This is an interesting turn of events regarding CAP here in Iowa. At our
last meeting, our wing commander announced that the Iowa Legislature was
voting to place CAP under the control of the Iowa National Guard, whilst
still keeping it as an auxilliary of the U.S. Air Force.

This seemed like a contradictory statement, so I asked our squadron
commander to elaborate on this a bit.

Here is his answer:

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2d Lt Honeck,

This is a good question that maybe a few people have.

What Col Tomlinson meant by being "under" the Iowa
National Guard did not mean a transfer. The Civil Air
Patrol will still be the official Air Force Auxiliary.
In order to change this status would take an approval
from Headquarters USAF, Headquarters CAP, and the US
Congress.

What he was saying is that a bill has been passed in
the Iowa Congress that allows a state agency to
officially call us up and work as a representative of
the state. The State Patrol can call us to fly
sorties for traffic reports or can call us to find a
missing person. At the same time, the National Guard
can call us to fly sorties for convoy's. That is, we
can fly ahead of the convoy to spot any potential
problems or possible road blocks. The DNR can call us
to fly radio tagging missions of deer or fish or what
ever.

The type of missions are endless. The bill officially
puts CAP Iowa Wing under the Homeland Security for
Iowa. We will be under the supervision of the Iowa
National Guard.

At the same time, we are looking for $125,000 from the
state to help us support this. The bill has passed
the Iowa Senate and the Iowa House. However, the
Senate made some amendments and now the House needs to
pass it again. It looks like we will receive the full
$125,000. The money will be used for Emergency
Services.

What this means for Iowa is more emphasis on the
Operations mission of CAP. Since this is where all
the money is coming from, this will mean more missions
and more pressure to qualify aircrews and pilots.
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Jay here again. This change will certainly raise the profile of CAP in
Iowa. I'm glad that perhaps CAP will be found to be more useful, and I'm
willing to wait and see how it works out -- but I must admit that I find
this change a bit worrisome.

From my end it doesn't matter much -- I don't have time to participate in
many CAP activities anyway. But from my 14 year old son's standpoint, I
really don't know if I want him acting under the command of the National
Guard or State Patrol. We'll have to see how this all works out in
practice -- if it gets out of the legislature intact.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"