Alerting Systems and Procedures

Operational readiness is mandatory for the successful accomplishment of the CAP mission. Personnel and equipment must be available and ready at all times. Preparations and procedures will be established to ensure prompt and effective deployment. A CAP wing alerting system to be used throughout the wing will be published to provide immediate response on a limited basis at all times and full-scale operations as soon as possible. Wing Alert Officers must be appointed in Ops Quals, and then prioritized and scheduled in WMIRS as appropriate. Unit Alert Officers for units below the wing level must be appointed in Ops Quals, but units can use local systems of their choice to schedule and prioritize them; there is not a mandatory national system for units.

When a request for assistance has been received from an authorized agency and the decision has been made for CAP to participate, personnel will be alerted in accordance with established wing and unit alerting procedures. Individuals qualified to perform specific missions must be listed as qualified in the Ops Quals module in eServices; ICs and their support staff may use rosters produced with data from Ops Quals for offline activation but must be sure members are properly qualified before deployment.

- The alert system will assure CAP personnel become operational as soon as possible. The safety of personnel and equipment will not be jeopardized. Inadequate preparations and unauthorized short cuts will not be tolerated. Alert system procedures should provide sufficient time for crew briefing, mission planning, and normal operation of all equipment.

- Key personnel responsible for receiving alerts or alerting other members should be provided access to appropriate communications tools to do so.

-- Most alerts will be conducted via telephone. Wing and region commanders will determine which members must have priority access during disasters and emergencies and authorize their participation in the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS). More details on the GETS program is available on the NHQ CAP/DOS website.

-- Some alerts may need to be conducted via the CAP radio network. Key personnel should be provided radios in accordance with the Communications Table of Allowance to be sure that they can be reached during a disaster or other emergency.

- If the controlling agency has reason to believe a mission may be opened subsequent to further investigation, they may exercise a pre-alert. A pre-alert will allow mission personnel time to begin an initial assessment and organize resources and personnel prior to actual operations taking place.

- Rapid response requires use of the most readily available personnel and equipment appropriate to the mission and will not be delayed to secure a corporate aircraft or vehicle.