About CAP

CAP Organization

The Civil Air Patrol is a civilian organization but, as the civilian Auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, it comes as no surprise that it is organized along military lines.  Civil Air Patrol's National Headquarters, is located at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

CAP is organized into eight geographic regions . These regions are subdivided by the states falling within their boundaries and each state has a CAP wing . Additionally, the District of Columbia and Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have CAP wings.

These 52 wings are then subdivided into groups, squadrons, and flights depending on their size.

Wing commanders may form groups when the wing geographical area or the number of units in the wing is too large to permit the wing commander to exercise effective supervision directly over squadrons and flights.

There are four types of squadrons :

a. Senior Squadron. Comprised entirely of senior members.

b. Cadet Squadron. Comprised primarily of cadets with a minimum of three senior members to meet supervisory, administrative, and training requirements in the conduct of cadets programs.

c. Composite Squadron. Comprised of both senior and cadet members, conducting both senior and cadet programs.

d . Flights. The flight is the smallest CAP membership unit authorized and must contain a minimum of eight members, three of whom must be seniors. Flights should be organized only in sparsely populated areas where there are an insufficient number of individuals to constitute a squadron.

There are more than 1,700 CAP units, half of which are composite squadrons or squadrons that have both senior and cadet members.

The highest governing body of CAP is the National Board, chaired by a member of the CAP Corporation whose title is National Commander. This position is held by a CAP Brigadier General elected by the members. Other members of the Board include the eight region and 52 wing commanders.

This governing body also includes an elected National Vice Commander Chief of Staff, Legal Officer, Finance Officer, and Controller - all civilian volunteers who have no active duty Air Force obligations or privileges.

There is one key position on the National Board that ties the CAP Corporation to the U.S. Air Force - the Senior Air Force Advisor.

The advisor's position is held by an active-duty Air Force Colonel who, in addition to serving as the Senior Air Force Adviser, is responsible for all active duty and DoD civilian employees who provide liaison oversight and advice to the CAP organization.

In this capacity, the Senior Air Force advisor is also the CAP-USAF Commander.

Sound confusing? It's really not. When Congress enacted Public Law 557 in 1948, they determined that active-duty Air Force personnel should be assigned to provide advice and assistance to the organization. Hence, Headquarters CAP-USAF was established.

"As the active force draws down, the Air Force will engage in increased burden-sharing with its Guard, Reserve and Auxiliary (CAP) components. It is critical that U.S. Air Force installation and unit commanders provide priority support to CAP--which in turn enhances CAP mission readiness and a payback in increased mission support to the Air Force by its civilian Auxiliary." - Mr. Bryan Sharratt, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, (Reserve Affairs)

In addition to the Air Force staff at CAP's National Headquarters, CAP Liaison regions have a small staff headed by a commander and a staff of six other officers, NCOs and DoD civilians who perform aerospace education and training, logistics, and administration and operations functions.

Each of the 52 wings also has a liaison noncommissioned officer and some also have a liaison officer - both who are retired U.S. Air Force members.