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We had a very successful annual Squad-
ron Awards Banquet on 12 November
2007. Nearly every member of the
Squadron brought along family or friends
as we gathered at The Runway restaurant
at our home field, the Butler County Air-
port.
As I stood in front of our group that night I
was struck by
the strength
and depth of
participation
and support for
Squadron 712.
It occurs to me
theres a lot
more to our
unit than just
those who put
on uniforms and come to our weekly
meetings.
As a volunteer organization, Civil Air Pa-
trol depends on members giving freely of
their time to support its missions: Emer-
gency Services, Aerospace Education and
Cadet Programs. Were fortunate that so
many choose to give their time for this,
and more, at 712. What the banquet high-
lighted was the deeper commitment, and
strong support our Squadron receives
from the family members of our Senior
and Cadet Corps! Its rarely seen, and
probably not appreciated enough, but its
the support and encouragement members
receive that help strengthen 712!
Parents and grand-
parents who trans-
port cadets to unit
meetings and ac-
tivities, pay dues,
buy uniforms keep
our thriving Cadet
Corps moving for-
ward. Spouses,
parents and signifi-
cant others of our Senior members adjust
their schedules to accommodate the time
our adult members spend making our
cadet program a success and keeping us
prepared for service should a disaster or
emergency arise.
As I sat down to a feast at Thanksgiving a
little over a week later, I was thankful for
the active participation and support for
Squadron 712 that was evident the night
of our banquet!
Regards,
Kevin Berry, 1Lt CAP
Commander Squadron 712
Commanders Call:
Lt. Berry on the Air!Early this month, our commander, Lt. Kevin Berry,
made two appearances on local radio stations to pro-
mote the Squadron 712 Open House and Civil Air Pa-
trol. On 2 November long-time host of Its Your Turn
Dave Malarkey interviewed Lt. Berry for nearly an hour
on station WISR. Monday, Lt. Berry appeared with
Bob Cupp on station WBUT. Recordings of both inter-
views are available in the Squadron archives. If youd like to listen to these
recordings, request them through your chain-of-command.
Call to Attention:
Rep. Daryl Metcalfe now in CAP!
712 Veterans Day Activities
5 NOV 712 OPEN HOUSE a SUCCESS
Squadron 712 Banquet Pictures
The Communicator
C I V I L A I R P A T R O L B U T L E R C O M P O S I T E S Q U A D R O N 7 1 2
Volume 7, Issue 3
20 November 2007
Professional Development 2
712 Veterans Day Activities 2
Cadet Commanders Comments 3
Maj. Daryl Metcalfe sworn in! 3
Squadron 712 Picture Page 4
712 Open House 5
Lt. Heads Nightingale Award 6
USAF Academy Program @ 911th 7
Upcoming Events 8
CAP Sinks Subs During WWII 8
Drill Instruction Coming! 8
Inside this issue:
Challenge: How many enemy submarines did CAP aircrews sink during WWII and where?
Maj. Bob Frost, Mr. John Gumpper, Lt. Kevin Berry
Lt. Berry
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By Keith McMillen, 2Lt CAP
Each level of membership in the CivilAir Patrol has their own tasks involvedwith advancement and acquiring moreknowledge to perform our tasks. Thetraining opportunities for the variouscourses for advancement will be avail-able in the next year. Please make anote on your calendar for the follow-ing training sessions according to thetraining that you need.
Unit Commanders Course West,March 8 and 9, 2008.
Corporate Learning Course Central,April 12 and 13, 2008.
Squadron Leadership School West,May 16, 17 and 18, 2008.
Training Leaders of Cadets West,June 7 and 8, 2008.
Besides these weekend course, thereare numerous training informationavailable through the National CAPwebsite under the Professional Devel-opment page. Another source of in-formation that I have found valuablehas been the CAP Knowledgebase,
where I search for the topics that I aminterested in learning. These refer-ences will also reference the sectionof the manual, pamphlets and associ-ated forms.
eServices through the National CAPwebsite is another valuable source forgaining information for your own pro-fessional development. The Aero-
space: The Journey of Flight book isavailable for those seeking to studytoward their Yeager Award. Yourpersonal status for emergency ser-
vices are available at the link underMy Operations Qualifications/National Reports link. This page willallow you to review all of your recordsfor progressing towards various emer-gency services qualifications.
If you have further questions for pro-fessional development, then please letme know at the meetings or by send-
ing me an email [email protected].
Professional Development
Im hoping 712 will be marching in But-lers parades in the future!
1Lt. Kevin Berry
Commander
significance being the 11th hour of the11th day of the 11th month; the date ofthe Armistice that ended WWI.
Bands from 5 of the school districts inButler County were interspersed withvarious marching units, military vehi-cles (current & historic), emergencyvehicles and the Several Shiners motor-ized units, including those crazy littlecars that criss-cross all over!
After the parade, our members paidtheir respects at the Butler WWII me-morial. (See accompanying picture.)
Squadron 712 at Veterans Day ParadeThree members of Squadron 712 wereable to attend the Butler Veterans DayParade on 12 November: Lt. Berry, Lt.
McMillen and Cadet Zinn. We stood atthe corner of Main and DiamondStreets, across from the courthouse andon the block where there are severalmemorials to those whove served ourcountry.
The parade, typically one of the longestof the year, lasted nearly one hour. Itsplanned to begin at 1040 so the grandmarshal, and other dignitaries arrive atthe Memorials just before 1100. (The
Page 2 The Communicator
Squadron 712 Cadets who at-tend Slippery Rock High Schoolparticipated in a special Veter-ans Day program at their school.Cadets were asked by the Stu-dent Counsel to escort specialguest for the event. Our cadets
willingly accepted this honorand donned their BDUs for theoccasion.
Cadet Will Morrison escortedState Representative RichardStevenson, Cadet Tom Raisleyescorted Lt. Col. William Bialo-zor of SRU ROTC, Cadet JustinO,Hara escorted State SenatorMary Jo White And Mr. JeffGriggs, retired AF Captain. andteacher at SRHS.
712 Cadets Escort HonoredGuests at Veterans Day Program
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Page 3
By my last installment, I
hope that most of you per-
ceive my "Gung-ho" approach
to the Emergency Services
(ES) program within the Civil
Air Patrol. It may seem that
all we do is prepare for a
mission that may never hap-
pen. That is most definitely
not the case. If we do not
prepare, how are we supposed
to know how to do our duty ifwe do not train like we were
on missions like they happen
all the time.
Although, it may seem monoto-
nous, you will apply the
skills that you learn both in
and out of CAP. On missions
you will learn to apply your
skills when looking for a
missing plane/person, or when
setting up site security. Bysetting a perimeter, keeping
a log book or even making
rounds, you are implementing
your training. Most of the
missions that I have been on
have been site security, and
putting into place things
that I have learned have been
key to those missions. At
Basic Encampment, you will
implement using basic ES
skills in fire watch andkeeping the log book. The Log
Book keeps coming up because
it is so important.
Everything that we do within
CAP must be documented for
legal purposes, and can be
used in a court of law for up
to 7 years. Therefore, it is
very important that you keep
an accurate log as well as
take care of it.
You may wonder how you may
use your training outside of
CAP. If you hunt or are ever
searching for that ever elu-
sive sock some morning, you
are implementing a variety of
different search techniques.
By tearing up your sock
drawer or cleaning your room,
you are looking in every dif-
ferent direction and under-
neath objects. It is this ex-
act same principle that gov-
erns how we execute searches.
I use these techniques while
looking for deer while hunt-
ing, and looking for my
socks. The psychological as-
pect of the mission - sleepdeprivation, and the wear of
the actual mission - have
helped me to deal with foot-
ball by having an exhaustive
day of camp with a lack of
sleep, also it has developed
my stubborn sense of never
giving up.
As different as it may seem,
search techniques are not
different anywhere you choose
to apply them. With that in
mind, remember our motto:
Semper Vigilins...Always
Vigilant!
C/2Lt Ken Berkopec
Cadet Commander
Cadet Commanders Comments:
We invited Pennsylvania Representative Daryl Met-
calfe to be the guest of honor at our 5 NovemberOpen House; when he we to our web site to learn
more about CAP, he was so impressed he decided to
join!
Rep. Metcalfe is seen in the picture at the right being sworn in by Lt.
Berry as a member of the PA Legislative Squadron. This was a tremen-
dous honor for Squadron 712 and we may look forward to more interac-
tions with MAJOR Metcalfe in the future! Semper Vigilans!!!
PA Rep. Daryl Metcalfe joins CAP!
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Squadron 712 Picture Page
Page 4 The Communicator
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Civil Air Patrol Composite Squadron712 Butler Pennsylvania held its OpenHouse on 5 November 2007 in re-sponse to Gen. Courters request thatall Squadrons host such an event.
The 712 Open House was well at-tended with more than 50 people com-ing through the doors between 1900and 2100! Our guest of honor wasPennsylvania State RepresentativeDaryl Metcalfe, 12th District, ButlerCounty. Squadron Commander 1LtKevin Berry said, I was very pleased
when Representative Metcalfe agreedto attend our open house. I was de-lighted when, after he learned moreabout CAP and its missions, Represen-tative Metcalfe decided to apply formembership in the Pennsylvania WingLegislative Squadron! It was a bighonor for me to swear him in and pre-sent him with his Major epaulets duringour open house!
Representative Metcalfe addressedthose present after his swearing-in; hiswords focused on the responsibility of
all Citizens to protect and defend theconstitutions of the United States, ourState and CAP. He went on to empha-size the importance of volunteerism
through organizations like the Civil AirPatrol, and encouraged all present totake advantage of the training and ser-vice opportunities available throughSquadron 712 Butler, and CAP state-wide.
During the open house members ofSquadron 712 Butler hosted displays ofEmergency Services equipment, SeniorMember Professional Development,Cadet Program and communicationscapabilities (CAP HF and VHF stationson the air!) Our Cadets provided park-
ing assistance, escorted guests to ourSquadron Headquarters and promotedCAPs cadet program by looking sharpand conveying their enthusiasm to ourguests.
712 meets on the west side of HangarC-1 at the Butler County Airport. Wehave this fantastic meeting facilitythanks to the generosity of the ButlerCounty Airport Authority., said Lt.Berry. The space theyve provided hasenabled this squadron to grow signifi-cantly over the past few years. Being
located on the Butler County Airport,712s HQ can also serve as a strategi-cally positioned CAP mission base forSearch and Rescue and Disaster Reliefactivities in Western Pennsylvania.
Open House visitors were greeted by acontinuous PowerPoint slideshow of theSquadrons activities this past year setto a background of upbeat march mu-sic. In the Squadrons administrativeoffices, our laptop ran a continuous loopof the CAPs Missions for America andEveryday Heroes videos downloaded
from the PAO Toolkit pages ofwww.CAP.gov.
Major Frost, Commander Group OnePennsylvania Wing, Major Hartmann,his Chief of Staff, Col. Herbst, PAWG
Assistant DC and Lt. Nicholson, GroupOne PAO showed their support for 712by attending this event. Another unex-pected and welcomed guest was TSgt.Jeannette Drake, Group Ones newCAPRAP (Reserve Assistance Pro-gram) representative. Lt. Berry says,As a new Squadron Commander I rely
heavily on the support and guidanceoffered by more experienced membersof CAP and the Air Force. I truly appre-
(Continued on page 8)
Page 5
Squadron 712 Open House
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Page 6 The Communicator
Friday, December 07, 2007 Every two years
since 1920, the International Committee of the RedCross (ICRC) has honored nurses and volunteerhealth aids worldwide who have shown excep-tional courage and devotion to the sick, woundedand disabled in times of war and peace.
The ICRC award is named in honor of British-bornnursing pioneer Florence Nightingale, who is
credited with founding the modern nursing profes-sion. In the mid-19th century, Florence Nightin-gale was able to elevate nursing from an occupa-tion akin to servants work to an internationallyrecognized healthcare profession with consistenttraining and standards.
Since Nightingales time, nursing has made enor-mous strides in education, skills and responsibili-ties. In addition to working in a wide variety ofsettings and continuing to manage traditional pa-tient care, many nurses have become leaders inthe development of complex systems of medicalassessment and treatment. This years medal win-ners demonstrate that Nightingales pioneering
spirit and creativity continue to live on today.
2007 Florence Nightingale Medal Recipients
Catherine Head has dedicated her career to improving health outcomes for vulnerable populations. Prior to serving as an
American Red Cross volunteer, Head worked extensively as a nurse midwife in urban and rural settings. She then establishedone of the first full service birth centers in Pennsylvania. Along with Heads many Red Cross duties, she established a process fordeploying a healthy work force during disaster relief operations. As a result of Heads new screening process, fewer relief work-ers need to be sent home in the middle of their assignments. Other recipients included: Brenna Aileo is a retired Army nurse,Lt. Col. Steven Drennan is a nurse in the U.S. Army Marilyn Selfhas worked in paid and volunteer capacities with the Ameri-
can Red Cross for more than 25 years.
Squadron 712 is proud to have Lt. Head in our ranks! Her Red Cross duties often keep her away from regular meetings, but shesalways with us in spirit! As this is written, Lt. Head is in the state of Washington responding to the needs of flood victims near the
city of Olympia.
Lt. Head, 712s Medical Officer, is also a CAP pilot who is Cadet Orientation Flight Qualified. She holds the CAP Emergency Ser-vices qualifications of Ground Team Member 2 and Urban Direction Finding Team member.
The American Red Cross helps people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. Last year, almost a million volunteers and
35,000 employees helped victims of almost 75,000 disasters; taught lifesaving skills to millions; and helped U.S. service members
separated from their families stay connected. Almost 4 million people gave blood through the Red Cross, the largest supplier of
blood and blood products in the United States. The American Red Cross is part of the International Red Cross and Red CrescentMovement. An average of 91 cents of every dollar the Red Cross spends is invested in humanitarian services and programs. The Red
Cross is not a government agency; it relies on donations of time, money, and blood to do its work.
From left to right: Lt. Col. Steven Drennan, CatherineHead, Marilyn Self, Brenna Aileo.
(Photo by Bill Crandall)
1Lt. Catherine Head receives
Red Cross Highest Honor!
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Cadet and Senior Members of Squadron 712 and our friends from the community
traveled to the 911th Air Base for a United States Air Force Grass Roots gathering
program. We joined nearly 100 others for this evenings presentations.
Major Bob Frost, Commander Group 1 was the Master of Ceremonies. After
a short welcome, he invited the two United States Air Force Academy Cadets
to address those present. Cadets Kurtz and Bucey, a junior and freshman
respectively, spoke about their Academy experience. Both described what
motivated them to apply to the Academy, life as a Cadet, and the opportuni-
ties available to them through the USAF as USAFA graduates. Both are origi-
nally from the Pittsburgh area. Cadet Kurtz explained, Everyone [cadets]get to go home for Thanksgiving, with the expectation that theyll participate
in a Grass Roots presentation while there.
Cadet Kurtz is majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Cadet Bucey has not
yet declared a major. I went to the academy with Aeronautical Engineering
in mind, but there are many op-
portunities and I want to explore more of them before choosing a major., he ex-
plained. The engineering school of the USAFA ranks among the top 10 in the nation!
I didnt go for the free tuition., said Kurtz, And nobody I know at the Academy
has. He continued, I wanted to serve this great country, to give something back for
all Ive gotten
Academy graduates have the highest rate of placement in the USAF Pilot School. And
being an Academy graduate gives one an edge on any career path theyd choose in
the USAF.
Also present were members of the 911th Air Reserve Station and members
of the Air National Guard 171st Air Refueling Wing. One of the representa-
tives of the latter is a former CAP cadet who joined the ANG as a mechanic,
and worked his way through to
officer training school and pilot
training. Hes now flying KC-135
tankers for the Guard!
Lots of opportunities, lots benefits
and lots of pride; that how Id sum
up our trip to the Grass Roots pro-
gram at the 911th Air Station!
Lt. Kevin Berry
Page 7
712 Attends USAFA Grass Roots Program
at 911th Air Base
USAFA Cadet Kurtz
USAFA Cadet Kurtz, CAP Cadet Gilliss
Maj. Bob Frost Addresses the group, 712 cadets
are right up front! USAFA Cadet Bucey
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Squadron 712 Upcoming Events:See squadron calendar posted at HQ or online at
www.google.com/calendar then search for Squadron 712
Drill training will be-gin 7 January! Well
be using the PennChristian Academy
gym from 1930-2030.
SSgt. Donald Kimball,
USMC is coming to
put us through our paces. Cadets and
Seniors will partici-pate and its going to
be a learning experi-
ence for all!
Drill Training
15 December 712 Cadet Orientation Flights KBTP
14 January Commanders Inspection of Cadet Corps
28 January Squadron 712 Inspection by Group 1
February date TBA Radio Operator Authorization (ROA) Class
29 Feb.-2 Mar. Trip to USAF Museum Dayton, OH
Newsletter The Communicator deadline 15th of each month
Civil Air Patrol Butler Composite Squadron 712
ciate the interest so many have shownin fostering the success of 712. I amespecially grateful for the help I getfrom Major Frost, the former com-mander of Squadron 603, and MajorHartmann, the Squadron Commanderin whose footsteps I follow at 712.Their experience and advice has helpedme recognize whats important to makea Squadron succeed!
Squadron 712 Butler meets every Mon-day (Federal holidays excepted) from1900-2100. Lt. Berry summed it up say-ing, Every 712 meeting is an OpenHouse! We encourage anyone who isinterested in CAP to attend our meet-ings and learn more about the opportu-nities available to learn, serve and havefun in the Civil Air Patrol!
Kevin Berry, 1Lt CAP
Commander
Squadron 712 Butler
(Continued from page 5)
Hangar C-1
Butler County Airport
470 Airport Road
Butler, PA 16001
Commanders Phone: 724-586-1182
E-mail: [email protected]
Semper Vigilans, Always Vigilant
CAP is on the Web!
WWW.CAP.GOV
YES YOU!!!
Colonel Earle Johnson, CAPs com-mander during WWI, while visiting awar criminals' prison in Germanymanaged to get an interview withthe ex-commander of the Nazi sub-
marine "wolf pack" that had oper-ated off the U.S. Atlantic coast.Earle asked, "Commandant, whatdo you consider to be the most out-standing factor of your defeat off theAtlantic coast of America?" Thecommandant angrily replied, "It vosdose gottdamned leetle red andyellow airplanes!"He was refer-ring to planes like that picturedabove!
Thank you for the Wal-Mart
gift card given to me at the
Squadron Banquet!
Kevin Berry, 1Lt CAP