The Alabama Wing’s “Heart of Dixie” team successfully wrapped up its fiscal 2024 operational evaluation on Aug. 10 with the completion of a wing-level search and rescue exercise at Bessemer Composite Squadron headquarters at Bessemer Municipal Airport.
The evaluation began with the start of the fiscal year, Oct. 1, and stemmed from the cooperative agreement between Civil Air Patrol, the U.S. Air Force, and CAP-USAF. The program is part of a nationwide evaluation with emphasis on selecting wings within each CAP region that focuses on command and control, training, and execution of air and ground missions.
Nine Alabama Wing flight evaluations were conducted, including cadet orientation flights, G1000 training flights, proficiency flights, and Form 5 and 91 Check flights. The 10th and final evaluation consisted of a wing-level search and rescue exercise focusing on hurricane and missing aircraft scenarios.
In preparation for the exercise, the wing’s incident management team trained for more than 11months, conducting nine in-process reviews, two tabletop exercises, and one statewide training exercise.
“Overall, this exercise was a huge success,” a CAP-USAF evaluation observation concluded, cited the incident management team “work that went into planning it.”
“The Alabama team that executed it was the ‘A’ team by all standards.”
The team consisted of
Col Brian Williams, Alabama Wing commander
Lt. Col. James Babbitt, wing assistant director of operations
Lt. Col. Nancy Carlson, Auburn Composite Squadron commander
Lt. Col. David Hartin, wing chief of staff
Lt. Col. David Hester, wing assistant director of operations
Lt. Col. Kim Miller. Wing vice commander
Lt. Col. David Stoker, Gen. Joe Wheeler Composite Squadron commander
Lt. Col. Jeff Young, wing director of safety
Maj. Jan Hulsey,Southeast Region assistant director of finance
Maj. Gerald May, wing assistant emergency services training officer
Capt. Tad Cobert, wing emergency services training officer
______Col. Jayson A. AltieriDirector of OperationsAlabama Wing
