NATIONAL HEADUARTERS -- More than 600 Civil Air Patrol memers will be receiving premier multidisciplinary training over the next two weeks at the National Emergency Services Academy.
Now in its 14th year, NESA opens today with two weeklong sessions at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center, a 35,000-acre Indiana National Guard facility in Edinburgh, Ind. The academy combines task-based training with practical application that has become the standard for CAP wings nationwide.
“It is incredible to see how much NESA and CAP have grown and changed over the last 14 years,” said Lt. Col. John Desmarais, NESA’s founder and deputy director of operations at National Headquarters.“The first two sessions of NESA held in 1996 and 1997 had less than 100 personnel, including both staff and students, and only focused on ground search and rescue.
“This year we expect more than 300 personnel each session week and will have personnel from every state in the nation participating in all of the emergency services mission areas that CAP supports.”
NESA consists of three facets – National Ground Search and Rescue School, Incident Command System School and Mission Aircrew School. Each school features several courses conducted as one-week sessions focusing on specific skills.
A total of 20 courses, including a new basic training session for prospective public information officers, are offered. The public information officers course, like most at NESA, is modeled after training provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other emergency response organizations.
National Ground Search and Rescue School provides members the skills they need to expertly perform ground searches for missing people and aircraft.
Incident Command System School covers the skills needed for members to be top-notch leaders and staff officers at the incident command post and manage operations involving varying degrees of difficulty.
Mission Aircrew School teaches critical skills needed for pilots and other crew members to stay at the top of their game and support some of CAP’s primary missions, like conducting airborne reconnaissance and delivering imagery for impact assessment after disasters like the oil spill response on the Gulf Coast.
“NESA has truly become a role model program for CAP, and showcases the capabilities of our dedicated volunteers to support their communities,” Desmarais said.
The academy operates with a staff of about 150. It includes mostly CAP volunteers, complemented by instructors representing various federal, state and local agencies, including CAP-U.S. Air Force reservists who monitor the training to ensure it meets Air Force standards.
