Mankato Composite Squadron, Civil Air Patrol

An awards ceremony recognizing the disaster relief service of Mankato Composite Squadron members was held on Thursday, 25 October 2007 at 7:00 p.m. at Riverbend Academy. Map

The Disaster Relief award with "V" Device for service during a Presidentially declared disaster was awarded to 19 members.

Of these, 8 also received Search and Rescue awards earned during the floods and other emergency missions.

Members of the Minnesota Wing Headquarters staff, local government and law enforcement, and family members were in attendance at this public event.

During the floods, squadron members spent over 875 hours supporting search & rescue and disaster relief activities on the ground and in the air. During the first day of the flooding, a ground team from Mankato Composite Squadron was deployed to the area to assist with the Search and Rescue efforts. Over the following week, several teams were sent to assist with the Disaster Relief operations.

Mankato Composite Squadron volunteers worked to provide radio communications in the field, coordinate cleanup efforts, control traffic, provide site surveillance, and staff the Incident Command Post. Air crew members provided an airborne communications relay, took digital pictures for other agencies, and took emergency managements officials into the air to get a better understanding of the devastation in their jurisdictions.