Florida Wing Civil Air Patrol

History

Vision

Mission statement

Command objectives

• Strengthen our organization through positive and professional interaction.
• Maximize Florida Wing, Civil Air Patrol support to our local, state, federal, and tribal partners, communities, and members.
• Sustain a capable, responsive, and accountable organization.

Mission

Emergency services

• Conducts 90% of inland search and rescue in the U.S. as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Tyndall AFB, Florida and other agencies.
• Coordinates Air Force-assigned missions through the CAP National Operations Center at Maxwell AFB, Alabama, at a cost of $120-$165 per flying hour.
• Has nearly 7,000 aircrew members and over 33,000 emergency responders trained to Federal Emergency Management Agency standards.
• Provides over 450 chaplains and 600 character development instructors who minister to youth and adult members and help comfort victims of disasters.
• Performs highly specialized aerial imagery for disaster damage assessment and more to support local, state and national agencies.
• Provides air intercept training, impact assessment, light transport, communications support and low-level route surveys for the Air Force.
• Transports time-sensitive medical materials, blood products and body tissues when commercial resources are unavailable.
• Maintains an extensive national network of VHF and HF communications.

• The wing provided aircraft, aircrews and small Unmanned Aerial Systems teams in response to the Puerto Rico earthquakes.
• Pilots provided 636 CAP cadet orientation flights, 13 collegiate/university ROTC cadet and midshipman orientation flights, 52 Junior ROTC cadet orientation flights and 14 teacher orientation flights.
• Aircrews flew 30 air defense target of interest flights for Fertile Keynote, 86 sorties for Exercise America's Shield and 42 low-level route survey sorties for Air Force Special Operations Command and the 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, Florida.
• The wing flew 11 sorties in support of the FEMA for the responses to Hurricanes Isaac and Sally.
• Members participated in Falcon Virgo, AEROnet, Eglin AFB installation / training & test range fire patrol, United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command radar training, Charlotte County harbor patrol, Felix Keynote, Fertile Hawk and Super Bowl air intercept training.

Cadet programs

• Attracts over 24,000 members ages 12 through 20 for participation in its cadet programs.
• Educates youth in four main program areas — leadership, aerospace, fitness and character development.
• Enriches school curricula through afterschool programs.
• Meets the high school graduation requirement in Florida for 100 community service/volunteer hours.
• Offers orientation flights in powered and glider aircraft, as well as flight training scholarships.
• Provides activities and competitions for cadets at the local, state, regional and national levels.
• Provides opportunities for community involvement through color guard/drill team and emergency service missions.
• Challenges youth to be ambassadors for a drug-free lifestyle.
• Introduces thousands of cadets to cyber defense careers through CyberPatriot, the Air Force Association's National Youth Cyber Security Competition.
• CAP cadets make up about 10% of the Air Force Academy's classes.
• Cadets who have earned the Gen. Billy Mitchell Award enlist in the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Space Force, U.S. Army and U.S. Coast Guard at a higher pay grade
• Cadets who have earned the Gen. Billy Mitchell Award who enter the collegiate / university Air Force ROTC program can exempt their first year of the 4-year AFROTC program and potentially graduate and commission as Air Force and Space Force officers in less than 3 years via CLEP, Advanced Placement, and/or compressed academic loads.
• Participates in the International Air Cadet Exchange program.
• Awards college scholarships in several disciplines.

• More than 370 cadets attended a wing-wide encampment.
• Four cadets achieved the Gen. Carl A. Spaatz Award, Civil Air Patrol's top cadet honor.
• The St. Augustine Composite Squadron cadet team placed second nationally in the All Service Division during the Air Force Association's first virtual national CyberPatriot cyber security competition and third in the CISCO NetAcad Challenge.
• Two cadets earned their private pilot certificate through CAP's Cadet Wings program.
• Four cadets received CAP flight scholarships and one was awarded a CAP academic scholarship.
• The Cadet Leadership Academy drew 193 cadets.
• Florida Wing 2021 Quality Cadet Unit Award Recipients: NORTH PERRY COMPOSITE SQUADRON SRQ COMPOSITE SQDN, Sarasota CHARLOTTE COUNTY COMPOSITE SQDN SEMINOLE COMPOSITE SQUADRON SAINT AUGUSTINE COMPOSITE SQUADRON POLK COUNTY COMPOSITE SQUADRON PATRICK COMPOSITE SQDN TAMIAMI COMPOSITE SQDN JACKSONVILLE COMPOSITE SQDN PENSACOLA CADET SQDN TALLAHASSEE COMPOSITE SQDN WESLEY CHAPEL CADET SQUADRON 463RD COMPOSITE SQUADRON, Kissimmee

Aerospace education

Organization

Legal protection