Training In Indiana For Over 600 Volunteers
More than 600 of Civil Air
Patrol's citizen volunteers are receiving premier multidisciplinary
training over the next two weeks at the National Emergency Services
Academy (NESA).
Now in its 14th year, NESA got underway Saturday with two
week-long sessions at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training
Center, a 35,000-acre Indiana National Guard facility in Edinburgh,
IN. The academy combines task-based training with practical
application that has become the standard for CAP wings
nationwide.
"It is incredible to see how much NESA and CAP have grown and
changed over the last 14 years," said Lt. Col. John Desmarais,
NESA's founder and deputy director of operations at Civil Air
Patrol National Headquarters. "The first two sessions of NESA held
in 1996 and 1997 had less than 100 personnel, including both staff
and students, and only focused on ground search and rescue. This
year we expect more than 300 personnel each session week, and will
have personnel from every state in the nation participating in all
of the emergency services mission areas that CAP supports."
NESA consists of three schools - National Ground Search and
Rescue School, Incident Command System School and Mission Aircrew
School. Each school consists of several courses conducted as
one-week sessions focusing on specific skills. A total of 20
courses, including a new basic training session for prospective
public information officers, are offered. The public information
officers course, like most courses at NESA, is modeled after
training provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and
other emergency response organizations.
National Ground Search and Rescue School provides members the
skills they need to expertly perform ground searches for missing
people and aircraft. Incident Command System School covers the
skills needed for members to be top-notch leaders and staff
officers at the incident command post and manage operations
involving varying degrees of difficulty. Mission Aircrew School
teaches critical skills needed for pilots and other crew members to
stay at the top of their game and support some of CAP's primary
missions, like conducting airborne reconnaissance and delivering
imagery for impact assessment after disasters like the current oil
spill response on the Gulf Coast.
CAP performs 90 percent of all inland search and rescue missions
as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Tyndall
Air Force Base, FL. In fiscal year 2009, CAP was credited with
saving 72 lives. To date in fiscal year 2010, CAP has been credited
with an additional 97 saves.
"NESA has truly become a role model program for CAP, and
showcases the capabilities of our dedicated volunteers to support
their communities," said Desmarais.
The academy operates with a staff of about 150. It includes
mostly CAP volunteers, complemented by instructors representing
various federal, state and local agencies, including CAP-U.S. Air
Force reservists who monitor the training to ensure it meets Air
Force standards.