36112,
21
April
2017
|
18:00 PM
America/Chicago

CAP Supports Air Force's Emergency Response Readiness Exercise

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – Civil Air Patrol is participating in Ardent Sentry 2017, a national-level exercise taking place April 24-28 that provides a highly complex and integrated training environment where the military can interface with federal, state and local responders.

Ardent Sentry is an exercise conducted annually by North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) that focuses on defense support to civil authorities with military capabilities. Previous exercise scenarios have included natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis, and earthquakes.

Throughout the week, city, state, federal and military officials will work through the steps required to respond to a catastrophic man-made disaster. Civil Air Patrol, acting as the Air Force Auxiliary, is participating by providing damage assessment and evacuation route aerial surveys. CAP’s Northeast Region Coordination Center mission base is located in White Plains, New York.

Five CAP Northeast Region wings – New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts – are supporting the mission, and Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island Wing aircrews are on standby if additional aircraft are required to support the mission.

“Northeast Region wings are actively supporting 1st Air Force and the Federal Emergency Management Agency on this mission, and we have over 20 aircraft in the air today flying in New York airspace,“ said Col. Jack Ozer, Northeast Region incident commander.

“Our aircrews are supporting this mission as a part of the Air Force Total Force,” he said.

Civil Air Patrol, the longtime all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary, is the newest member of the Air Force’s Total Force, which consists of regular Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, along with Air Force retired military and civilian employees. CAP, in its Total Force role, operates a fleet of 550 aircraft and performs about 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and is credited by the AFRCC with saving an average of 78 lives annually. Civil Air Patrol’s 56,000 members nationwide also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. Its members additionally play a leading role in aerospace/STEM education and serve as mentors to more than 24,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet program. Performing missions for America for the past 75 years, CAP received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2014 in honor of the heroic efforts of its World War II veterans. CAP also participates in Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans. Visit www.capmembers.com for more information.