Civil Air Patrol
Mission Specialist Designation
St. Augustine said: "God judged it better to bring good out of evil, than to suffer no evil to exist."
Our nation was shocked and horrified when on the afternoon of November 5, 2009, we heard of an Army Major who killed 13 people and wounded 30 others in a mass shooting at Fort Hood, TX.
In the investigation and report that followed that deadly day, the Secretary of Defense found, among other things, the Civil Air Patrol Chaplain Corps Regions Staff College does not include training on mass casualty response. This finding was followed up with a directive, the "Air Force Chief of Chaplains and the CAP should .... ensure CAP chaplains are prepared to respond to the full range of emergencies, to include mass casualties."
In January of this year the first Staff Train the Trainer Course was conducted to prepare instructors to begin a Mission Chaplain (MC)/Chaplain Support Specialist (CSS) training program. This new program will be provided at the newly established Chaplain Corps Emergency Services School now incorporated in the CAP National Emergency Services Academy at Camp Atterbury, IN. The first two sessions of this school to train CAP Mission Specialists were held this past month concluding on the 21st of July. More such classes will be offered at least twice each year.
This new mission and training is being incorporated for all new CAP chaplains and is available to those currently serving. All CAP chaplains are now able to gain an advanced designation to prepare them to assist in all real-world missions of the CAP when called upon to support national emergencies and mass casualty missions. Chaplains who complete a separate specialty within this training regimen may also be certified to provide support to active USAF units when chaplains are sent forward.
Congratulations to CAP Chief of Chaplains Jay Hughes and his entire team as they have labored many hours contributing their time to such a worthy effort. We are proud to have the professional chaplains of the Civil Air Patrol as full partners in the MCA.
