Military, Civilian Flyboys Shooting at Each Other

0 Comments | Insight on the News, August 2, 1999 | by John Elvin

Looks like nobody, but nobody, gets to have any fun anymore. Now Congress is set to probe the Civil Air Patrol, or CAP -- billed as the nation's premier search-and-rescue volunteer group and known, at least in days gone by, as a hangout for ex-military pilots and civilian wanna-bes who got their kicks flying around in circles on real or concocted missions, just like the big-time flyboys.

Problems have arisen due to some sort of feud between the CAP and its military sponsor, the U.S. Air Force. The Air Force dropped a few big ones on their civilian cousins, charging CAP top guns with fraud, financial mismanagement and being just a little too cavalier about safety. The CAP then turned around and charged the Air Force with being wasteful because it requires an $18.3 million budget to oversee its civilian auxiliary, which itself only has a $28.3 million budget.

Congress, getting pressure from both sides, has asked the General Accounting Office, as well as the Pentagon's inspector general, to look into the fracas. One participant in a recent Capitol Hill meeting aimed at getting the two sides together described that event as "candid, open and very productive." So very likely they pounded each other to a pulp and then shook hands.

Just a hint to the CAP bigwigs: You might want to hold those conferences somewhere besides on a Caribbean cruise ship; if you can't restrain yourselves on that score, at least try for being reimbursed only once for the trips. Also, before the GAO and inspector general show up, see if you can track crown some or mat missing gear. The Air Force is ticked that 70 percent of the communications equipment it bought for CAP is nowhere to be found.