St. Croix Composite Squadron Minnesota Wing Civil Air Patrol U.S.

Air Force Auxiliary

The Aviator Newsletter

Upcoming Minnesota Wing Events
MNWG Volleyball lock-in 06 March @ St. Cloud State University MNWG Aircrew 1 Scanner Course 2010 13 March @ MNWG HQ (SGS) MNWG Color Guard Seminar 13 March @ Plymouth, MN. MNWG Encampment Staff Training 19 March @ Camp Ripley, MN. Cub Scout Hangar Tour 27 March @ STX HQ. St. Croix Squadron wide Subordinate Unit Inspection (SUI) 01 April 26 February @ STX HQ. Osman Shrine Circus Fundraiser 08 to 11 April @ STP Fairgrounds Degree of Honors Salute to Youth 20 April @ Mpls. Sheraton Hotel Parent Appreciation / Open House 29 April @ STX HQ.

Together We Prevail
March 2010 - Volume 24, Issue 2
This event was organized and put on by the Minnesota Wings Recuriting Officer., Capt Pat Lawler from the Duluth Composite Squadron. Many CAP members from around the Minnesota Wing showed up to participate. This two day event also showcased recruiters and displays from many different government agencies and military services. We would like to say thank you to the following St. Croix Cadets for their time and support to this effort, they are; C/CMSgt. Grady Bell, C/ A1C Ryan Malcolm, C/A1C Grant Starr & C/CMSgt. David Trudeau. A special thanks to Major David Kenan for volunteering to be the St. Croix Squadrons project officer for this event.

Covers Events from Jan/Feb 2010

St. Croix Attends Govt on Display at MOA

On Saturday & Sunday, 30 & 31 January 2009, members of the St. Croix Squadron, Civil Air Patrol (CAP) attended the Government on display and recruitment showcase at the Mall of America (MOA) in Bloomington, MN. Major David Kenan and 4 of our cadets were on hand to interact with the general public and to talk about what Civil Air Patrol is about and what we do.

Inside this issue:

St. Croix Squadron attends Government on Display at MOA St. Croix Squadron gets involved with Yellow Ribbon Network St. Croix & Anoka members credited with ELT Find! Senior Member Receives Wisconsin Advocacy Award St. Croix Cadet Training Day & Orientation Flights. St. Croix Squadron Has New Check Pilot and & CFI Two St. Croix Cadets Complete Level 8 of Cadet Program

St. Croix Squadron Aids Yellow Ribbon Network

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
In January and February of 2010, I was invited by local Community leaders from Stillwater, Lake Elmo and Woodbury to attend a meeting of the newly formed Yellow Ribbon Network being established in Washington County. The Yellow Ribbon Network was established for the sole purpose to providing assistance and support for family members of deployed soldiers, sailors and airmen overseas. This program is being established at the local community level and is a network for families of deployed or welcomed home service members. The Yellow Ribbon Network is made up from Veterans Organizations, Educators/ Youth Organizations, local Businesses, Faith Communities and Public Safety groups. Since most of our members are located in and around Washington County and our Squadron is located at the Lake Elmo airport, this made sense to see how we can assist or be of help to this organization. So far, we have been asked to just show our support at soldier homecomings, events and even Color Guard services at some of the upcoming events which are planned. If you would like to know more go to www. woodburyyellowribbon.com By: 2Lt. Scott Richardson

The Aviator Newsletter

St. Croix Squadron gets Credited with ELT Find!

On Thursday, 18 February 2009, was looking like just another typical Thursday night squadron meeting. The evening had started and Capt. David Yost was set to present a pilot safety briefing and we were waiting for pilots from the Anoka Squadron (ANE) to arrive. We heard the Anoka aircraft taxi up and engine shut down and were waiting for Capt. Shelly Supan and 2Lt. Lion Templin to come in and get things going. When they came in, they were chatting about how they had monitored an ELT signal before they shut their engine down. They reported this to Minnesota Wing ES Officer, Maj. Paul Pieper. No sooner than did Capt. Yost get into his pilot safety briefing, the call came in from Maj. Pieper saying we have an ELT mission which was confirmed and mission number 10-M0116 was active. At this time, the aircrew called to duty was Capt. Shelly Supan and 2Lt. Lion Templin since they had to return to Anoka that night anyway. They sprang into action and began to immediately to start the pre-flight of their aircraft for departure. A ground team from St. Croix was quickly assembled since it was a packed house on a meeting night. 1Lt. Charles Jents was Ground Team Leader (GTL) with 3 Ground Team Members (GTM) C/A1C Kati Jents, C/MSgt. Noah Hite & C/ AB Austin Koeckeritz. At first they used the Direction finding (DF) equipment to see if they could determine a rough directional reading, but with the metal hangars nearby they needed to move away to a more open area. The aircraft was airborne by this time and was able to pick up the signal and indicated it was somewhere on the field at Lake Elmo (21D). The ground team traveled out to the north main gate and was able to confirm what the aircrew had indicated. The aircrew was then directed to return to base (RTB) and departed the local area to travel back to Anoka Airport (ANE) since the evening was drawing to a close and the time was getting late. The ground team was able to get close to the signal when they dismounted the vehicle and used the DF equipment to pinpoint the signals origin. They tracked the signal to a specific hangar on Grumman lane at the Lake Elmo airport. At this time they were not able to get to the ELT to silence it so the local sheriff was called to locate the owner and to silence this signal. This was a great opportunity for our squadron to actually use the skills which are practiced continually just for this reason. A special thank you is in order for Incident Commander (IC) LTC. Bill Rutten, Mission Staff Assist (MSA) Maj. Mike Bordonaro, Communications Officer (Comm) Maj. Stefan Sylvander for their participation during this mission. Congratulations & well done.

Mankind has a perfect record in Aviation; we have never left on up there!

St. Croix Member Receives Advocacy Award

Congratulations are in order for Senior Member 1Lt. Ron Jansen, who received an Advocacy Award from the Independent Living Council (ILC) of Wisconsin. This was for his outstanding work and dedication above and beyond that of many Council members. 1Lt. Ron Jansen, a retired and disabled law enforcement officer who has dedicated his time and efforts as a council member with the Independent Living Council working on issues for the disabled. The Independent Living Council was established in 1992 and is comprised of 18 members appointed by the Wisconsin Governor from around the State. These members represent people with a broad range of disabilities, cultural backgrounds and ages. These members also include representatives from other ILCs, Native American Vocational Rehabilitation programs and four State Agencies which provide services for individuals with disabilities. Ron Jansen was awarded this Advocacy Award on February 11, 2010. Congratulations Ron!

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The Aviator Newsletter

St. Croix Cadet Training Day & Orientation Flights

On Saturday, 21 February 2010, St. Croix Squadron has made the dedication wit providing a full training day every 60 day cycle in keeping with CAP/NHQs recommendations to help cadets maintain a pace to keep advancement with promotions, Physical Testing (PT) and Specialty Qualification Training Records (SQTRs). cadets who had their first orientation flights. Cadets who complete their first orientation flight receive a Civil Air Patrol certificate suitable for framing to commemorate this exiting day. Cadets who had taken orientation flights this day were C/AB Thomas Jents, C/AB Daniel Maslowski, C/AB William Martinez, C/A1C Ryan Malcolm.

(L-R) C/AB William Martinez, Capt. Shelly Supan, C/A1C Ryan Malcolm just after their Orientation Flight

Airspeed, Altitude and Brains Two of these are always needed to successfully complete the flight! Author Unknown.
Deputy Commander for Cadets, 1Lt. Charles Jents along with Cadet Commander, C/ SMSgt. Vince Peterson and a few the cadet senior (NonCommissioned Officers) NCOs organized this day to accomplish many tasks.
1 Lt. Charles Jents working on entering data into files during Cadet Training Day

Approximately 20 cadets and senior members turned out to have fun and get some items out of the way. A number of cadets were able to complete tasks ranging from basic drill, physical training, testing and other mental and physical conditions done. A few cadets were able to promote to higher grades as a result of this day. Cadet Orientation flights were also conducted during this day. Capt. Shelly Supan from the Anoka Squadron (ANE) and Capt. David Yost were the Orientation pilots for this day. C/AB Thomas Jents and C/AB William Martinez were two

(L-R) C/AB Thomas Jents, C/ AB Daniel Maslowski & Capt. David Yost after their Orientation Flight

Thank you to all of the Cadets and senior members who made this training day so successful. By combining Cadet Training & Orientation flights together made it possible for cadets to promote in rank as well. Congratulations to all.

St. Croix Squadron Has New Check Pilot & CFI

On 18 February, 2010, SM. Chip Holt has become a Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Form 5 Check Pilot and CAP Instructor pilot. SM. Chip Holt has been a member of Civil Air Patrol (CAP) since July 2009 and is a retired United States Air Force Pilot, Commercial Airline pilot and still active as a Private Corporate Pilot for a local company. Chip comes to us with a wide variety of flying experience and has been a valued asset to our squadron and now for the Minnesota Wing as a whole. SM. Chip Holt has now added to his list of credits CAP Mission pilot, Check pilot, Instructor pilot and has been an Orientation pilot for the past few months as well.
(L-R) Capt. David Yost congratulates SM. Chip Holt on becoming a CAP Check Pilot & CFI.

Congratulation Chip & well done!

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Citizens Serving Communities: Above and Beyond

The Chaplains Corner Breathe Deep, Fly High

You are probably wondering what this little phrase means. Well, it is going to be the name of our chaplains Corner for future articles in our Squadrons Newsletter. The phrase is actually a greeting that is found in the movie Dinatropia. The greeting occurs when someone who is a worker of the earth (planters and harrowers) greets someone who is the sky (a flyer). For me, how appropriate to call our chaplains corner this because of what we do best and that is to Fly High! As we develop this section of our newsletter, I hope to touch issues of leadership focused on those things that shape our morals, values and virtues. These are the items that I feel are core to shaping who we are, how we live, and how we conduct ourselves as members of an elite force called The Civil Air Patrol. Many Blessings and Until next time Breathe Deep, Fly High! By St. Croix Squadron Chaplain Capt. Joseph Burton

Promotions & Awards

Kati Jents Ryan Malcolm William Martinez C/Staff Sergeant C/Senior Airman C/Airman

Daniel Maslowski C/Airman C/SSgt. Kati Jents Wright Bros. Award

New Members
New Cadet Members: Philip Harris 11 Feb. 2010

Member Count: 70
Seniors 37 & Cadets 33

Two of St. Croix Cadets Complete Level 8!

On 14 January 2010, two of St. Croix s senior NCOs gave a speech to the assembled squadron during a regular meeting night. This met one of the final requirements needed for cadets who are completing Leadership phase, level 8 of the cadet program. ship and What makes a good leader. Both cadets gave approximately a 10 minutes speech with a question and answer session following their presentations. This is great time for cadets to brush up on public speaking abilities which they will need as they progress not only in the Civil Air Patrol cadet program but through their lives in general. Public speaking is one of our cultures biggest fears most people have. The completion of Level 8 is accompanied by the Award of the Neil A. Armstrong Ribbon and paves the way for Cadets to achieve level 9 and the Gen-

Trivia Question:
What is the Achievement Award earned when a cadet completes level 4 and promotes to the rank of Technical Sergeant (C/TSgt.)?

Answer from last Issue: General Happ Arnold was Civil Air Patrols first National Commander!

eral Billy Mitchell Award which is a promotion to Cadet second lieutenant (C/2Lt.). This achievement will close out a cadets Leadership phase and opens up the Command phase of a cadets CAP career. Both of these cadets have been outstanding contributors to the St. Croix Squadron Cadet Corps. Congratulations gentlemen and well done!

Cadets C/CMSgt. Grady Bell & C/CMSgt. David Trudeau beguiled the squadron with their speeches on Flaws in Leader-

St. Croix Composite Squadron Minnesota Wing Civil Air Patrol U.S. Air Force Auxiliary 3275 Manning Ave. North Box #9, Hangar 39B Lake Elmo, MN. 55042 651-773-1210 www.stcroix.mncap.org

Squadron Commander:
David W. Yost Capt., CAP. YostDW@comcast.net

Next Issue:
May 2010 MNWG Volleyball Lock in MNWG Color Guard Seminar Cadet activities Awards & Promotions Squadron news items

Editor:
Scott A. Richardson, 2Lt. CAP Public Affairs Officer pao-stx-cap@comcast.net 651-387-2518