The Civil Air Patrol

- - - Doing right is even harder than it looks.
Information gleaned listening to veteran author Dale Brown discuss his book, A Time for Patriots.

The civil air patrol, is a a group of volunteer airmen.  Founded just prior to the U.S. entry into World War II.  The Civil Air Patrol is primarily self funded, i.e., the members pay for the vast majority of their equipment and training.  Civil Air Patrol members donate their time and skills.  No military experience is required by the Patrol but some members  are veterans most have
never served in the military.   The Civil Air Patrol consist of citizens who may or may not qualify for military service who
 range in age from 18 to 80 years of age.    The members pay for most of the expense of
training, equipment, uniforms, operations, fuel, etc.
  When on air force directed missions the civil air  patrol is reimbursed for those particulat missions.
Similar reimburse ment arrangements are made by state
 and local organizations for  missions requested or directed by those organizations.
Most states provide some minimal resources  for the Civil Air Patrol units in their jurisdiction. Very minimal, e.g., some limited storage space, a telephone and a couple of used radios.  In some cases the patrol may not even have had a phone funded.

(note:The coast guard auxiliary performs a similar function with similar arrangements, e.g., participate in search and rescue, disaster relief, boater safety training...)

During World War II hundreds of submarines were spotted, tracked and/or attacked off the U.S.
coasts by the Civil Air Patrol. The Civil Air Patrol actually sank one Nazi submarine.


CAP performed118 search and rescue missions in 2010.