Air University Review, May-June 1984
| The total force is an entity composed of active duty military and
full-time civilian personnel, the reserve components of the United States, and allied
forces.1 [Civil Air Patrol] is a vital part of the Total Force Policy.2 |
Two statements from authoritative Air Force sources, yet obviously in contradiction? Does George Forschler's strikingly direct comment indicate an official shift of opinion, or is it simply an imprecise choice of words that happened to be quoted?
In exploring the actual relationship between the Air Force and its official civilian auxiliary, I shall discuss the mission of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), the relationship of that mission to the Air Force mission, and the current image that Air Force and the Civil Air Patrol have of one another. In so doing, I hope to point the way to where Air Force doctrine on the Civil Air Patrol should be.
The Civil Air Patrol has three coequal missions which, when accomplished together, fulfill the purposes that its congressional charter sets forth. These missions are aerospace education, the cadet program, and emergency services.
The aerospace education mission is "to provide an understanding of the nature of the earth's atmospheric and outer space environments, the vehicles which travel through these environments, and the social, political, economic, technical, and philosophical impacts of these environments and vehicles upon a global society."3 This mission has two program subdivisions: external programs (workshops, seminars, demonstrations, etc.) for educating nonmembers in the community at large and internal programs of formal training for CAP members.
The cadet program mission is "to produce Dynamic Americans and Aerospace Leaders. "4 CAP cadets are young people who are 13 to 20 years old. Their training program involves five areas: aerospace education, leadership laboratory, moral leadership, physical fitness, and an activity program to reinforce these aspects. Cadets wear a modified Air Force uniform, participate in a military structure in their home squadrons, and earn cadet grades (with positions of commensurate responsibility) ranging from cadet airman through cadet colonel. Cadet training is sufficiently varied and demanding that only 600 cadets nationwide have risen all the way to the cadet colonel grade during CAP's history.
The emergency services mission is the aspect for which the Civil Air Patrol is best known. It is "to save lives and minimize disasters through its search and rescue, communication, and disaster relief facilities and Civil Defense affiliations."5 Emergency services operations can be subdivided into air search and rescue, in support of the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service, and disaster relief, in support of various state and county agencies. When CAP units perform search and rescue on call from the Air Force, the Air Force reimburses the Civil Air Patrol and its members for certain fuel, oil, maintenance, and communications expenses.
These three missions are prosecuted by an all-volunteer force of some 65,000 members, of whom about 40,000 are senior (adult) members and the other 25,000 are teenage cadets. This is a force comparable in size to a numbered air force and equivalent also to nearly two-thirds of the entire Air National Guard roster.
ALL of this is well and good, but how does it affect the Air Force?
These CAP missions contribute directly to the success of Air Force functions and missions in three ways:
manpower base
The Civil Air Patrol cadet program takes thousands of aerospace- or military-minded teenagers each year and exposes them to the Air Force in miniature. The Air Force derives its greatest benefits from the Civil Air Patrol in this manner.Among Air Force Academy nominees, AFROTC enrollees and scholarship winners, and service enlistees, CAP cadets and former cadets are found in far greater proportions than what they constitute in the overall teenage population. Furthermore, these cadets and former cadets enter service life with knowledge of military customs and courtesies, familiarity with aerospace subject matter and terminology, and leadership experience--all of which place these former cadets "a cut above" their peers from the start.
Recognizing the benefits of cadet training, the Air Force has established a basic training bypass program and initial advancement as high as pay grade E-3 for qualified cadets.
community outreach
The Civil Air Patrol operates more than 1900 units disseminated through every state in the Union. Often these squadrons are in small towns or sparsely populated areas that are tens or hundreds of miles from Air Force installations. In many communities, the local CAP squadron is the area's only week-to-week contact with the Air Force. The presence of Civil Air Patrol around the country increases the amount of direct exposure that many of our citizens have to the Air Force.
Furthermore, most CAP units maintain a variety of contacts in their host cities and towns, often participating in all manner of community activities as well as supporting local relief efforts in emergencies. Such functions are readily seen by the citizenry as the "Air Force" reaching out to help and to work with the "man in the street" and the community at large.
cost-effectiveness
Air Force Manual 1-1, Functions and Basic Doctrine of the United States Air Force, the fundamental doctrine outlining what the Air Force is all about, identifies several Air Force functions that are sometimes far removed from the battlefield.
What do these areas have in common? The Civil Air Patrol is involved in all of these functions.Public confidence and stability are advanced by . . . providing emergency relief in time of natural disaster.6
We must provide strategic defensive forces to . . . support a national civil defense system.7
. . .our rescue and recovery units use their resources to help civilians in distresses.8
Our military training must provide a smooth transition from the civilian to the military way of life.
Professional military education (PME) is designed to give our people the necessary skills and education to become effective leaders . . . . [PME] provides an in-depth view of the role of the military in a democratic society.9
The Civil Air Patrol flies 70-75 percent of all search and rescue hours flown under the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service. CAP members train on their own time, at their own expense. Even when the Civil Air Patrol is flying for the Air Force, the Air Force expends only a fraction of the actual cost for each CAP member involved in search duties. Also, CAP aircraft are smaller, more fuel-efficient, and better suited to low-altitude visual search than Air Force aircraft. The whole arrangement adds up to a tidy cost savings for the Air Force.
But the CAP-USAF relationship is not as clean and tidy as I have implied so far. The primary reason is ignorance--within both organizations. Many Air Force people have no idea or have erroneous ideas about what the Civil Air Patrol is and what it does. In particular, the ways in which CAP activities directly benefit the Air Force are not widely known.
On the other side of the balance sheet, many CAP members fail to realize the direct link to the "real" Air Force that most civilians impute to the Civil Air Patrol. CAP officers are sometimes "commissioned" with as little as eight hours of formal training. Many members are not even required to wear the uniform, and most will tolerate the most blatant violations of uniform regulations because these "are not important so long as we get the job done."
But underqualified officers and sloppy uniforms do not simply diminish the CAP reputation--they reflect adversely on the Air Force. It is no wonder that hostility exists in some quarters.
WHAT is Civil Air Patrol's relationship to the Total Force policy?
Civil Air Patrol, in my opinion, is a contributor to the Total Force and a part thereof, and I believe that Air Force doctrine should recognize this fact.
The tripartite mission of the Civil Air Patrol provides continuing, direct support to the Air Force in fulfilling necessary Air Force noncombatant missions. Furthermore, because this inexpensive support frees Air Force resources for better execution of other missions, the Civil Air Patrol supports indirectly the Air Force combat role as well.
While the minor doctrinal point I have proposed is little more than formal acknowledgment of a fait accompli, I also believe that both the Air Force and the Civil Air Patrol have some soul-searching to do in regard to the status and value of the Civil Air Patrol. This soul-searching is needed even if no formal doctrinal change is considered for adoption. Air Force personnel need to be more aware of their own auxiliary, to realize its contributions and its limitations, and to think about how mutual cooperation can best be achieved. Meanwhile, CAP members need to recognize their responsibility for upholding the Air Force image. The trend toward more training and professional education for CAP officers needs to be accelerated, and uniform standards must be adhered to. Furthermore, since all CAP missions contribute to the Air Force mission, all CAP members should concentrate on upholding all three missions.
Through this proposed educating of all concerned and through a belated official acknowledgment of the USAF-CAP relationship, I believe that the Civil Air Patrol--our "unnumbered air force"--will take its proper place as a minor but important part of the nation's Total Force.
Hq Michigan Wing
Civil Air Patrol, Westland
Notes
1. AFM 1-1, Functions and Basic Doctrine of the United States Air Force, 14 February 1979, p. 3-10.
2. George P. A. Forschler, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Reserve Affairs, quoted in Civil Air Patrol News, April 1982.
3. Civil Air Patrol National Headquarters, The Relationships of the Purposes, Missions and Programs of Civil Air Patrol (CAP Pamphlet 304), Maxwell AFB, Alabama, 18 May 1981, p. 2.
4. Ibid., p. 3.
5. Ibid.
6. AFM 1-1, pp. 1-4--1-5.
7. Ibid., p. 1-8.
8. Ibid., p. 2-30.
9. Ibid., p. 4-10.
Contributor
Glenn E. Overby is a major in the Headquarters Michigan Wing, Civil Air Patrol, serving as plans and programs officer. In civilian life, he is a partner in a firm that produces software for personal computers. He previously served in a variety of positions at Headquarters Michigan Wing and Headquarters Great Lakes Region, Civil Air Patrol. Major Overby is a graduate of Squadron Officer School, Air Command and Staff College, and Civil Air Patrol National Staff College.
Disclaimer
The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.
Air & Space Power Home Page | Feedback? Email the Editor