Operation Pulse Lift's New Goal: 8,500 Units
by New Year's Eve
Civil Air Patrol’s Operation Pulse Lift has assisted with collecting a total of 6,709 units of blood during the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost 5,800 of those units have been donated in the past 12 months. According to American Red Cross metrics, CAP’s efforts to date have potentially saved more than 20,000 lives.

And this extraordinary effort will continue, as Operation Pulse Lift Director Lt. Col. Bob Ditch announced over the weekend a new goal to collect 8,500 units by New Year's Eve.

It's a reachable goal, based on a surge of CAP collections over the past week. Members from the Colorado (pictured below) and New Mexico wings hosted their first Blood Donor Centers as part of Operation Pulse Lift. Their collections, along with three donor center operations by the Arizona Wing as well as donations from individual CAP members nationwide (pictured, top right), put the total number of units collected at 6,709.

"The big effort came with the Colorado Wing's first time out," Ditch said. "The wing supported a three-day collection at the Air Force Academy that netted 481 units — a record 301 units on one day."
Aerial Photography, Crowdsourcing Helps Assess Ida Impact

The Louisiana Wing recently made its final two flights photographing Hurricane Ida-affected lands and waterways, wrapping up a mission totaling 148 sorties, 377 hours in the air, nearly 122,000 images and over 6,000 gigapixels of data.

The photos cover 6,012 square miles of surface area. They were taken for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness to use in assessing damage from the Category 4 storm, which made landfall Aug. 29 on the Gulf Coast.

Led by the Civil Air Patrol Geospatial Program, 327 senior members and cadets from 39 CAP wings also conducted imagery analysis of structures damaged by Ida using the FEMA Crowdsourced Damage Assessment App.

Assessments by CAP members included 197,712 probable structures classified for damage review. Organizations using these assessments include FEMA Headquarters, FEMA Recovery, FEMA Region VI, the American Red Cross, the Human Services Coalition’s Homeless and Housing Task Force, the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration and the Small Business Administration.

“Everyone did an awesome job at completing the assessments and helping FEMA,” said John Desmarais, CAP’s director of operations
3 More Cadets Earn 'Wings' Through CAP Program
Three more Civil Air Patrol cadets have received their FAA private pilot certificates through the Air Force-funded Cadet Wings program. They are now the 136th, 137th and 138th graduates of the program (from left):
  • Cadet 2nd Lt. Jacob Coulombe (#136) of the Wisconsin Wing's Fox Cities Composite Squadron, holding his certificate alongside his primary flight instructor, Ingrid Pazini.
  • Cadet Col. Genesis Middlebos (#137) of the Washington Wing's Spokane Composite Squadron, posing with her certificate.
  • Cadet Capt. Benjamin Kelley (#138) of the Texas Wing's Dallas Composite Squadron, showing his certificate in front of the CAP plane he flew on his check ride. His CAP flight instructor was Lt. Col. Stephen Hundley.
The mask icon is used in the photo above as a visual cue to explain any perceived deviation from COVID-19 safety protocol(s). The icon is used on images captured prior to the pandemic or for images captured in an area where masks are currently not required for vaccinated individuals.
Blazich Serving Again as CAP's National Historian
Maj. Gen. Edward D. Phelka’s choice as Civil Air Patrol’s new national historian is a familiar face — Col. Frank A. Blazich Jr., who led CAP’s National History Program during the commands of three previous national commanders/CEOs.

“Col. Blazich has served with distinction as national historian in the past and has done exemplary work over the last several years as director of the Col. Louisa S. Morse Center for Civil Air Patrol History,” said Phelka, who became CAP’s national commander/CEO in August. “I am thrilled to welcome him back to the role of national historian.”
Wing Recognized for Pandemic, Wildfire Missions
The California Wing has been recognized with Civil Air Patrol’s National Commander’s Unit Citation the highest honor a wing can receive for “exceptionally outstanding performance and achievement" from March 1, 2020-July 31 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and massive wildfires.

Brig. Gen. Regena Aye, national vice commander, presented the citation Oct. 2 to Col. Ross Veta, wing commander, during the wing’s annual training conference in Sacramento.
Borsari Named Wing Commander

Lt. Col. Rob Borsari III has been named Tennessee Wing commander, succeeding Col. Dent Young II.

Borsari, who joined Civil Air Patrol in 2006, is the wing’s director of operations and commander of Knoxville Senior Squadron 1. He is also the wing’s deputy director of emergency services and information technology.

Since May 2020 he has also been national program manager for CAP’s use of WaldoAir’s advanced photography system, which provides the ability to process images into high-resolution 3D models and is used in CAP’s disaster evaluation and recovery missions for federal, state and local clients.
NHQ News
Civil Air Patrol Hosting 1st National STEM Challenge Awards Event

Civil Air Patrol’s first national STEM challenge for cadets is coming to a close with a virtual awards ceremony set for Oct. 6 from 8-9 p.m. EDT.

The 2021 National CAP High Altitude Balloon Challenge involved cadets representing all eight CAP regions working all summer to develop one or more science experiments that were flown to the edge of space and back. More than 650 experiments were submitted by 139 squadrons and lifted as payloads on two high-altitude balloons.

Announcing the winner of the first CAP Kittinger Cup and $5,000 award is the Challenge Ambassador and sponsor of the award, retired Air Force Col. Joe Kittinger, famed high-altitude balloon scientist. Maj. Gen. Edward D. Phelka will greet the attendees and congratulate the winning squadrons. 

The event will be streamed live and also recorded for watching later.
CAP Observes Cybersecurity Awareness Month
October marks the start of a new fiscal year and Cybersecurity Awareness Month. CAP is a 2021 champion organization again this year, partnering with the National CyberSecurity Alliance.

All units in CAP are encouraged to host cyber security training regularly; it would make a great monthly safety briefing. With many attending school and working from home, there is no better time to educate and #BeCyberSmart to keep your devices and home network secure. Resources can be found at staysafeonline.org.

One great opportunity to jump start or continue your learning is to complete the Introduction to Cybersecurity course as part of CAP’s partnership with Cisco Networking Academy (NetAcad).

CAP is continuing to advance training and education for all members, including the cyber badge program for cadets and the national cyber academy for cadets and senior members.

For more information on CAP’s cyber programs, check out cyber.cap.gov or https://www.facebook.com/civilairpatrolcyber.
Timeline Flight Series Leads Up to CAP Anniversary
With the approach of Civil Air Patrol's 80th anniversary Dec. 1, Maj. Ronald C. Finger of the Minnesota Wing's Crow Wing Composite Squadron worked with National Historian Col. Frank Blazich on a special project to create “Timeline Flight” paintings showcasing some of the wide variety of CAP aircraft flown over the years.

The 21 aircraft selected span the Coastal Patrol days of World War II, the postwar years and finally the aircraft CAP aircrews fly today. Here is the ninth installment, as seen on CAP.news. Others will be posted every five days.
Donate Your Car, RV or Plane and Make a Difference
Wings and Wheels is a nationally known vehicle donation program that accepts cars, trucks, RVs, boats and airplanes for the benefit of Civil Air Patrol.

The program makes it easy to turn your car, RV or plane into a donation for CAP and its programs.
Safety Article Explains How You Can Beat the Heat
Avoiding heat-related injuries is a primary concern during Civil Air Patrol activities during the hot summer months. Summer might be over, but it's still hot in some parts of the country.

The primary tool used to evaluate the risk of heat related injuries is the heat index. Designed to represent the total heat in the air, the heat index is calculated using the dry-bulb temperature of the air the air temperature measured by a thermometer and the relative humidity.

Learn more in this article written by 1st Lt. Keith Robinson, safety officer for the Colorado Wing's Colorado Springs Cadet Squadron.
This week in 1962, Cadet 2nd Lt. Gary Creese of the New Jersey Wing earned the first $4,000 academic scholarship awarded by the Applegarth Foundation.

Named after A. Rufus Applegarth, a Pennsylvania Wing member, the Applegarth Civil Air Patrol Scholarship provided tuition assistance for many years to CAP cadets in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Creese headed away from home to attend the Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia. 

Read the full story, as published in the Vineland Daily Journal.
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