Mississippi Wing - Nov 2009
Mississippi Wing - Nov 2009
Mississippi Wing - Nov 2009
VOLUME 2, ISSUE 5
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NOVEMBER 2009
Citizens Serving Communities...Above and Beyond
L e t ’s G o R e c r u i t i n g M i s s i s s i p p i
Ca pt. Ph il N o rris, PAO
Our Public Affairs efforts have always included the elements of recruiting new members for each of our squadrons
located throughout the State of Mississippi. During the annual Public Affairs training, we always discuss ways that
we should be addressing the recruiting and retention issue in our local squadrons. Take a look around you in the Mis-
sissippi Wing and you will soon find that we need to ramp up our recruiting and retention efforts in every unit. In
order to be an effective Search and Rescue organization, we need to constantly be recruiting and retaining talent that
keeps our viability as an organization intact. Have you thought about recruiting lately? How about retention? Do you
have a Recruiting and Retention Officer appointed on your Squadron Staff? Or, is this position the position that no-
body wants because it is not related to flying? Some hard questions to answer, I assume. Ladies and Gentlemen, we
have to recruit and retain our people. That is a simple fact. We will be discussing these issues at the November Wing
Staff Meeting, but in the meantime, here are a few quick ideas that may help your recruiting and retention efforts in
your squadron:
Recruiting Ideas
-Contact local Civic Organizations and ask if you can speak to their membership about CAP
-Talk to pilots and emergency services personnel that are outside CAP about our organization
-Schedule an Open House at your Squadron and invite members of the community and media to attend
-Create a database of people that you would like to have in your organization and send them frequent emails with
Squadron News and information
Retention Ideas
-Create a Squadron Newsletter and Website and update frequently with new information
-Recognize your members often for their great work
-Hold events that build team cohesiveness in your squadron (cookouts, plane washings, ceremonies)
-Evaluate your Staffing frequently and give members the opportunity to learn new staff positions
PAGE 2
VOLUME 2, ISSUE 5
M i s s i s s i p p i Wi n g N at i o n a l Awa rd Wi n n e r s
The following MSWG members were recognized at the Fall National Board meeting for winning National Awards.
Congratulations to each of these members for their outstanding work as they represented the MSWG extremely well
in their respective categories during the past year.
Frank Brewer Memorial Aerospace Award
Cadet 2Lt. Charles M. Hussey
Eagle Composite Squadron
PAGE 3
MSWG Safety Officer Corner
As we said goodbye to FY2009, one of our jobs was to conduct a “safety day” with an emphasis on looking back
over the previous fiscal year to see how we can improve for the next year. Well, as I look back over FY2009, I
think we can all be very proud of our safety program. It’s not all about mishaps, but once again, we were blessed
with only 4 mishaps, all of which were categorized as “minor” and only 2 requiring a form 79 investigation. That
can be broken down further into: 2 minor bodily injury mishaps (both were cadets), 1 minor vehicular mishap
(no fault of the CAP member), and 1 aircraft minor mishap during a training sortie. Mishaps will always occur,
but if we keep our guard up and our positive safety conscious attitude running strong, we stand the best chance
of keeping the Mississippi Wing as safe as practically possible!
Now that FY2009 is over, we can conduct the required annual safety survey. This is a reminder to all squadron
safety officers and commanders that this survey is totally online (no paper surveys), located on the “eServices”
section of the national website: www.gocivilairpatrol.com. The survey should only take a few minutes and I ask
that you complete it at your earliest convenience.
I do have two “safety requests” for FY2010:
1. I would like to encourage all members to complete an assignment as a Safety Officer or an Assistant Safety
Officer. In doing so, you will gain valuable experience in the CAP Safety Program, as well as satisfying cer-
tain professional development requirements. We also have an alarming shortage of qualified Mission Safety
Officers (MSO). As of 10/17/09, we only have 5 qualified MSO’s in the entire Wing. I therefore ask you to
review the MSO SQTR and look at becoming qualified in this critical mission role. Being an SE or MSO has
never been easier. I have worked hard to create a myriad of standardized references and resources to assist
you in your duties; most can be found on the Wing website.
2. I would like to ask every member (cadets and officers) to take at least the Basic Safety Course and test, lo-
cated on the national website under “Safety.” It is a terrific training program full of great information appli-
cable to new and existing members alike. Furthermore, it is concise and instructive and should only take 10-
15 minutes to complete. I truly believe that by having every member take this course, it will improve the
safety culture of our members and ultimately our safety program. You will notice that there are advanced
safety courses available, as well as three Operational Risk Management (ORM) online courses, which again
are terrific, and short, training programs. I strongly recommend these to you too. Remember, you don't have
to be a Safety Officer or enrolled in the Safety Officer Specialty Track to take advantage of these courses.
Finally, I would like to welcome 2LT Carey Price into his new assignment as Assistant Director of Safety. Lt
Price is a General Engineer with the US Army Corps of Engineers and a certified Pilot. He will be a great addi-
tion to our Safety Program and I ask that you give him your full support in his new role.
SEMPER VIGILANS!
Mallory D. “Mal” Woodcock, Maj. CAP
Chief of Staff/ Director of Safety, MSWG
November
6-7— National Executive Committee Meeting, St. Louis
7—Wing Staff Meeting at Hawkins Field
7—Veterans’ Day Parade in Gulfport
13-15—Mission Observer School (Part 1)
20-23—SAREX/Observer School (Part 2) at Hawkins Field
December
12—Wing Christmas Luncheon
12—Wreaths Across America
January
9—Wing Staff Meeting
This is an example of a Unit Building Event, washing the airplane. This photo was taken
in June 2009 while the Pinebelt Squadron members did some work together and later
had a cookout…..Do you recognize anyone in this Photo?