Iowa Members Gather to Learn, Lead and Celebrate

Capt Jessa Erickson
Public Affairs Officer
Iowa Wing

The 2012 Iowa Wing Conference was held October 12-14, 2012 at Camp Dodge in Johnston, IA.  The weekend, which featured 24 learning lab sessions, Drug Demand Reduction (DDR) activities, a Cadet Advisory Council (CAC) meeting and awards banquet, was attended by roughly 100 members from Iowa and surrounding wings including non-CAP family members and other special guests.

The event kicked off on Friday evening with an informal social gathering and DDR activity hosted by the Iowa Wing DDR Officer Capt Jan Lewandowski and North Central Region (NCR) DDR Officer Lt Col Bonnie Braun.  Educational and information materials were on hand for members to look through with a special emphasis on Red Ribbon Week, and cadets were encouraged to participate in creating an anti-drug themed diorama which was then judged the following morning by Iowa Wing Commander Col Ron Scheitzach and NCR Commander Col Robert Todd.  Four awards were handed out: 1^st Place – C/2d Lt Jacob Lewandowski, 2^nd Place – C/MSgt Luke Lewandowski, 3^rd Place – C/CMSgt Austin Lightner and Honorable Mention – Anna Lewandowski.

The general assembly led off Saturday’s events highlighting the state of the Iowa Wing and featured three special guests of the weekend; NCR Commander Col Robert Todd, North Central Liaison Commander Lt Col Paul Peterson and retired Air Force Chief Master Sergeant (CMSgt) Robert Dandridge as well as each of the nine Iowa Wing Squadron Commanders, or their representatives, who gave a short message on the state of their squadrons.  To cap off the morning assembly, a few special awards were presented to deserving members and Cadet Luke Hohenberger was presented his promotion to the rank of Cadet Chief Master Sergeant by Col Scheitzach and CMSgt Dandridge.

Only 7 days left to register ONLINE for Iowa Wing Conference!

There’s still a spot waiting for you at the 2012 Iowa Wing Conference so be sure to get your online registration completed by October 1st!  After that all reigstrations will need to be made directly with Theresa Carroll at wing HQ (wingadmin@iawg.cap.gov) and will incur an additional $5 fee.

The process is simple and your payment isn’t even due until October 8th at wing HQ!  To get registered click here -> http://iawgconference2012.eventzilla.net, then choose your option(s), fill in your information, and click submit.  Easy, right?

Here’s the cost breakdown…

• Conference ONLY – $20
• Banquet ONLY – $20
• Conference & Banquet – $30
• open bay barracks billeting – $5 per night, per person (available BOTH Friday and Saturday nights)
• single person billeting – $16/night
• family billeting – $46/night

For more details on what sessions are being offered plus registration and billeting (including area hotels) information please check out this link.

T-Minus 36 Days to the 2012 Iowa Wing Conference!

The 2012 Iowa Wing Conference is fast approaching, have you registered yet?

If your answer is no, what are you waiting for?

This year Camp Dodge will play host to the big event starting on Friday October 12th with a DDR activity (for cadets AND senior members!) and social time, and concludes on Sunday October 14th with a Commander’s Call and Wing Staff Meeting.  Saturday’s highlights include the morning general assembly, learning lab sessions geared towards all CAP members including family members (CAP and non-CAP) of cadets and closes out with a banquet, guest speaker and awards presentation.

The cost for the weekend is as follows:

• Conference ONLY – $20
• Banquet ONLY – $20
• Conference & Banquet – $30
• open bay barracks billeting – $5 per night, per person (available BOTH Friday and Saturday nights)
• single person billeting – $16/night
• family billeting – $46/night

For more details on what sessions are being offered plus registration and billeting (including area hotels) information please check out this link.

Online registration will close on October 1st so be sure to get registered right away.  Payments for online registrations need to be mailed to Theresa Carroll by October 1st.

Iowa Wing Civil Air Patrol
Attn: Theresa Carroll – Wing Conference
75 E Army Post Rd
Des Moines, IA 50315

Any registrations received by Theresa Carroll (wingadmin@iawg.cap.gov) after October 1st will incur an additional $5 fee. 

CAC May 2012 Meeting Notes Summary

by C/Capt Katelyn Mishmash
East Iowa Cadet Squadron

On May 20^th 2012, a group of cadets, one representative from each squadron, met together via telephone and had their monthly CAC meeting. This article that has been written to explain what we have talked about during the meeting.

One topic that was discussed at the last meeting was the cadet newsletter. Yes, the CAC still plans to accomplish this goal, but we need articles from some squadrons. If any cadets have any news, events, or anything interesting related to CAP, please write up an article with as much detail as possible stating what has happened. If you have any questions, please talk to your CAC Squadron Representative.

There are two SAREXs planed during June and July. The first one will be June 9^th and the second one is the over the shoulder graded by the Air Force that will be held July 7^th.

When you go to a SAREX and are not assigned to complete a sortie, you may feel bored and have nothing to do. The CAC hopes to fill this empty space by providing small activities that will accomplish in training. Training could be anywhere from learning how to use a compass to using a map and using the CAP Grid System. If any members have any ideas on what could be performed during empty space time at a SAREX, talk to your CAC Squadron Representative.

What you don’t know is that the CAC wants another wing wide activity. This was what the CAC focused on and discussed throughout the meeting. This activity would be a mixture of leadership training along with emergency services training. Classes for leadership could include: participating in an obstacle course, speech class, intro to color guard training and other leadership related classes. For emergency services training, classes could be: ground team leader training, First-Aid/CPR training, or other ES related classes that would interest members. The main goal is to have members have fun while being safe and to become better leaders.

All of these topics that were mentioned in this article should be communicated to your squadron and its members. This summary is written so that other members can learn about what the CAC is doing so please pass this along to your squadrons and remind them that they can sign up to receive new postings via their email. If a cadet did not read this blog, how will he/she know about some of the things that the CAC hopes to accomplish? Communication is essential for the CAC. We can not simply try to improve the wing if the we don’t communicate what we wish to do.

CAC April Summary Report

C/Capt Katelyn Mishmash
East Iowa Cadet Squadron

Every month, a group of cadets, one representative from each squadron meet via teleconference and have a meeting. We know them as the Cadet Advisory Council. Why do they meet once a month? Well, the answer to this question is that they want to improve the wing by bringing in new ideas. They are the ones that were responsible for the UDF training that happened the 27^th of April – 29^th April 2012.

Below I will explain some of the new stuff that the CAC wants to do and why it is important. Some of these ideas may get approved by the wing commander and some may not.

The CAC has a strong urge to have their own website for future CAC members. This website would include a schedule of when the next meeting is, squadron contact information, and other features. Currently, a temporary website is on the Davenport Squadron’s webpage. Unfortunately, the website has to be a part of the Iowa Wing Website so that others can view it. The plan is to try to move the information off of the Davenport Website, onto the Iowa Wing Website. This is important for cadets and other members because they may get involved in CAC at some point in their CAP career.

One important thing that the CAC wishes to accomplish is to have an Iowa Wing Encampment. Holding an encampment is one of the most difficult tasks to plan. Obviously this is important to cadets so that they do not have to travel to Minnesota or to Wisconsin to go to encampment. The plan is to work with Nebraska Wing and build a mutual partnership so that they can help plan and possibly staff this possible encampment. After the partnership is built, the CAC hopes that Nebraska will continue to help out with staff and planning.

The most important piece of information that needs to be addressed is the CAC itself. There is a growing concern about CAC being disconnected. The feeling is that members are not communicating with their squadrons about CAC, what it is, and what they have been doing. The plan for this is to publish the CAC meeting notes in the newsletter so that members can read them.

So why is all of this information relevant to members and cadets outside of CAP? The reason is that CAC needs feedback. We want to know what ideas to bring up during our meetings to try and improve our squadrons. If there is an idea that the CAC mentioned and nobody likes it or thinks it will work, then members need to speak up. The most important tool that the CAC needs is communication and without it, the CAC will not get anything done.

CAC Meeting Scheduled for March 4th

when:  March 4, 2012
time: 1900-2000

Additional information will be sent out closer to the meeting date, stay tuned.

February CAC Meeting Moved to the 12th

Due to scheduling issues, the CAC meeting that was originally to be held this weekend has been moved to Sunday February 12th (still from 7pm to 8pm).

CAC Meeting Scheduled for February 5th

Additional information will be sent out closer to the meeting date, stay tuned.

Fall 2011 Cadet Advisory Council Update

C/Maj Jacob Napp
Iowa CAC Chair

The Cadet Advisory Council, CAC, cadet officer term has recently come to an end. C/Maj Jacob Napp from the Dubuque Composite Squadron was chosen as Chairman. C/Capt James Eimers from the Des Moines Metro Cadet Squadron was chosen for the Vice Chair. C/1^st Lt Katelyn Mishmash from the East Iowa Cadet Squadron was chosen to be the Recorder. All of these cadets are experienced leaders and are committed to the improvement of the Iowa Wing.

A committee is currently planning an Airman training weekend. We hope to increase Squadron interaction within the wing while giving meaningful training to our new members. This is currently in a committee headed by the Des Moines Metro Cadet Squadron and the Northwest Iowa Composite Squadron. They will be presenting their plan at the December CAC Meeting.

CAC Meeting – 4 December 2011

The next CAC meeting will be held on December 4th from 1900-2000. The Agenda and dial in number will be send out at a later date.

C/Maj Jacob Napp
Iowa CAC Chair