Edinburg, In. – 2nd Lt. Andrew Wortman, Deputy Commander for Cadets of Maryland Wing’s Fort McHenry Squadron, was recently recognized as the Distinguished Graduate of the 2010 Ground Team Leader course during a ceremony at the National Emergency Services Academy (NESA). 

Throughout the course 2nd Lt. Wortman demonstrated exceptional leadership, problem solving skills, and an extraordinary aptitude for land navigation and crisis management.  The Ground Team Leader course is the most extensive of NESA’s three Ground Search and Rescue (SAR) School courses.  It is a physically and psychologically demanding 7-day course designed to prepare CAP’s Ground Team Leaders with the skills needed to safely and effectively manage Ground SAR teams operating in diverse and often hostile environments.  CAP’s Ground SAR teams are comprised of both adult and cadet volunteers that perform missing aircraft, missing person, disaster response, and other emergency services at the request of federal, state and local agencies.

 
In addition to performing search and rescue, 2nd Lt. Wortman has served as the Fort McHenry Composite Squadron’s highly respected Deputy Commander for Cadets since April of 2009.  His dedication and service in that role has resulted in the squadron maintaining a superb Cadet Program, ensuring CAP adults and cadets develop exceptional leadership and mentoring skills. His Emergency Services ratings include: Urban Direction Finding Team Member, Flight Line Marshaller, Flight Line Supervisor, Ground Team Member –  Levels 1, 2, and 3 – and Mission Radio Operator. 1st Lt Wortman holds the Basic Ground Team Badge, Emergency Services Patch and, as of 02 July 2010, the Senior Ground Team Badge. He was a nominee for the 2009 Maryland Wing Deputy Commander for Cadets of the Year Award.

NESA provides a number of emergency services training opportunities to CAP adults and cadets during multiple 7-day emergency services courses conducted at the Indiana National Guard’s Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center.  2nd Lt. Wortman was one of 17 Maryland Wing members to train at NESA in June.  Other Maryland Wing members that completed National Ground SAR School courses include:  2nd Lt. Sean Green; Cadet Chief Master Sgt. Joshua Bowen; Cadet Airman 1st Class Iain Davis; Cadet Staff Sgt. Marc Friedman; Cadet Tech. Sgt. Ha Lee; Cadet 2nd Lt. Robert Lewis; Cadet Airman Stephen Melsom; Cadet Tech. Sgt. John Rowan; and Cadet Staff Sgt. Mac Spurlock.  Additionally, a number of Maryland Wing members completed Mission Aircrew School courses as well:  Capt. Fred Guldi; Maj. Egon Frech; 2nd Lt. Robert Rothenberg; 2nd Lt. Ferman Travers; 2nd Lt. Shane Meisner; 2nd Lt. Steven Geimer; and 2nd Lt. Steven Prindle.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 58,000 members nationwide. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 72 lives in fiscal year 2009. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counter-drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 23,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 68 years.

More than 1,500 members of CAP serve in Maryland. Last fiscal year wing members flew 42 search and rescue missions and were credited with 31 finds. For more information, visit www.mdcap.org.

The Fort McHenry Composite Squadron meets weekly on Tuesday evenings, 7-9pm, at the Witte Armory, 130 Mellor Avenue in Catonsville, Md. Prospective members are always welcome. For more information or directions, visit the squadron website at www.ftmchenrycap.org.