The river continued to rise until Friday around 2pm. As soon as the waters

ground team base

began to recede, fire companies from around the area joined the Marietta Fire Department pumping out flooded basements. By Saturday evening houses were pumped out, damage to homes was assessed and streets were hosed down to clean up some of the mud.

Area residents and relief personnel were further frustrated by the closure of most of the roads leading to Marietta. Routes 23, 441 and others were close by flood waters and damaged bridges.

Despite their hardships, the people of Marietta were great to work with. They kept us well fed with great home cooking and often expressed their gratitude for our assistance.

In addition to the personnel and their ES gear Squadron 304 had 6 vehicles (2 with mobile VHF radios), 3 handheld VHF radios, 2 generators, base computers, multi-function printer/scanner.

The local ground team base was out of the squadron 304 van. 1Lt. Jarkowsky did an outstanding job organizing, briefing and deploying the ground teams for up to 5 duty positions, leading and training 3 MSA’s and communications personnel in base operations for the 4 days of the mission. His recent ICS-300 training came in handy.

night at 772 and 441

Squadron 304 was joined on Friday by Squadron’s 811 Reading (8 members) and 812 Boyerstown (6) from Group 3. Saturday we were joined by Squadron 302 Cap City (4 people) and 301 York (with 13 people). In all there were 57 CAP members on-site working on the disaster relief effort.

Rain threatened the entire weekend, but in the end there were only a few showers Monday around noon.  This is a favorite activity – there is lot’s of hard work and all the good fresh cooked food a cadet can eat!

Cadets and Officers of Squadron 304 Sunday -- Courtesy of Capt. CJ Whitaker

Photo Courtesy of Capt. CJ Whitaker

21 August 2011 – Squadron 304 was awarded a plaque by the East Coast A-10 Demonstration Team for our support of the Lancaster County Community Days Airshow.  Shown receiving the award for the squadron is Lt. Darren Martin, ES Officer.  Click Title for more pictures…

A-10's on the flight line -- Courtesy of Capt. CJ Whitaker

Photo Curtousy of Capt. CJ Whitaker, CAP

20-21 August 2011 – Community Days was a great success this year.  The event demonstrated how great things can be accomplished through teamwork and cooperation.  This year the Lancaster Airport staff coordinated efforts from the Manhem Twp Police Department, East Petersburg Fire Police and the Civil Air Patrol, along with all their volunteers and vendors to put on a spectacular show.  Saturday’s weather was great and brought a huge crowd to see the Airshow and static displays.  Sunday threatened stormy weather afternoon and fewer people attended.

It was a weekend full of activity for the members and parents of cadets for Squadron 304.  Cadet staff led their teams in parking with the Fire Police, supervising the flightline, running the base and communications.  The parents served hambergers, chicken, chips and potatoes at a vending booth. 

Saturday morning started off with a communications exercise testing a repeater flown above Harrisburg.  The squadron communications team was able to check into the net from 2 locations.  Additionally, there was a Mission Scanner training and Aerial Photography flight led by Group 2 Lt. Col. Bechtel Saturday just prior to the beginning of the airshow.  Sunday Lt. Col Bechtel and Lt. Col. Russell brought the Cessna 182 “Class Cockpit” back for static display.

This is one of our most enjoyable events.  Friday night the squadron had a cookout.  Cadets camped in the park overnight and took turns patrolling the vendor areas.  The parents group provided breakfast Saturday morning.

Lititz Craft Show Parking

September 1991, Flight: STS-48

This was the first Space Shuttle flight in support of “Mission to Planet Earth.” The crew successfully deployed the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), and also conducted numerous secondary experiments ranging from growing protein crystals, to studying how fluids and structures react in weightlessness. This is also the mission that collected video where some viewers interpreted images as being a UFO sighting.

February 1994, Flight: STS-60

This was the first joint U.S./Russian Space Shuttle Mission. The crew successfully completed the first flight of the Wake Shield Facility (WSF-1) and the second flight of the Space Habitation Module (Spacehab-2). During the eight-day flight, the crew of Discovery conducted a wide variety of biological, materials science, earth observation, and life science experiments.