Airman moonlights as CAP officer

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Gregory Caggiano
  • 27th Intelligence Support Squadron
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (AFPN) --  During the week Jillian Smith is called “airman first class”; on the weekends it is “lieutenant.” Why the change? The 27th Intelligence Support Squadron communications troop splits her time between the Air Force and the Virginia Wing of the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol.

A nonprofit corporation, CAP is congressionally chartered to perform emergency services such as search and rescue, homeland security and cadet and aerospace education programs. CAP Airmen are volunteers with the exception of headquarters staff, said Jim Tynan, CAP spokesman.

“It originally started with homeland security in the 1940s,” he said. “Today CAP performs 95 percent of all inland search and rescue operations in the United States, such as searching for downed aircraft and missing persons.”

Air Force Rescue Coordination Center officials at Langley Air Force Base, Va., give them their missions, Mr. Tynan said.

Airman Smith joined CAP as a cadet when she was 15 years old and served in the Sea Post Composite Squadron in New Hampshire. When she turned 19, she enlisted in the Air Force and became a CAP senior leader. She now serves as a second lieutenant and is an administration and personnel officer for the Langley Composite Squadron.

Her commander, CAP Lt. Col. Monica Richardson, leads the squadron at Langley. The colonel said she leans heavily on Lieutenant Smith to ensure the unit is running on all cylinders.

“Jillian has made some valuable contributions to the squadron,” Colonel Richardson said. “She helped straighten out the cadets’ records and now keeps them up to date.”

However, Airman Smith said working with cadets is her favorite part.

The Langley Composite Squadron includes 35 cadets between the ages of 12 and 21, and 17 senior members. Airman Smith mentors the junior members and tutors the cadets to help them perform their best in the various aerospace education programs.

She said she is working on her own education including a Community College of the Air Force degree.

Last summer, Lieutenant Smith attended CAP Squadron Leadership School in Danville, Va., and in July she received the Chuck Yeager Aerospace Education Achievement Award.

Airman Smith said she encourages anyone interested in volunteering to visit a CAP meeting and to talk to current members about their experiences.

“Anyone can join, and we are always looking for new cadets and senior members; CAP is very rewarding,” she said.