TURNERS FALLS — Dressed in a camouflage jacket, 14-year-old Chris Reynolds of Chicopee sat behind a desk in the Turners Falls Municipal Airport, relaying messages to and from pilots.
“Patriot 9065 returning to mission base,” the voice of one pilot crackled over the radio. Reynolds scribbled the message in a comprehensive log, keeping track of the planes’ locations and the pilots’ progress in their missions.
Reynolds has been a cadet in the United States Air Force Auxiliary’s Civil Air Patrol since he was 12, having shown an interest in joining the Air Force or becoming a commercial pilot. As such, he regularly attends training exercises, like the one held Saturday afternoon in Turners Falls.
“It’s different,” Reynolds said of Civil Air Patrol. “It offers a wide range of things to do, from search and rescue jobs to opportunities on how to be a pilot.”
Civil Air Patrol Director of Operations and Incident Commander for Saturday’s training mission Tim Nelson referred to Civil Air Patrol as the search and rescue arm of the Air Force, serving as the “eye in the sky.”
Civil Air Patrol, Nelson said, has national, regional, state and unit levels — including 12 units in Massachusetts — and is made up of volunteers. Volunteers can be either senior members or cadets as young as 12.
Saturday’s training, Nelson said, involved flying two aircraft to photograph 14 landmarks — primarily dams and bridges — as a way to prepare for natural disasters. The Civil Air Patrol can use the photographs as points of reference to gauge the extent of damage.
“You want to get a look at what they look like before the disaster hits, before the flood comes,” Nelson explained. “It’s not going to be the same and it’s going to be hard to pick out what’s what … Post-disaster, we’d go out and do all the same things.”
Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) provided the list of photograph “targets,” which included the French King Bridge, Eunice Williams Covered Bridge, Shelburne Falls Dam and the main gate at Dubuque State Forest, to name a few. The exercise served as preparation for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s “Hard Knox” training in October, Nelson said, allowing the Civil Air Patrol to plan how to disperse personnel and providing an opportunity for cadets and senior members to meet and work together in advance.
Training opportunities are held monthly, Nelson said, and don’t only involve flying. They also consist of administrative tabletop exercises, operating command posts, practicing communication between those flying and searching on the ground to find targets, and practicing interviewing pretend family members for clues about missing individuals.
“Everybody brings a little something to the dance,” he said. “We capitalize on that.”
You never know when skills learned in training will be put to use, Nelson said, recalling an incident during Hurricane Irene in 2011 when air teams noticed propane tanks floating down the river and incited a ground search.
Saturday’s training involved 14 seniors members and one cadet, including members of the local Franklin County Cadet Squadron like Commander Todd Jarvis. Squadrons make up a Civil Air Patrol Unit.
Jarvis emphasized his appreciation for the community aspect of training.
“I like just getting together with the guys,” he said.
“We bring folks from all walks of life, all skills sets,” Nelson explained. “That’s the really cool part.”
Nelson said he likes to teach cadets that flying is fun, while sneaking in education during training. However, senior members notice the fun too.
“It’s fun with a purpose,” said Ken Windyka, radio communications unit leader for the training exercise.
“Folks are here because they want to be,” Nelson said. “They want to make a difference. They want to give back … They want to do something that means something.”
Those interested in joining the Franklin County Cadet Squadron are encouraged to attend a weekly meeting at the First Congregational Church, located at 43 Silver St. in Greenfield, on Thursdays from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., or to call Jarvis at 413-325-4825.