About the Civil Air Patrol
Public Law 476 established Civil Air Patrol's objects and purposes as follows:
"Provide an organization to encourage and aid American citizens in the contribution of their efforts, services, and resources in the development of aviation and in the maintenance of air supremacy, and to encourage and develop by example the voluntary contribution of private citizens to the public welfare. Provide aviation education and training especially to its senior and cadet members; to encourage and foster civil aviation in local communities and to provide an organization of private citizens with adequate facilities to assist in meeting local and national emergencies."
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Civil Air Patrol, the longtime all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary, is the newest member of the Air Force’s Total Force, which consists of regular Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, along with Air Force retired military and civilian employees. CAP, in its Total Force role, operates a fleet of 550 aircraft and performs about 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and is credited by the AFRCC with saving an average of 78 lives annually. Civil Air Patrol’s 56,000 members nationwide also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. Its members additionally play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 24,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet program. Performing missions for America for the past 75 years, CAP received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2014 in honor of the heroic efforts of its World War II veterans. CAP also participates in Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans. Visit www.capvolunteernow.com for more information.
About the Greater Nashua Composite Squadron
The Greater Nashua Composite Squadron is Located in Nashua NH and is a Squadron of New Hampshire Wing of the Civil Air Patrol. We are comprised of Cadet Members from the Age of 12 to 21 and senior members from 18 and up.
Air Crews:
Pilots, Observers and Scanners. We utilize a three member aircrew for
missions and you don't have to be a pilot to be a member of the aircrew.
Normally we have at least two corporate planes based at the Nashua Airport due
to the involvement of our Squadron in actual missions .
Ground Teams: Train in ground search and rescue. Ground electronic
search techniques.
Mission Staff: We need many members to staff a mission.
Squadron participation: There are numerous opportunities to help the
Squadron. Administration, Public Affairs, Personnel, Logistics are just to name
a few.
Cadets:
We also have cadet members who range from 12 years of age to 21 years
of age.
Cadets have a very active program in aerospace education, leadership
and physical fitness. Cadets progress in rank and learn vital skills during the
progression. They can also train and participate in Ground teams and other
aspects of a mission.
Some activities:
Rocket competitions
Bivouacs
for ground team training
Color Guard
Powered and non-powered aircraft
orientation flights
Summer encampments
The above just represents a fraction of what can be done in CAP.
