Group V SAREX
On Saturday, February 19, cadets and senior members from Civil Air Patrol (CAP) squadrons met for a large-scale training event at the San Marcos airport. Over 60 cadets and seniors from squadrons in south-central Texas flew 19 air sorties and 3 ground sorties and practiced search and rescue (SAREX) techniques such as searching for simulated downed aircraft and evaluating simulated flood and hurricane damage.
Group V of the Texas Wing, Civil Air Patrol, is made up of nine squadrons from San Marcos, Austin, San Antonio, Randolph AFB, Georgetown, Temple, and Kerrville and all squadrons participated in the SAREX. Five CAP airplanes participated in the air sorties. The Commemorative Air Force (CAF) donated meeting space for a air command center in their historic hangar at the San Marcos Airport to launch the air sorties. The CAP building for the San Marcos squadron served as command and communications center for the ground teams. Training in search techniques, air-to-ground communications, and safety were provided.
Group V Commander Lt. Col. Don Jones said of the event, “It is important that we simulate real-world events such as hurricanes and flooding, in addition to downed aircraft in our training. These are missions that CAP has been called on to perform in the past. For this event, we mixed up crews from different squadrons to make sure all our teams can work together.”
