The Emergency Services mission of Civil Air Patrol is one which has many facets and many opporunities for CAP members. Currently CAP participates in a number of different Emergency Services capacities such as: ELT Searches, Missing Persons, Disaster Relief, Communications, Blood/Organ Flights, and Counterdrug Operations. Each of these areas require highly skilled personnel who dedicate themselves and their time to help or save others.

ELT Searches are electronic air and ground searches done to locate possibly downed aircraft. ELT stands for "Emergency Locator Transmitter" and most licesened aircraft have one. Upon impact with the ground the ELT begins emitting a electronic signal which is picked up by sattelites and relayed to the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Langley AFB. In turn AFRCC, if unable to solve the problem itself, notifies the Wing ES officer who notifies the nearest or most available local unit to go and track the ELT. ELT tracking is done both by air and ground crews using Direction Finding (DF) equipment. 99 times out of 100 it is a false alarm and the ELT has been set off by a hard landing, electrical short, animals, poor care of the ELT, etc... However it is that 1 out of 100 that predicates CAP's response to every mission with the same urgentness.  

Missing Persons searches are just that, searches for people who have gotten lost, usually in wilderness areas. CAP does not participate in searches revolving around criminal investigations or where foul play is suspected. Missing Persons seaches require massive manhours and long days. There is no easy way to locate a lost person. Only hours of flying and ground searches will locate a lost person. CAP also performs this type of service looking for lost planes (where no ELT signal is going off but the plane is overdue and not located), and we perform flying patrols looking for lost boats (called Sundown Patrols).

Disaster Relief missions are missions that also require many manhours and many personnel. CAP responds to all types of disasters including floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and many others. During these missions CAP personnel can perform in any number of capacities from overflights of damaged areas to simply helping residents pick up their neighborhoods of debris and storm damage. 

CAP Communications plays a critical role in any ES mission. Use of two-way radios enables field teams and aircrews to speak with mission base and mission commanders. Use of packet radio communicaton allows different command levels to talk with each other in realtime where phones are not available. CAP communicators usually provide their own equipment at their own expense for the program.  

Counterdrug Operations are not exactly Emergency Services per se, but they play an increasingly larger role in operational flying of CAP aircraft. CAP does not do any sort of enforcement or regulation of drugs. Rather CAP provides pilots, aircraft, and personnel to look for drug growing areas and then relay that information to governmental authorities. Most squadrons involved in CD have a liasion with their local or with federal law enforcement authorities.

Emergency Services is a critical element of CAP through which we can return something to the community. Each mission is treated with the same high level of service because you never know when this time "it will be for real." We do this, "so that others may live."