36112,
15
November
2018
|
20:16 PM
America/Chicago

Vehicle Manufacturer Provides Hawk Mountain With New 'Ranger'

Lt. Col. Morgan Torp-Pedersen
Public Affairs Officer
Tennessee Wing

Photos by Lt. Col. Morgan Torp-Pedersen

 

Hawk Mountain Ranger School in Kempton, Pennsylvania, received a new “Ranger” over the weekend when Polaris Industries, the leading manufacturer of off-road vehicles, donated a four-passenger Ranger Crew utility vehicle that will be used to support the school's year-round training in wilderness search and rescue and emergency services.

”The donation of this Polaris Ranger will allow us to more safely conduct our training operations on the rugged mountain terrain to resupply and respond to emergencies in areas  we couldn't otherwise access with vehicles,” said Lt. Col. Brian Cuce, ranger school commander.

”After spending the day testing it out in our field conditions on the Appalachian Trail, the speed, power and comfort live up to its branding of the 'hardest working and smoothest riding,' " Cuce said.

Col. Gary Fleming, Pennsylvania Wing commander, was on hand to officially accept the donation as the corporate representative of Civil Air Patrol.

”We hope we can continue a partnership with the Polaris corporation in the future to not just support our training but our active search and rescue operations as well,” Fleming said.

Located along the rugged Appalachian Trail, Hawk Mountain is the longest-running search and rescue school in the nation. The school provides wilderness search and rescue training to cadets and senior members across the country through a weeklong summer program as well as weekend training events throughout the year.

The goal is to build CAP emergency services leaders who are experts in wilderness search and rescue and disaster response, operating in challenging, protracted and austere search environments and leading the way in advancing the organization’s ground search and rescue capabilities.