COVID-19 Meeting Information

Effective March 2020, all in-person weekly squadron meetings are suspended in order to ensure precautionary measures are effective against the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus). 

Virtual squadron meetings will take place over the Zoom tool. Meeting information will be distributed through each member's official CAP Ohio Wing Email Account on Gmail.

Prospective members and guests: 
We apologize for any inconvenience this may place on your wish to visit an upcoming meeting. Please utilize our Contact Us page or Prospective Member forms so we can establish communication and provide any additional information.

 

 

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Emailed Updates

31 March 2021:

Squadron,

Since January the Senior Members have been meeting in-person to plan and prepare for return to operations.  I am happy to say that great progress has been made!  On 16 March we had the pleasure of having Cadets at the building for the first time in a year.  We were able to celebrate their achievements and conduct promotions for everyone who worked hard and continued their progression during COVID.  Our next in-person cadet meeting is right around the corner, and a standard rotation allowing everyone the ability to meet in-person at least twice a month will be beginning in two weeks.

Being a unit with military member, we have to accept personnel changes due to military assignment changes.  This month Capt Jacquin (Deputy Commander for Cadets) and Lt Reese (Cadet Programs Officer) have departed Wright-Patterson AFB to do great things in the Air Force.  Both were integral parts of the unit and worked hard on establishing recovery plans for the unit returning to in-person operations.  I congratulate them on their graduation from the Air Force Institute of Technology and wish them luck at their future assignments and CAP units.

The cadet program will now be ran by Capt Chavez and Lt Schmidt.  Capt Chavez will be serving as the Deputy Commander for Cadets and will be overseeing the operations and development of the Cadet Corps.  He has experience as a Cadet Programs Officer within the unit, Flight Training Officer at Encampment, and Major in the Air Force.  I am excited to work with him on returning our cadets to the unit and resuming their leadership development.  Lt Schmidt will continue serving as the Great Start Director and will be overseeing the operations and introduction of new cadet members through the Great Start Program.  He has experience running and revamping the unit's previous Great Start Program and has graduated more than 20 Cadets.  I am excited to continue working with Lt Schmidt on establishing plans and procedures for resuming the Great Start Program in-person.

Expect to see information from Capt Chavez regarding the resumption of Cadet meetings, which will begin on April 13th.

With in-person activities restarting, please monitor the Squadron Calendar and your emails for opportunities such as ES training or AE activities.

Continue to stay safe and I look forward to seeing everyone in-person in April.

 

Maj Kevin J. DeMarco, CAP

Wright-Patterson Squadron Commander

 

 

5 January 2021:

Squadron,

Happy New Year!  I want to start 2021 off on the right foot with an update on how Squadron Leadership is working to get back on track.  We are continuing to track the policies and positions of Civil Air Patrol (From National down to Group 7), Wright-Patterson AFB, and Ohio Officials.  Ohio Wing is currently in Phase 1, which allows meetings of up to 10 members.  While our unit is large, we will be working to take advantage of meeting in-person in a limited capacity.  In preparation for this, we have worked with Aright-Patterson AFB to reestablish out EAL which allows listed members/parents without a DoD ID or CAC access to Area A for CAP meetings.

A few changes to the Squadron Building have recently taken place as well.  While I will leave most of it as a surprise for when we meet in-person, I will say that the changes are in the form of renovations and furniture.

I applaud all of you (Cadets and Seniors) that have continued to advance and promote.  I will be working with Capt Jacquin in the very near future to set up an in-person pinning and awards ceremony which will be broadcast on Zoom.  We will send out details once we have a date established and you may attend if you are comfortable doing so, otherwise we will postpone your pinning or award presentation until we meet in-person again.  Whatever you choose I am both proud and excited and you all have my congratulations.

Cadets, Lt Kliethermes-Jones is working on getting some Rocketry completed.  She has worked to get launch dates for those who completed their tests and are just waiting to launch their rockets.  If you wish to complete your rocketry badge, contact her and she will get you launch date details and sign you off.  If you have not started the rocketry program but want to get into it, Lt Kliethermes-Jones is also setting up build days on Zoom.  If you are interested, contact her and she will coordinate getting you the building materials and a date to construct your rocket on Zoom.

Seniors, I plan to restart in-person meetings for Senior Members on Jan 12th.  Expect a separate email with additional details due to the 10 person limit.  Lt Schmidt is also heading up a building clean-up day on Jan 9th in preparation for the resumption of in-person meetings and upcoming building safety inspection.  While we need all the help we can get, we must limit to 10 people, so please notify Lt Schmidt if you can and plan on attending.

Continue to stay safe, work on your progression, and keep and eye out for opportunities.

 

Maj Kevin J. DeMarco, CAP

Wright-Patterson Squadron Commander

 

 

9 July 2020:

Squadron,

It was nice to hear a lot of you at our virtual character development session.  I continue to look forward to when we can be face-to-face as a unit.  Now that we are in July, I would like to take some time and clarify where our squadron is on getting back to in-person meetings.

The Air Force has passed the torch to local commanders for determining their COVID condition.  While this is primarily for official travel, there is an impact on base access.  Currently, only personnel with DoD IDs and CACs are able to get on Wright-Patterson AFB.  This is an impact on the majority of us getting to the squadron building.  To avoid this problem, Maj Melcher has worked to secure his church's reception hall for our use.  Now, don't be driving right now, because this is just one organization that we need to align our return to in-person meetings with.

National CAP has allowed each wing to determine which phase they are in for remobilization.  Currently, Ohio is in Phase 0 which means only mission essential activities are being conducted.  A move to Phase 1 will allow in-person meetings of up to 10 members, and Phase 2 allows for in-person meetings up to 50 members.  Our size currently limits us to meeting all together until Phase 2, however the move to Phase 1 will allow us to hold smaller meetings which may include cadet staff training, ES training, rocket launching, Great Start, training as a flight, and senior meetings.  The key is keeping 10 or less personnel at the meeting location at once, and your Senior Staff will be working to decide which activities to introduce and how we will move forward with them.

I know the last thing you want to hear is "stay tuned for more information," but we remain in a holding pattern.

In the meantime, continue to work on your progression through your professional development (Seniors) or achievements (Cadets), keep an eye out for ES opportunities (both training and missions), keep an eye out for more virtual meetings for our unit, and continue to be safe and involved.

 

Capt Kevin J. DeMarco, CAP

Wright-Patterson Squadron Commander

 

 

13 April 2020:

Squadron,

I hope everyone is doing well.  National has sent out numerous emails and memorandums regarding the operations of Civil Air Patrol during the current COVID-19 situation.  Capt Jacquin, and I have been reviewing what has been released to keep our cadets bettering themselves and taking advantage of what Civil Air Patrol has to offer.  Here are two things I want to make sure everyone can take advantage of:

1.  All current operational qualifications expiring between 31 March and 31 August 2020 will be extended through 30 September 2020.  Exceptions to this are driver's licenses and pilot qualifications which will follow the state and FAA guidelines, respectively.  Full details can be found in Attachment 1.

2.  Accommodations for cadet promotion requirements have been modified to align with the use of virtual methods.  Below is how our squadron will be handling the requirements, but full details from National can be found in Attachment 2.

A.  Leadership and aerospace achievement tests will continue to be conducted online through eServices (Ops Normal).

B.  Drill and ceremonies tests will be waived.

C.  Essays for cadets attempting Achievement 8 and the Eaker Award will be submitted through Capt Jacquin who will designate a testing officer to review and grade the essay (Ops Normal).

D.  Speeches for cadets attempting Achievement 8 and the Eaker Award will be conducted virtually.  Coordination will be through Capt Jacquin and conducted to, at a minimum, five members (cadets or seniors) and a testing officer (who will grade and review the speech).

E.  Cadet Officers conducting staff duty analysis will conduct the written portion in accordance with 2C above and oral portion in accordance with 2D above.

F.  Closed-book milestone awards (with the exception of the Spaatz Exam) may be proctored by a parent or other adult.  Coordinate with Capt Jacquin so he may brief the proctor and send the exam.

G.  Physical fitness tests can be conducted at home and proctored by a parent or other adult.  Similar to 2F, coordinate with Capt Jacquin so he may brief the proctor.

H.  Review boards will be conducted virtually.  As normal, request a review board through Capt Jacquin.

Your staff have been working to make sure your development is not hindered.  The first thing we are working on is material geared toward allowing you to continue your ES training and qualifications.  Lt Thompson has been looking at methods to get you signed off on green book requirements, and will be working to get some information out to the unit.  In the meantime Group VII is hosting online ES training every Wednesday night starting at 1900.  If you are interested and not getting the meeting invitations please let me and Lt Thompson know.  We will be exploring AE and Character Development opportunities in the very near future, and will most likely mirror what Lt Thompson is working on for ES.

Like other units, we are also exploring the feasibility of our unit holding virtual meetings.  However, our size makes this a challenge.  We have discussed multiple other options in regards to this, but will first start with the above methods and expand from there.

 

Capt Kevin J. DeMarco, CAP

Wright-Patterson Squadron Commander

 

 

13 March 2020:

We will continue to monitor policies and the virus and keep everyone informed.  For now be sure to take care of your health and safety.  If you have any questions please reach out to Capt Jacquin and me.

 

Capt Kevin J. DeMarco, CAP

Wright-Patterson Squadron Commander