The South Dakota Civil Air Patrol has a new wing commander. The organization is an all-volunteer branch of the Air Force.
C-A-P members are often the eyes in the sky during disaster response and search and rescue efforts.
The new C-A-P leader took office during the organization’s annual meeting.
Colonel David Small Jr. became the highest ranking Civil Air Patrol officer in the state last week. Colonel Small says the Civil Air Patrol helps agencies in a number of different situations.
“If there were any aircraft crashes in the state of South Dakota we would be one of the first if not the first ones on the scene. We occasionally have early storms where hunters may get stranded in October we may get called to search the hills. Winter storm Atlas two years ago that killed I think 100,000 cattle, we did survey of the state taking pictures of the affected areas and some of those pictures ended up as part of the Congressional decision making process. Hopefully no fires this year in the Hills but we are called for fires and at the other extreme flooding East river and along the Missouri River,” says Small.
Colonel Small says there are a variety of roles in the Civil Air Patrol not just up in the sky. He says he has never been a licensed pilot because he is color blind. However . . . he says there are numerous other roles to fill.
“We have about 300 total volunteers, 100 of those are what we call cadets age 12 to 21. And the others are senior members. So a big mixture of a few pilots but most of us frankly are non-pilots, most of us share an enthusiasm for aviation. But you certainly don’t need to be a pilot to join the Civil Air Patrol,” says Small.
Colonel Small says many volunteers work in administration and as ground troops. He says if he hopes to change anything as commander . . . he will put more emphasis on the cadet program.