire command structure in action, in a large-scale event spread across the entire Bay Area, with multiple jurisdictions coming together and sharing information and resources.

No details of the scenario or any photographs of the EOC, for security reasons.  All you get is a photo of the t-shirt!  If you want to see more, you’ll have to find a way to participate next year.

The skills and professionalism of the people staffing the EOC were impressive.  Many thanks to Urban Shield and particularly the EOC for letting us participate.

Civil Air Patrol Joins Total Force "Airmen"

Press release by Staff Sgt. Whitney Stanfield
Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs Command Information

WASHINGTON – Following 74 years of support to emergency services, aerospace education and cadet programs, the Civil Air Patrol, when conducting missions for the Air Force as the official Air Force Auxiliary is now included in the Air Force’s definition of the Total Force.

The Air Force updated Doctrine Volume 2, Leadership, in August 2015 expanding the Air Force’s descriptions of Total Force and Airmen to now consist of regular, Guard, Reserve, and Auxiliary members.

Historically, the broader term Airmen referred to uniformed and civilian members of the US Air Force (officer or enlisted; regular, Reserve, or Guard) regardless of rank, component, or specialty.
With this newest change, Air Force leaders should consider each part of the Total Force, including the Auxiliary, when determining the most effective and efficient ways to complete the mission. CAP has approximately 57,000 volunteers and 550 aircraft assigned to more than 1,500 units stateside available or currently supporting non-combat missions on behalf of the Air Force.

“As a strategic partner, these unpaid professionals have boldly served our nation saving the Air Force almost 40 times the cost of using military assets for each hour served,” said Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James. “Inclusion in the Total Force reflects the continuing key contributions of this highly trained and equipped organization.”

The Auxiliary members who fly the nearly 100,000 hours per year performing disaster relief, counterdrug, search and rescue, fighter interceptor training, aerial observation and cadet orientation flights will now be included in the Total Force and referred to as Airmen during the performance of official duties in recognition of their contributions to the Air Force.

“Civil Air Patrol enjoys a proud legacy of selfless sacrifice and service to country and community that spans decades,” said Maj. Gen. Joseph Vazquez, CAP National Commander. “Our ability to augment the Air Force is second to none. We provide 85 percent of inland search and rescue missions and disaster-relief support to local, state and national agencies as well as aerial reconnaissance for homeland security, and remain continually postured to offer more.”

Beyond CAP’s support to achieve its homeland responsibilities for non-combat operations, the organization has been recognized for their efforts to inspire hundreds of thousands of cadets and K-12 students to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics education and training.

“Civil Air Patrol’s increased exposure has a direct impact on attracting youth interest in STEM- based activities which are skills necessary to develop the innovative Airmen our Air Force needs,” said Chief of Staff General Mark A. Welsh III. “We proudly welcome the Air Force Auxiliary by extending our badge of honor as Airmen.” 

All Hands Meeting - September 2015

By 1st Lt Karin Hollerbach, photos by Lt Col Juan Tinnirello

This month’s All Hands Meeting was opened with Lt Col Tinnirello leading squadron members in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Members and Visitors Attending the All Hands Meeting

Several visitors and prospective new members joined our meeting, and we extend a warm welcome to them.

Monthly Recap

Once again, August proved to be a busy month for Squadron 188.

Air Force training mission
Two aircrew (including Capt Steven DeFord, Lt Hollerbach, and Capt Pete McCutcheon in CAP 481 and Capt Georgios Michelogiannakis, Capt Jordan Hayes, and Capt Terence Wilson in CAP 445), mission staff (including Maj Noel Luneau serving as IC, Maj Doug Ramsey and 1st Lt Gabriel Fletcher-Hernandez serving as MROs) participated in this training mission.

SAREX
Groups 2 and 5 held an advanced SAREX at LVK, in which quite a few Squadron members participated.  Thanks to the following members for making themselves available for this training:

Lt Adams

• Maj Chris Johnson, Incident Commander (IC)
• Maj DeFord,  Blackhat team 
• Maj Kathy Johnson, Public Information Officer (PIO)
• Maj Luneau, Mission Observer (MO)
• Capt Hayes, Logistics Section Chief (LSC)
• 1st Lt Eric Choate, Mission Pilot (MP)
• Lt Fletcher-Hernandez, Airborne Photographer (AP)
• 1st Lt Al Chavez, Urban Direction Finder (UDF) team lead
• Lt Hollerbach, Blackhat team
• 2d Lt Robert Adams, Mission Radio Operator (MRO)
• SM Nicolay Zherebnenkov 

Maj K. Johnson

According to the IC, Maj C. Johnson, the operational tempo was “daunting.”  The feedback he received from many was that “we need to do more stuff like this.” Resources were deliberately overwhelmed and stretched thin, to approximate real life scenarios. When actual large-scale disasters occur, or multiple smaller disasters happen in parallel, we can’t count on always having enough staffing.

As PIO for the SAREX, Maj K. Johnson did an amazing job of orchestrating press coverage, including both NBC and Channel 2.  We thank both stations for giving us their attention, and helping to spread the word to the public about they important role that CAP plays in emergency services and disaster relief.


Some of the press coverage can be viewed here:
http://ep-fox.s3.amazonaws.com/captures/099/700/0997002D07EF4018B5B6D9C8E4179534.mp4 

and here:
http://www.ktvu.com/news/13839573-story

and here:
 http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Bay-Areas-Civil-Air-Patrol-Trains-Pilots-in-Preparation-for-Natural-Disasters-323386851.html

All in all, as members we can expect more intensive training with even higher performance expectations and “at tempo” realistic training scenarios.

Other missions included -
EPIRB mission, with Maj C. Johnson (IC) and 2 UDF teams.  The signal was shut down in a very fast 4-5 hours from the start.

Lt Kraus

A second ELT mission, with Maj Luneau as IC.  SM Tim Roberts earned his first find (congratulations!) and served as aircrew along with Capt Michelogiannakis (MP) and Lt Fletcher-Hernandez.

Flying privately, Maj Ironfield and Lt Hollerbach heard an ELT, which was also heard by Capt Louis Rivas.  Although none of our squadron members flew in the mission to find this ELT, we thank squadron members for listening in on the emergency channel and calling it in.

Finally, we should note that the training comes at a cost as well:  During the weekend of the SAREX, while there were two other exercises in SoCal and a national event all scheduled during the same time, a real mission occurred - and it was difficult to find available members who had not yet reached the end of their duty days.

All in all, Squadron 188 was engaged in no less than 5 missions in the month of August.  Keep up the great work!

New and Renewed Emergency Services (ES) Ratings and Awards

Maj Luneau Receiving the Silver Clasp Plus
Bronze Clasp for his Air Search and Rescue Ribbon
from Capt Hayes

Congratulations to the following members who completed or renewed their ES ratings and earned some amazing awards:

• Maj Luneau - whose Air Search and Rescue ribbon was upgraded to a silver clasp plus a bronze clasp for flying an incredible 80 SAR sorties 
• Maj Philip Blank completed his ICUT
• Maj Mark Fridell completed his Mission Scanner (MS) rating - his first ES rating! 
• Capt Michelogiannakis completed Mission Check Pilot qualifications 



Capt Michelogiannakis

• As only the 4th Mission Check Pilot in Group 2, Capt Michelogiannakis joins a very select and professional group of individuals - along with Maj Jeff Ironfield, Lt Col Brett Dolnick, and Capt Ray Woo.  
• Lts Choate and Hollerbach achieved their CD ratings
• Lt Kraus completed his IFR Form 91 - and is now an IFR rated Mission Pilot 
• Lt Roberts - completed MO and simultaneously earned his first Find ribbon
• SM Ken Wayne - completed Level 1 and earned his Membership ribbon

The squadron also completed its Subordinate Unit Inspection last month.  Thank you to all who contributed to that effort.

Aerospace Education eXcellence (AEX) Minute

SM Zherebnenkov shared this month’s AEX minute by letting us know about the upcoming (Sept 27) lunar eclipse that will feature a 14% larger than normal, blood-red moon - an event that only occurs every 30 years or so.  Plan to keep watch for it!

More information can be found at NASA's site by clicking here.

 Upcoming Events

Lt Roberts Receiving his Find Ribbon from Capt Hayes

A number of squadron members will attend the Water Survival course hosted by the US Coast Guard in September.  The course will include an open water portion, held at Half Moon Bay and/or Coyote Point (depending on the weather) and a classroom portion. Participants must be MS Standards to take this course.  Thanks to Lt Chavez and Capt Hayes for organizing this training opportunity for us.

Safety Education

Lt Roberts led a discussion about Human Factors in Aviation, which included a discussion about a 1989 Air Ontario flight from Dryden Airport in Canada.  The flight crashed on takeoff, with tragic results. We discussed a number of factors that contributed to the accident chain, including, for example:

• Pilot stress
• Unsupportive company
• Flight without functional auxiliary power unit
• Delays
• Fatigue
• Poor crew resource management (CRM)
• Weather
• Cold soaking 
• Etc.

Stay safe and break those accident chains!

All Hands Meeting August 2015

By 1st Lt Karin Hollerbach, photos by Capt Jordan Hayes

Welcome New Member
A warm welcome to new member, SM Joshua Carter!  We now have 40 active members in our squadron.

Squadron Recap
July was another busy month…

Squadron Members at the All Hands Meeting

Events

Capt Michelogiannakis Describing his
Experiences at NESA

• On 11-12 July, Squadron 188 hosted the NorCal ground school portion of the CAWG Mission Aircrew School (MAS). Maj Noel Luneau organized the event as Project Officer and arranged for instructors, including Capt Hayes. 1st Lt Robert Kraus attended as a Mission Pilot (MP) student along with 2nd Lt Tim Roberts as a Mission Observer (MO) student. The ground school is a companion to the air school held later in the month.
• On 14 July, Maj Jeff Ironfield and Capt Georgios Michelogiannakis led a discussion on Aircrew Professionalism.
• On 15 July, Maj Ironfield and Maj Chris Johnson, as well as Capt Michelogiannakis and Capt Hayes, flew in a WADS mission, the aircrews serving as target and hibird, respectively. 
• In mid-July, Maj Steven DeFord (ICS training), Capt Michelogiannakis (won Distinguished Graduate award), and 1st Lt Eric Choate (Advanced MP training) attended the National Emergency Services Academy (NESA) held at Camp Atterbury in Indiana.
• On 24-26 July, the MAS continued at KFAT, with Maj Luneau serving as Incident Commander (IC), Capt Hayes serving as Communications Unit Leader (CUL), SM Alexei Roudnev serving as Mission Radio Operator (MRO) and Mission Staff Assistant (MSA), and Lts Kraus and Roberts continuing their training.

SM Nikolay Zherebnenkov Discussing
the Squadron's Telescope

Missions
Squadron 188 also flew in 3 missions, including

• 5 July: EPIRB/Concord (Lt Col Glenn: UDF/Find; Maj DeFord: IC-T)
• 13 July: PLB/Monterey (Maj Johnson: IC-T; Maj Luneau: IC Mentor)
• 4 August (Maj DeFord, IC-T; Maj Luneau: IC Mentor; Maj Johnson/C: Radio Relay; Capt Hayes: Logistics Section Chief)

Two members completed new ES ratings:

• Maj DeFord completed his Operations Section Chief (OSC) rating at NESA
• SM Roudnev completed his ICUT training

Upcoming Events

• There will be a Group 2/5 Disaster Relief Exercise (DRE) on 29-30 August.  Sign up today!  We are still seeking MSAs to help out.
• There will be a G1000 ground school on the next two Tuesdays (11, 18 August) at our squadron headquarters.
• The Wing Conference will be held on 25-27 September in Newport Beach.



Maj Luneau Presenting Capt Rivas with the Command
Ribbon, after Completing his First Year as Commander
of Squadron 188



Capt Rivas Presenting Lt Choate with a Red Ribbon

• 1st Lt Al Chavez is organizing a Water Survival Course on 3 and 15 September.  Details to follow.

Awards

Congratulations to the following members for receiving awards:

• Cadet Special Activity Ribbon (Maj DeFord, Capt Michelogiannakis, Lt Choate): NESA
• Red Ribbon (2yrs): Lt Choate, 1st Lt Matthew Gast, Lt Hollerbach
• Command Ribbon: Capt Rivas

Safety Education

Lt Roberts delivered a presentation on heat stress related safety issues.

Professionalism for CAP Aircrew (and other Members!)

By 1st Lt Karin Hollerbach (including photo)

On July 14th, Maj Jeff Ironfield and Capt Georgios Michelogiannakis led the squadron’s aircrew members in a discussion about professionalism, on the ground and in the air.

The discussion covered

Maj Jeff Ironfield and Capt Georgios Michelogiannakis
(photo taken at Squadron 188's headquarters
at an earlier date)

• Why it is important for CAP members to behave professionally at all times while engaged in CAP activities
• Professionalism on the ground and in the air
• The impact of professionalism on the perception of CAP and its membership and on safety

Maintaining professional behavior while engaged in CAP activities or in any way representing CAP is critically important for creating and maintaining a positive reputation in the eyes of the public as well as new and fellow members.  Our collective behavior reflects not only on ourselves as individuals. It also reflects on our squadron, our Group, our Wing, CAP as a national organization – and even on the US Air Force, particularly when we are wearing Air Force style uniforms.

Professionalism here includes the whole range of behavior such as customs and courtesies, grooming standards, and how we interact with each other and with the public.

Professional behavior also contributes very directly to staying safe both on the ground and in the air. In the discussion, we reviewed several aircraft crashes that could be traced back in part to lapses in professionalism, with fatal results.

Most of the time, any lapses in professionalism, of course, result in lesser incidents and survivable lessons to be learned. Have you ever taken a shortcut in obtaining a weather or other briefing, in providing a passenger briefing, or in other aspects of preflight planning?  What about in maintaining your personal minimums and CAP safety standards?  Even if inadvertently, have you ever pressured a fellow aircrew member into hurrying their part of the assignment, perhaps because you were already ready with yours?  Could that have had any impact on mission safety?  Remember that one time when you didn't think through clearly enough what to say to ATC before you keyed the mike?

No doubt most of us aircrew members can think of examples where we have fallen short in some manner.  I know I can.  The key is to keep learning and keep striving for excellence.

Lessons can be learned from good examples as well!  Someone behaving particularly professionally can serve as an outstanding role model to be emulated.

Several squadron members shared stories of behavior – their own and others’ – of particularly professional behavior and – for learning purposes - of behavior that may have may have presented opportunities for improvement.

Speaking of professionalism:  kudos to our squadron for creating a safe environment where members can share stories of things they would have done differently, to help everyone learn without anyone being judged for it.  Thanks to all members for contributing to this safety and learning culture.

All Hands Meeting – 9 July 2015

By 1st Lt Karin Hollerbach, photos by Lt Col Juan Tinnirello

June Recap
June was another busy month for our squadron. Activities included:

Maj Kathy Johnson, Squadron 188's
newest AP

Disaster Relief Exercise (DRE) at KSAC
Participants included Maj Chris Johnson, Maj Maggie Wang, 1st Lt Gabriel Fletcher-Hernandez, Maj Jeff Ironfield, Capt Luis Rivas.  The DRE enabled many of the recent graduates of the Airborne Photographer (AP) Ground School to complete their training requirements and become APs.  The AP rating is not an easy one to achieve, and this DRE didn’t make things any easier:  According to Maj Wang, AP Trainees faced a “tough curriculum and a tough flight” with fairly windy conditions.

San Carlos Airshow
1st Lt Eric Choate represented Squadron 188 at the San Carlos Airshow on 27 June.

BBQ
The squadron also held a BBQ on the 5th Tuesday of June.

VIP SoCal Mission
Capt Jordan Hayes served as Air Ops Branch Director (AOBD) for this mission.

Multiple ELT Missions
Maj Noel Luneau, Maj Steven DeFord and Lt Col Roger Glenn were among those participating in the prosecution of several ELT missions.

Awards and Ratings
Congratulations to the following members for their achievements:

Capt Rivas and SM Zherebnenkov

Capt Rivas and SM Roudnev

• Maj Ironfield completed his Planning Section Chief (PSC) rating. 
• Capt Doug Ramsey received his ES patch.
• Capt Georgios Michelogiannakis completed his Senior Rating in Standards & Eval. 
• Maj DeFord received an Air Search and Rescue Ribbon (10 sorties) 
• Maj Luneau received a Rescue Find Ribbon, with a Bronze Clasp, and received his Incident Commander 2 (IC2) badge.
• SM Alexei Roudnev and SM Nikolay Zherebnenkov both received their Level 1 Membership awards, and SM Zherebnenkov received the Yeager award.  

*** This now brings our squadron to 90% achievement rate of the Yeager (Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager Aerospace Education Achievement) award.  If you haven’t completed this training yet, please do, so we can get to 100%.

Other Squadron Achievements

Thanks to the dedication of all our squadron members, Squadron 188 has now achieved 100% completion in Cadet Protection Program training.

So far this year, our glider usage has reached 100% of goal, (200 sorties, 100 of which are cadet O-Rides), thanks to all glider pilots and those donating their time to give O-Rides to cadets.

Upcoming Events

Two Squadron 188 members (1st Lt Robert Kraus and 2d Lt Tim Roberts) will be students at the upcoming Mission Aircrew School (MAS) Ground School portion, held at KOAK July 11-12.  The second half of the MAS will be held July 24-26 in Fresno.  You must attend the Ground School portion in order to participate (as a Trainee) in Fresno.

There will be a Group 2 / 5 DRE held on August 29-30.  Details will be forthcoming. This DRE will focus on advanced aircrew and ground tasking and is primarily for standards, not trainees.

If you can, please consider attending the CAWG Wing Conference, held in Newport Beach at the end of September.


Aerospace Education Excellence: New Horizons Mission to Pluto 

Lt Bitz presenting information on
the New Horizon spacecraft

1st Lt Pat Bitz presented an AEX educational session on the New Horizon spacecraft that was launched 9 years (19 January 2006!) ago from Cape Canaveral and has just now reached the dwarf planet Pluto, for a first-time (by humans…) exploration.

NASA is holding a public information session on 14 July about this historic event. The first post-flyby, close-up images of Pluto and moons are scheduled to be released on 15 July and will be available on the Ames website.

New Horizon will pass within 7,800 miles of Pluto’s surface.  By comparison, at the same distance over Manhattan, the spacecraft’s sensors could pick out all the little ponds and lakes in Central Park.  More information provided by NASA can be found by clicking here.

Lt Bitz showed a great video about the mission, which you can also view by clicking here.

In an upcoming AEX session, Lt Bitz will demonstrate the use of the squadron’s telescope, which we received from CAP as part of a STEM kit.   Details when we find out more!


Safety Presentation

It's BBQ season, so food is this months' safety topic. 

Capt Hayes led the squadron through a Food Safety Quiz for this month’s safety presentation.

Do you know how long it is safe to keep cooked food out at room temperature, or whether you can salvage part of that loaf of bread when one piece of it is moldy?  No?  Well, if you had attended the meeting, you would know!

Squadron members were also alerted to the fact that reg 62-1 has been updated, removing safety currency requirements from event participation. Despite this, squadron members are expected to participate in safety briefings and, of course, to maintain safety as a first priority in all CAP activities.