The snowfall that Southeast Wisconsin saw in the month of December was just what Timmerman Composite Squadron ordered as they held an Emergency Service Winter Survival Course on Saturday, December 20 at the Timmerman Hangar in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  1st Lt Matt Kopp, along with Capt Tom Hawes, and Lt Col Jerry Krueger taught six cadets the fundamentals of frostbite, hypothermia, and the different types of shelters one can build to protect oneself if faced in a situation in which one is caught out in the wilderness. These are basic life saving techniques that the cadets will carry with them the rest of their lives and the experience is not one they will soon forget. 

Since there was plenty of snow to be had and the plows at the Timmerman Airport made some pretty terrific snow piles, the conditions were perfect for building snow caves.  After learning in the morning sessions the dangers, warning signs, and remedies for frostbite and hypothermia, the cadets learned how to make fire starters out of paper egg cartons, sawdust, and wax. The thirteen inches of fresh snow that fell the evening before, caused the plows to destroy the snow shelters that had been built the evening before. However, the cadets were able to come out and see two different types of snow shelters that C/2d Lt Dan Haffner and C/MSgt Ryan Fleury had built in the morning while they were in class.  1st Lt Kopp had a fire going inside the shelter so the cadets could observe what a completed shelter should look like.

After learning the basics of snow cave building, downing the correct cold weather equipment, and making fire starters; the cadets were broken into three teams and handed shovels.  They picked their snow pile and started digging.  They soon learned that it was not easy work, but as a team they each obtained their goals in building their shelter, complete with a warming fire inside. Many things were learned while actually building the shelters. They learned the importance of making sure they had proper clothing as it didn’t take long for hands to start getting wet and cold, so switching out dry mittens for wet ones was a must to prevent frostbite; don’t dig too close to the surface of the outside as one never knows who may accidently walk on your shelter and enter it by a means other than the “front door”; and always make sure that you have an air vent in the top for air circulation and especially for allowing the smoke to rise out of the shelter. If the air vent is not directly above the fire, you will end up with a smoke house instead of a shelter.  Cadets that participated in this course were:  C/SMSgt Britney Donald, C/SMSgt Josh Gonwa, C/SSgt Jon Gonwa, C/A1C Gavin Chalmers, C/Amn Travis Maxwell, and C/A1C Gabe Sciarini.

Minnesota Wing will be holding an Information Officer training course on Saturday, 10 January 2009. Training will take place at the Minnesota Wing Headquarters building at the South St. Paul Airport and will run from 0830 to 1630 hrs. This course will cover most of the SQTR requirements for Mission Information Officer.  It is open to WIWG members per the Maj Chet Wilberg, MNWG Director of Emergency Services.

Contact 1st Lt George Supan  to register or with questions.  He can be reached by phone at 651-777-2569 or 612-910-4375 (cell) and via email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it    Include your name, grade, charter number, CAP ID, phone number and if you will be flying a CAP aircraft to the event.  Detailed information about the training, airport information, hotels, etc. will be sent to those that sign up.

This is not a funded WIWG training event.  All Commanders, PAOs and ICs are encouraged to attend.

A major winter storm has arrived and will impact the southern half of the state for the next 24 - 36 hours. See updated graphic.  Our ability to respond if requested will be delayed or disrupted in the affected areas. 

The State of Wisconsin Emergency Operations Center activated at 6:00 p.m. Thursday evening and will remain activated through the duration of the storm.  Agencies in the EOC are Wisconsin Emergency Management, Wisconsin State Patrol, Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT), and Wisconsin National Guard.  The current WEM situation report is available at the following link: WEM SITREP

No request for CAP assistance exists at this time.  Any request by local or state  authorities must be routed through the WEM Duty Officer per normal procedure.

The East Central and Southeast Groups will be conducting an emergency communications network beginning at 1400Z (0900 Local) through 1800Z (1500 Local). The initial Net Control Station will be Bluemound 86 (Milwaukee, Timmerman).  The alternate will be Bluemound 251 (Delevan).  Both VHF (P35) and HF (GA).will be monitored.

The WIWG Duty Officer is Lt Col Trossen.  Lt Col Peter Fabian is available for EOC duty if so requested by WEM.  Wing Mobile Command Center is in Upgrade - Emergency Deployable condition. It can deploy from Delevan, but will require a minimum of 3 hrs to prepare it for a response.

Madison, WI - AFRCC mission number 08M2274 was opened this morning in response to an ELT in the Madison area.

Lt Col Peter Fabian was the assigned IC, and the 153rd Madison Ground Team dispatched.

ELT was located just off of the Dane County Regional Airport in a courrier aircraft that made an off-airport landing while on final approach. One person on board, no injuries. Law enforcement was already on-scene when our ground team arrived.

The mission was closed as of 1608Z.

Plover, WI - The Stevens Point Composite Squadron joined other Civil Air Patrol Units in the state and across the nation in the Wreaths Across America Ceremony that commenced at 12 p.m. EST Saturday, December 13. The Ceremony was held at the Korean War Memorial in Plover.

Cadets played the major roles in this year’s ceremony.  The Master of Ceremony was C/2d Lt Stevens Lang, the unit’s cadet commander.

Posting of the colors was carried out by the VFW Chapter 10262 of Plover, and the Stevens Point squadron cadet color guard.  The cadet color guard members are C/MSgt Ethan Feig, C/SrAmn Thomas Flage, C/SrAmn Josiah Beaty, C/SSgt David Feig. 

Wreath layers, assisted by senior members Major James Johnson, Maj. Pete Arnold, and Maj. Bob Bowen, were:  C/MSgt Trevor Beaty, C/SSgt Seth Beaty, C/SMSgt Robert Kulp, C/SrAmn Clayton Reid, C/Amn Tyler Blair, C/SrA Nick Burns, and C/CMSgt Joel Flage. The Wreath Layer Announcer was C/2d Lt Mark Flage.

The address was given by squadron commander Major Virginia Suarino. Following her speech, there were comments given by Barbara West Kiser of the Stevens Point Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Village of Plover Administrator Dan Mahoney, and State Representative Marlin Schneider (72nd Assembly District), who is also a legislative member of Civil Air Patrol.

Following the ceremony, representatives of the DAR moved the wreaths to a local cemetery and placed them on the graves of five service men and one service woman representing those who served in wars from the Spanish American War through the Vietnam War.  One wreath was also dropped into the Wisconsin River in honor of those whose last known status was Missing on Action or Prisoner of War.

Over the past week, we have experienced a number of issues with our Information Systems for the wing.  You may have noticed that the Wing-Info had dramatically decreased, this was due to a rule that our host began enforcing; which respectively limited us to 200 emails per hour (one email to Wing-Info is approximately 480).  As you can imagine, this caused a great deal of trouble.

Not to fret!  We have since upgraded our web server.  With this, we have greater control of the system, including setting our own limits on emails per hour.  Because of these updates the MIS staff asks a few housekeeping items.

1.)    Website: Please bear with us; if the website does not come-up and you receive an error ‘403 Forbidden’, we are aware of this issue.  This is no ones doing and will fix itself.  The reason for this error is that when we updated the server, our IP address also updated.  Server ‘propagation’ takes approximately 24-72 hours to complete.  This began on Saturday and should be cycling through soon.

2.)    Email: Like the website, this is currently propagating, and because of this, we are moderating it.  We will send out a secondary email once the system is OPS NORMAL.  At which time, moderation will cease, and the lists will work as the have in the past.  At that point in time, we ask that if you have sent an email to WING-INFO over the past two weeks, please resend it; because of our limitations, only the first 200 recipients received it.  When you resend, all intended recipients should now receive it. (This includes emails that you have received a response saying that it was sent…).  Again, PLEASE WAIT FOR THE EMAIL RELEASE.

3.)    Email Lists: Please, when you send an email, send it to the largest dissemination list you need.  Ex. Unit Commanders are on Wing-Info, there is no need to send to both Unit-Commander and Wing-Info, just send email to Wing-Info.  This grid will aide in what list to send to:

4.)    Issues: If you have specific system issues, please contact the respective staffer.

a.       For PERMISSIONS IN ESERVICES, please contact the Wisconsin Wing Web Security Administrator (ITWSA) Capt James Delaney.

b.      For DUTY ASSIGNMENTS IN ESERVICES, please contact your respective Chief of Staff; Missions (CS-M): Capt Rose Kienholz, Mission Support (CS-MS): LtCol Jeff Thomas.

c.       For WMU related issues and permissions, please contact the Wisconsin Wing WMU Coordinator (ITWMU), 1st Lt Matthew Kopp.

d.      For MAILING LIST subscription issues, additions, and removals, please contact the Wisconsin Wing Email Coordinator (ITE), 1st Lt Micah Eldridge.

e.       For WEBSITE related issues, please contact the Wisconsin Wing Webmaster (ITW), Capt Jonathan Baseheart.

f.       For WEBSITE POSTINGS, please contact the Wisconsin Wing Website Manager (ITWM), LtCol Michele Haffner.

g.      For all OTHER Information Systems issues, please contact the Wisconsin Wing Director of Management Information System (IT), 1st Lt Matthew Kopp.  

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact any of the IT staff.

Thank you for your patience.