ABENAKI NEWS

Volume 11, Issue 3

Semper

Vigilans!

FALL 2008

WING CALENDAR
LtC Lesley M. Lara CAP Executive Administrator

COMMANDERS CORNER Col Donald C. Davidson, Commander Having spent some time in the political arena over many years, I will take the liberty of borrowing from a piece of that experience to provide for you today a report that I call my: State of the Wing address. I am delighted to say to all of you that the State of your Wing is Excellent! During this past year we have accomplished a number of things, albeit quietly. Allow me to highlight some of these: Financial: For F/Y 2008, your Wing had the first Wing Budget program in its history. All departments were asked to submit requests for their anticipated needs. Monies received from our State of NH grant were allocated to those requests in a budget format that allowed us to monitor expenditures and make adjustments where needed. Needs that the Wing departments have always had, but were never able to fulfill have been met for the first time ever. In addition, because of constant budget review by the Wing finance committee, I anticipate a surplus at year end on September 30th. Last fall we incorporated the National Wing Banker program. The expected initial angst from several squadron leaders gradually disappeared as involvement and better understanding of the program progressed. Today, I dare say that NO squadron CCs would desire to return to the administrative head aches and paperwork that existed with the old system. In July, we had an audit of our Financial operations, which was the first under the Wing Banker program and passed with flying colors. As a part of this Audit, a new requirement to inspect two other departments was done. Both the Logistics and Communications sections were reviewed both departments were rated excellent. Cont. pg 8

SEPTEMBER 27 Planning for Eval

OCTOBER 8 HS/BEM Functional Drill 15 Commanders Call 1900 hrs 17.18 NER Conference Newport, RI 20-26 NH Wing AF Evaluation DES Portsmouth NOVEMBER . 5 HS/BEM Graded Exercise 15-16 UCC NH Wing HQ 18 Commanders Call 1900 hrs DECEMBER 2 GT Leaders Mtg 8 Wreaths Across America caravan stop in Hampton, NH 11-12 GT Training Hike Sandwich,NH 13 Wreaths Across America ceremony at NHSVC Boscawen 12 noon 17 Commanders Call 1900 hrs

Published by New Hampshire Wing Civil Air Patrol Wing Commander Colonel Don Davidson, Sr. CAP Public Affairs Officer /Editor Major Penny H. Hardy, CAP penh55@comcast.net
SEMPERVIGILANS

ABENAKI NEWS AWARDS AND PROMOTIONS HIGHLANDERS Ian Souders Matthew Anderson Colin Bartlett Eric Gray Eric Parent Taylor Buck Tyler Buck Tanner Buck Neal Dwelley Kestrel Cole MONADNOCK Josh McGarvey Brett Somero Samuel Barnes Sarah Dick SEACOAST Julian Davila Adam Parent Rachael Hockhausen Evan Collins Brendan Patterson Michelle Wegner Garnett Robinson Seth Gosse Benjamin Lamere Jesse Luke Robinson SENIOR MEMBERS Peter Blais Tom Tsirimokos Kenneth Williams Joshua Harris Ronald Calabro James Chaney Eric Gaunt

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SPAATZ Shane Bellingham Manchester EAKER Vincent van Dintel Highlanders MITCHELL C/2Lt Adam Behr Highlanders C/2Lt Rebecca Behr Highlanders GREATER NASHUA Christopher Clarkson John Keisling Aleksandr Hosage Chad Jeffers Patrick Kennedy Aaron Lauzier Kirt Liberty Sandra Costa Ross Lanin Brandon Garabrant David Shunk CONCORD Benton Beltramo Anna McGuire Fredrick Dowd Benjamin Fisher Michael Denham Nick Darling HAWK Max Haas Michael Wallace Douglas Driscoll Benjamin Dadian Alexander Turcotte

C/SMSgt C/SSgt C/TSgt C/TSgt C/TSgt C/SrA C/SrA C/A1C C/A1C C/Amn C/SMSgt C/SSgt SFO C/A1C C/CMSgt C/SrA C/SrA C/SrA C/SrA C/SrA C/SrA C/Amn C/Amn C/Amn Capt. Capt 1/Lt 1/Lt 1Lt 2Lt FO

C/SMSgt C/MSgt C/SSgt C/TSgt C/TSgt C/A1C C/ A1C C/A1C C/Amn C/Amn C/Amn C/CMSgt C/MSgt C/SrA C/A1C C/A1C C/Amn C/1Lt C/SMSgt C/SrA C/Amn C/Amn

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SQUADRON NEWS
Submitted by Individual Units

CONCORD SQUADRON Commander Darin Ninness was presented the Squadron of Merit banner at the wing conference. This is not the first time the squadron has won this accolade. Cadets have had 55+ hrs. of O flights since June. Seven cadets received Certificates of Appreciation for their performance at NCC. C/SMSgt Nick Shaper received the AF Sergeants Association award as squadron cadet of the year. Fourteen cadets attended encampment. A field trip was done to the Manchester-Boston Airport control tower to learn about the duties of an air traffic controller. GREATER NASHUA SQUADRON Squadron members enjoyed a fun day in spite of rain at Six Flags in August. They also took in a Manchester Fisher Cats baseball game that month. Recruiting was done with the Boy Scouts and also plans are made for recruiting at Family Resource Center Home Schooling as well as having an Aerospace Education event. Several members attended the ICS-300 course at Daniel Webster College last month. HAWK SQUADRON A group of cadets and seniors took a trip to the New England Air Museum where they learned about how aviation developed over the years and how CAP has been involved in that history. A cadet visited from CA Wing and the squadron exchanged patches with him. Three cadets attended the 2008 NH Wing Conference. Two cadets will head to RI to the NER conference in October. HIGHLANDERS SQUADRON During the June SAREX 8 cadets were dispatched from Rochester to meet up with four Hawk Sq. cadets and head up Blue Job Mt. They communicated with search planes, located the beacon and combed the woods for a crew member, and were able to locate him by cell phone. Maj. Barrington taught map and compass use up on the mountain top. They also used mirrors and air to ground radios. Cliff climbing was done with ropes and the group finished the day with a swim in a mountain top pond. Fire roasted frog was had for dinner and it was very GOOD! The cadets enjoyed the remote training. Four cadets attended Hawk Mt. summer school and were on staff there. Five cadets attended the NER encampment where C/2Lt Adam Behr was one of two squadron commanders. Capt. Gilbert was chief chef and AEO. He was voted favorite senior member and nicknamed Capt. Gilly. Seven cadets attended the NH-VT encampment. Cadet Leno was on staff. Two seniors and 9 cadets attended the airshow at Westover on Sept. 6. An Open House and cadet change of command will be held on Sept. 27 with cadet Adam Behr taking command from Vincent van Dintel. Cadet Rebecca Behr is looking for cadets to form a drill team. LEBANON SQUADRON The squadron is gearing up for its first fall Open House at Signal Aviation on Sept. 29th. Box top flyers have been made to attach to pizza boxes at a local pizzeria. An C-cut communications course was recently held for members. The squadron color guard will take part in the opening ceremonies at the NH Special Olympics on Sept. 27. Plans are for a member of the Police Dept to review motor

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vehicle and new bicycle safety laws as part of the monthly safely briefing. Two cadets attended the Natl Glider Flight Academy this past summer. MONADNOCK SQUADRON Cadet Josh McGarvey received his solo wings at the Natl Flight Academy this past summer. Cadet Liam Smedley attended the USAFA summer seminar, Cadet Officer School at Maxwell AFB, the Natl Cadet Competition in Dayton as a member of the drill team, the Natl Blue Beret Academy at Oshkosh, WI and also found time to attend the NH-VT encampment at Norwich University. Cadet members will be participating in a bivouac at Camp Winimac on Sept. 19-21. The squadron color guard and marching unit will attend the Antrim Home and Harvest Days. SEACOAST SQUADRON Cadets enjoyed a trip to the Ultralight Festival in Greenland. Monthly pilots meetings are held on the first Thursday of each month and so far they have been well attended. Capt. Hill and Capt. Graziano, having been instrumental in getting these meetings going, have received Certificates of Appreciation from Commander Goupil. Ten cadets attended either the NHWG or NER Encampments over the summer. Three cadets received NCSA ribbons for attendance at various academies. Cadet Alecia Hagman was Cadet First Sergeant at the NHWG encampment. A trip to the UNH Observatory is planned for September 19th. Cadets working with Maj. Hardy did a fantastic job with their squadron display for the wing conference and came away with first place. As Seacoast Sq. was the first squadron in NH historical information was included as well as more recent events. Former squadron member Maj. Joseph Michael Verna will receive a promotion to Col and the Distinguished Service Medal for his service during World War II at the squadrons Sept. 25th meeting.

NEW HAMPSHIRE WING CONFERENCE 2008 Under the leadership of Lt. Cheryl Piazza and her team of coordinators the wing conference was held in Manchester, NH on Sept. 6, 2008 at the Best Western Conference Center. Nearly 100 members attended all or part of the conference and seminars. A good if wet day was had by all. Maj. Jason Smith was Master of Ceremonies for the morning session. The evening banquet guest speakers were Ltc. Rick Greenwood from the NH Air National Guard and B/G (ret) Michael Kelley of Norwich University. C/Col Shane Bellingham was the MC for the evening. Shane was presented a proclamation signed by the governor and read by State Rep. John DeJoie for his achievement of the coveted Spaatz award which was presented to him at the 2008 National Board meeting by M/G Amy Courter, National Commander. The morning awards session began with NHWG receiving the 2008 NER Disaster Relief Award presented by Col Robert Diduch, NER Commander. Members of the Foxbat Drill Team received Certificates of Appreciation for their participation in the National Cadet Competition in Dayton, OH. The team received a first place in Standard Drill and a 5th overall ranking. All squadrons received Mishap Free Certificates again this year. Commanders Commendations were presented to the following: Maj. Paul Mondoux.Nashua Sq. CC Sept 01 to May 08 Ltc. Dale Swanson Cdt. Special Activities Officer Ltc. Mead HerrickGround Team Director Capt. Peter Blais..2008 Encampment Commander Cadet Andrew Clough.Drill Team Member

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Cadet Heather Hill...Drill Team Member Ltc. Charles FreemanDir. Of Emergency Services Capt. Jean Lawrie.Finance Officer C/MSgt. Rebecca Behr.Cadet Leadership School assistance to a fellow cadet Capt. Denise Chasse.Director of Cadet Programs Of the Year Awards were presented to: Cadet of the Year..C/2Lt. Michael Piazza Seacoast Squadron Cadet Leadership Award...C/Capt Ariel Feindel Concord Squadron Wing Staff Member of Year..Maj. Richard Bellerose NH Wing Senior Member of Year.Maj. Michael Hall Seacoast Squadron Squadron CC of the Year...Ltc. Darin Ninness Concord Squadron AEO of the YearMaj. Nic Goupil Seacoast Squadron Ground Team Member of Year Capt Steve Donnell Seacoast Squadron Sq. Recruiter of Year.Maj. Michael Hall Seacoast Squadron World War II Recognition Plaque and Distinguished Service Award w/ promotion to Col to former Seacoast Squadron member Maj. Joseph Michael Verna, who was unable to be present. The award will be presented at a Seacoast Squadron awards ceremony on Sept. 25th by Ltc William Moran. Longevity awards were presented to Ltc. Barry McCabe for 21 years of service and Ltc. Darin Ninness for 20 years of service. Other members were recognized with certificates of appreciation for their efforts in 2008. Maj. Robert Shaw and 2Lt Karen Keisling for 2008 encampment. Ltc. Charles Freeman, Lt Brian George and Lt Jeff Adams for Logistics team and the conference coordinating team Lt. Cheryl Piazza, Maj. Paul Mondoux, Ltc. Skip Guild, Col and Maj. Hardy, Capt Bob Gilbert.

COL DAVIDSON ACCEPTING NER DISASTER RELIEF AWARD FROM NER COMMANDER COL ROBERT DIDUCH

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FOXBAT DRILL TEAM AT NCC

FOXBAT DRILL TEAM ------------STANDARD DRILL

ABENAKI NEWS TORNADO ROARS THROUGH NEW HAMPSHIRE

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On July 24th shortly after noon a tornado warning was issued for the southeast area of NH. The sirens went off at the University of NH as a warning to those in the vicinity. Little did most people expect a twister to actually happen. There have been a few others in NH over the years, but they are somewhat of a rarity. Just before the tornado struck, NH was hit with torrential rains and very dark skies. The tornado touched down first in the Northwood, Deerfield area around Northwood Lake south of Concord. It traveled northeast for approximately 40 miles cutting a path a half mile wide through Epsom, Barnstead, Ossipee, New Durham, Wolfeboro, Effingham and Freedom. It was all over within an hour leaving widespread destruction in its wake. Luckily only one person died, but about 150 homes were damaged or destroyed. Many people were at work when the storm hit lessening the death and injury toll. The NH Bureau of Emergency Management (BEM) contacted the NH Wing of Civil Air Patrol to fly damage assessments the next day. CAP Mission 08-C-6337 took off on July 25th from Concord Airport. Col Donald C. Davidson, NH Wing CC was the mission pilot and 1Lt Richard Cox was SDIS equipment operator. Daniel McElhinney from FEMA was also on board. Lt Cox used his own SDIS camera equipment as it marked each photo taken with the latitude and longitude they were taken at. Some of these photos were downloaded in real time directly to the NHBEM. NH CAP was requested to fly another damage assessment flight in the Ossipee area on 1 August 2008. The Operations Director of the State EOC, Donald Keeler was on board for this flight. The State BEM was very pleased with the quality of the 800+ photos taken.

ABENAKI NEWS UNIT COMMANDERS COURSE

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The 2008 Unit Commanders Course will be held November 15-16 at NHWG headquarters. The course is not necessarily for new unit commanders, it is for all unit commanders and those aspiring to become a unit commander. Many new topics will be covered in this years course. For more information contact Capt. Robert Gilbert at rbg181301@comcast. Those wishing to attend need to fill out a CAPF 17 and have it signed by their commander. Maj. Gilbert is still looking for a director for this course. Commanders Corner continued Emergency Services: Your Wing was asked by the CST unit of the NH NG to assist as the Aviation piece of the initial Unified Command exercise held for the NHIS (NHMS) last September. After that participation, we recommended that a 3 day temporary Class D airspace around the NHMS be incorporated for safety of the airspace and the attending 100,000 person crowds. The result.The first Class D occurred at the race this month! In addition, NH Wing was asked to be a participant in the creation of a Aviation Protocol for the State Disaster Plan. I was asked by the State EOC Operations Director to be a part of the committee and have been involved throughout the year. The final draft is finished and CAP is and will be an integral part of that plan whenever activated. FEMA Region One has advised that they intend to recommend this NH plan as a model for all States.

The FEMA trailer that the Wing acquired last year was slightly modified and outfitted as part of our ES plan to use it as a mobile Command Post. This was accomplished under the capable direction and work of LTC Mead Herrick. A brass plaque will be affixed to the trailer calling it the Meadmobile. Other areas of notable achievements: Your NH Wing received the 2008 NER award for Disaster relief as the result of actions during the Mothers Day Floods of last year. This event was our initial entre to the inside of the NH BEM (NH-DHLS) after two years of work by your Senior Staff to sell our CAP capabilities to State officials. These successful efforts were further rewarded with a number of requests for assistance by the State of NH and Region One of FEMA: During this past summer flight crews of your Wing flew several missions to Northern Maine to assist in the severe flooding resulting from the massive rainfalls. Your Wing flew several sorties providing the State EOC with over 1500 exceptional pictures of the damage caused by the Tornado that hit central NH in August. Your CAP was the first over the area the day after the disaster. Upon return to base, the EOC used those pictures to determine and assess distribution of resources for relief to the may communities affected. They also were a key ingredient in the initial briefing provided to the Governor at the EOC, that first day.

ABENAKI NEWS State Forestry:

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Your Wing was contacted late last year to discuss possibility of flying Fire Patrol for the State of NH. After working with Forestry and the NOC, several iterations of an Operations plan were produced and the final agreement was signed by the State just last week. Our initial contract is for the northern sector of the State and will operate from both Laconia and Lebanon. All PICs must be Mission Pilot qualified. During this process, LTC Moran created a team from the Laconia area to develop a system that will be used for these missions. Two route test flights have been completed. Early next week, all Pilots will be advised via e-mail of the process. I expect that next year NH-CAP, may be statewide. Cadet Programs: The second encampment with our new partners at Norwich was held this summer. It was once again a very successful event. This partnership has been a wonderful experience for our Wing and I look forward to many years of great encampments. LTC Brown and I will be going to Norwich later this month to discuss expansion of the program. I had the privilege of announcing The Norwich Scholarship program in March at the N.B.s in Washington. Norwich late last year created a $20,000 scholarship program for ALL qualified Cadets throughout the country to attend the University as the result of our Wing partnership. In this first year of the program, 5 NH Cadets were selected for this wonderful program. It is expected that this CAP unique scholarship will influence other Military schools to join in the concept. Again this year, the NH Wing Cadet Drill Team was the winner at the NER competition at Westover ARB and represented the region at the National Cadet Competition in Dayton. At that event your team succeeded in capturing first place Honors in the Standard Drill category and fifth place overall. We have had a change of directors in the DCP position recently as Captain Chasse went back to college. Major Shaw, an experienced senior officer for cadets has taken the reins of the program and is actively expanding senior member participation in the department to enhance and grow our Cadet activities in the Wing.

I truly believe that we clearly are the best of the best and I know we will remain so with your help and continued involvement. Thank you all for what you do for CAP and for your country.

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ABENAKI NEWS
Volume 7, Issue 2 "Semper Vigilans! Summer 2004