CAP Connects Again with Blue River Stream Team
Posted by Tammi Miller, Capt. on Tuesday, 5/5/2009
For the fourth year in a row, Cass County Composite Squadron volunteered to assist with the Kansas City Project Blue River Rescue. Over 800 community members gathered on the morning of Saturday, April 4, 2009, to collect the innumerable bags of litter and garbage left to roadways and along the riverbanks. Cass County volunteers amassed large mounds of trash along the designated route, including tents, glass bottles, and damaged car parts. Cass County cadets and seniors participating were: C/Lt Daniel Caron, C/Lt Austin Hooper, C/TSgt Genesis Martinez, C/TSgt Crystal Runyon, Maj Melinda Berry, Capt Tammi Miller, Capt Bill Runyon, and Sgt Mike Mudry.

MO-149 Safety Briefing; Feb 2009
Posted by Mark Miller on Tuesday, 3/10/2009
The Feb. Safety Briefing is over Operational Risk Management or ORM. ORM training by CAP mambership is an annual requirement by CAP National HQ and MOWG. CAP National Safety Officer Col. Lyle Letteer has requested that every member task the Basic ORM training and test on the CAP website, gocivilairpatrol.com.

CAPR 62-1.3.d.1 states, "At least annually, Operational Risk Management (ORM) will be discussed during a unit safety meeting." Also CAPR 62-1.3.d.2 states, "New memebership will receive ORM familiarization training, which included in the Level One Foundations Course."

Operational Risk Management is a methodical 6 step process to manage inherent risk. This process allows systematic risk decision-making that reduces mishaps and in turn makes CAP membership safer plus optimizes our operational capability.

Six Steps of the ORM Process:
1. Identify the hazards
2. Assess the risks
3. Analyze the risk control measures
4. Make control decisions
5. Risk control implementation
6. Supervise & review

The 3 ORM levels:

Deliberate - Used prior to an activity and the risk controls are intergrated into the activity plans.

Time Critical - Used during the execution phase of an activity. Helps choose a course of action when an unplanned event occurs during a planned operationor routine.

Strategic - Used to study hazards and risks in a coplex operaton in which the hazards are not well understood.

This is just a brief overview of the ORM process. By no means will this briefing meet the requirements needed for the required annual ORM training. Please go to and click on ORM. Open the powerpoint or pdf training slides. When you have reviewed the slides click on the basic ORM test link. This is an open book test. You can use the presentation while taking the test. Print the certificate and bring to the next sqaudron meeting for Capt. Carla Hargis to put in your file.

Thank you for being safe and thinking safe.

Remember:
The person most responsible for safety is the person you see in the mirror each morning.

Semper Vigilans!

1Lt. Mark Miller; MO-149 Safety Officer

MO-149 Safety Briefing; Jan 2009
Posted by Mark Miller on Tuesday, 2/3/2009
The next three months are going to be spent covering safety training required by National HQ and MOWG. This will allow Cass County Composite Squadron to be in compliance of the required safety training needed annually.

CAP Duty Day is January's safety topic. Duty Day can be seperated in two parts, Flight Time/Duty Limitations and Vehicle Driving.

CAPR 60-1 7 Dec, 2006
2-15. Flight Time and Duty Limitations

Pilots will not be scheduled for more than 8 hours and will not, under any circumstances, exceed 10 hours flight time during a 14-hour crew duty day. The crew duty day begins when reporting for work or CAP duty (whichever occurred first) and ends upon engine shutdown at the completion of the flight activity. At least a 10-hour crew rest period should be provided between duty days. Exceptions to the crew duty day limitation will be considered for life-saving missions only and will be requested by the pilot-in-command through the incident commander to the wing commander. Approval for up to 16 hours crew duty day may be granted by the wing commander only after all appropriate Operational Risk Management (ORM) considerations have been evaluated. The wing commander must advise the region commander of any crew duty day extensions within 24 hours of such action.

CAPR 60-1 MOWG Supplement 22 Dec, 2007
Section B. Supplemental Paragraphs
2a. Vehicle Driver

Vehicle driver duty day will be no more than 8 hours in a 14 hour duty day. It is strongly encouraged to have more than one driver on long trips and to switch driving responsibility frequently. In addition, it is strongly encouraged to make frequent short stops to reduce fatigue.

Fatigue is one of your best self-checks when embarking on a mission. Fatigue shouldn't be dismissed when driving or flying. We have been entrusted with CAP resources and are expected to take care of the planes and vehicles we drive. These resources include the cadets, and ourselves, that ride along.

Remember:
The door to Safety swings on the hinges of common sense.

Semper Vigilans!

1Lt. Mark Miller; MO-149 Safety Officer

MO-149 Safety Briefing; Dec 2008
Posted by Mark Miller on Wednesday, 12/31/2008
Safety is very important in CAP. A large emphasis has been placed to improve safety at all levels of CAP for 2009. Cass County Composite Squadron is striving to step up its' safety for 2009 also.

CAPR 62-1.3.d. states: "...This program shall deliver no less than 15 minutes per month of face-to-face safety education and training to the membership. Members who missed the face-to-face safety meeting will review the information presented at the meeting before they participate in any CAP activity (including unit meetings). Rational flexibility should be used to get the latest safety meeting information to those members who miss the unit safety meeting. Any system that gets the message to the member is acceptable – e-mail with read receipt, videotaping the presentation for later playback, audio taping, read file or any other method that works. Due to the educational benefits gained from the interaction during face-to-face meetings, each member must attend at least one face-to-face meeting per calendar quarter." This regulation applies to all CAP members.

Cass County Composite now has capability of reporting on-line monthly safety briefing for those members that miss the monthly breifing. Down the left hand side of the squadron home page is green Safety Submission Form link. All you need to do is read the squadron news for the monthly safety briefing that was missed. Click on the Safety Submission link and fill out blank fields and then click submit. This will record and send your information to the MO-149 Safety Officer. Tracking of each all safety briefings are submitted to CAP MO Wing the 15th of each following month.

Make sure you are up-to-date with your monthly safety training. You don't want to be left out due to missing a safety training.

Please remember to be safe and let 2009 be the safest year ever for MO-149 & CAP!

Semper Vigilans!

1Lt. Mark Miller; MO-149 Safety Officer

POW Convention Invites Cass County to do Honors
Posted by Tammi Miller, Capt. on Tuesday, 11/18/2008
The Cass County Composite Squadron Honor Guard was offered a rare opportunity to present the Colors at the national convention of the American Ex-Prisoners of War Organization. C/Capt Kenna Eggenberger, C/SMSgt Luke Wood, C/A1C Malachi Hargis, and C/CMSgt Karra Miller participated in the opening ceremonies and were featured on Kansas City television news. After posting at the banquet Saturday evening, the team performed the POW/MIA Table ceremony. C/CMSgt Karra Miller read “The Empty Table” while C/2Lt Jordan Hargis, C/SSgt Blake Goodman, C/SrA Josh Goodman, C/A1C Zach Goodman, and C/SrA Jonathan Fairchild carried hats from the five military services and placed them on the table.
Founded April 14, 1942 the American Ex-Prisoners of War organization has existed for the purpose of helping others. The organization of former POW's (military and civilian), their spouses, families and civilian internees has helped those affected by their capture deal with the trauma through friendship of those who shared a common experience. At the present time, the American Ex-Prisoners of War has over 300 Chapters and State Departments, representing over 27,000 members.