Mississippi Wing - Nov 2009

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Mississippi Wing

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 5

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NOVEMBER 2009
Citizens Serving Communities...Above and Beyond

Mes sage from t he New Wing C hief o f S t af f


(Jackson, MS) - Let me start by say- with direct guidance found in CAPP
ing that it is an absolute privilege to -3. I would also like to observe a
serve as your new Chief of Staff. I formal undertaking [again, in line
would like to thank Lt. Col. Hauck with CAP recommendations] of as
for his dedicated service, he has left many awards and promotions as
me with some big shoes to fill! possible, ideally to be presented at a
There have been a number of other Wing function. Again, I’m not look-
staff and command changes this ing to go overboard, just looking to
month, and I speak for all of us when tighten the military belt slightly.
I thank you in advance for your pa-
Secondly, both the Vice Com-
tience and kind support as we get up
mander and I strongly desire that
to speed in our new assignments.
every department head has at least
My role as Chief of Staff is both su- one assistant/deputy. The value of
pervisory and supporting, but with an this is obvious. However, in order
emphasis on supporting. I am, how- for this to happen, we must canvass
ever, fortunate that across the board, Maj. Mal Woodcock, MSWG new members and encourage the
all departments are running very Chief of Staff progression of dedicated squadron
smoothly. In fact, the MSWG as a members to take up assistant Wing
whole, is running like a well-oiled and in no small part, represent the Staff positions in departments they
Swiss watch! It is therefore conceiv- USAF. Certain military customs, pro- are interested in serving in. This
able that some of you might not tocols and procedures have, without a will allow for a smooth transition
want, or indeed, might not need my doubt, many advantages and are quite should any staff changes occur,
assistance. Nevertheless, here to appropriate for the CAP. I shall be while ensuring that an experienced,
support you I am, and I am looking encouraging our members to uphold qualified officer assumes the helm.
forward to working with you in my many of these traditional military val- Wing Staff positions are not re-
new role. ues [in line with CAP recommenda- served for the few. In most cases,
tions] as it will enhance our image of the qualifications necessary are
In addition to my supporting role, I
being a professional organization. quite simply; motivation, interest
have a number of goals and I’d like
Now I’m not saying that we should and dedication. So let’s start look-
to share a few of them with you, if I
send all of our members back to boot- ing at our Squadron members to see
may. First off, for those of you who
camp, but I would like to see the if any of them would like to take up
attended the October Staff meeting
MSWG return to a more formal rec- an assistant/deputy role at the Wing
you may have noticed that we rein-
ognition of our military connection. I level. It may just be exactly what
stituted some traditional military pro-
will therefore be running our staff and they are looking for!
tocols appropriate for the event. We
command call meetings in accordance (Continued on page 2)
are very much in the public eye and
MISSISSIPPI WING

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

MSWG Chief of Staff Comments (Continued from page 1)


Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that certain departments have end-of-the-year reports which
are coming up. I will be speaking with those applicable department heads in the next few weeks, but there is no harm
in starting to prepare now for these reports. Just like Christmas shopping, I’d like to get a head start on them, rather
than have a mad dash at the end!
Let me finish by thanking you all again for your kind support, patience, dedication and service to the Mississippi
Wing. Please don’t hesitate to call or email me if I can be of assistance to you.
SEMPER VIGILANS!
Mallory D. “Mal” Woodcock, Major, CAP
Chief of Staff/Director of Safety, Mississippi Wing

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

National Senior Chaplain of the Year


Chaplain Maj. Hal B. Lee, Jr.
Maj. James McKinnie Composite Squadron

Logistician of the Year


Lt. Col. Carlton R. Sumner, Jr.
Wing Headquarters

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

“Safety is everyone’s responsibility,


not just the Squadron or Mission
Safety Officer’s”
Wing Calendar of Coming Events

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?

This Newsletter is a publication of: -Col. Tim Carroll, Commander, Mississippi


Wing. [email protected]
The Mississippi Wing, Civil Air Patrol
-Capt. Phil Norris, Public Affairs Officer, Mis-
1635 Airport Drive sissippi Wing [email protected]
Jackson, MS 39209-3402

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