Brig. General Amy S. Courter Named Interim Leader

Aero-News has learned the Civil Air Patrol’s Board of Governors, in a teleconference Tuesday night, voted to remove Maj. Gen. Antonio J. Pineda from his position as CAP national commander. The board’s action comes two months after the chairman of the Board of Governors, Maj. Gen. Richard Bowling, CAP, announced the 11-member board had suspended the CAP national commander for a period of up to 180 days.

As ANN reported, Pineda's suspension occurred after the board convened a special August 5 meeting to receive the initial CAP Inspector General’s Report of Investigation concerning allegations that a CAP Florida Wing member took US Air Force Air Command and Staff College tests for Pineda in 2002 and 2003.

"This action was taken after careful review of the facts and circumstances and after numerous discussions of the report of the investigation against Gen. Pineda," said Bowling.

Vice Commander Brig. Gen. Amy S. Courter, who has served as acting national commander since Pineda (shown at bottom) was suspended by the Board of Governors on August 5, now takes leadership of the Civil Air Patrol as interim commander as prescribed in the CAP Constitution and Bylaws. She will hold the position until the August 2008 CAP board meeting, where members will vote to select a new commander. Courter (shown below) is eligible to run for the position.

The Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the US Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with more than 55,000 members nationwide.

"The members of the Civil Air Patrol are patriotic and highly dedicated volunteers of this great nation who routinely place duty before self to serve their communities," said Courter. "Their contributions during the search for aviation legend Steve Fossett, during Hurricane Katrina, 9/11 and thousands of other noteworthy missions throughout our 66 years of service have made a profound difference in the lives of thousands of Americans of all ages. I am honored to serve as interim national commander of Civil Air Patrol."

Courter joined CAP’s Michigan Wing in 1979 and most recently served as chair of the CAP Professional Development Committee. She served as commander of the Michigan Wing from 1999 to 2002 and as senior adviser to the CAP National Cadet Advisory Council.

Courter worked for 20 years as vice president of Information Technology with Valassis, a global billion-dollar marketing services company based in Livonia, MI. Courter started her own company in 2006, Amy’s Creative Solutions, to allow her the flexibility to devote more time to her volunteer work in CAP. She consults on leadership, strategic planning, technology and program management.

The Civil Air Patrol was founded on December 1, 1941 -- less than a week before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II. Today, CAP performs 90 percent of continental US inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 58 lives in 2006.

In addition to their search and rescue duties, CAP volunteers perform homeland security, disaster relief and counterdrug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. Members also play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the more than 22,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet program.

FMI: www.cap.gov