WACO, Texas – On Oct. 17, 2009, for the fifth time, Texas Wing earned a national decoration for sustained superior performance in its service to its community, the state and the nation.

During a Wing staff meeting at a Waco restaurant, Texas State Director Ed Brown read two closely-spaced pages describing the Wing's activities and accomplishments over the previous eighteen months. Then, while Wing Commander Col. Joe Smith held the Texas Wing flag, his Public Affairs Officer Maj. Robert Brecount proudly tied the bright-red citation ribbon to the staff, overlaying the four previous ribbons.

The accompanying citation mentioned, in considerably greater detail,

The members of the Texas Wing, Southwest Region, Civil Air Patrol, United States Air Force Auxiliary, distinguished themselves through sustained, superior performance from 1 January 2008 to 30 June 2009. During this period, the dedicated volunteers of the Texas Wing supported all Civil Air Patrol missions in an outstanding manner and in particular served communities by responding to natural disasters, and made significant contributions to Homeland Security through participation in multiple exercises and several operational missions.

The Texas Wing cadet program conducted high-quality training for 469 cadets attending summer and winter encampments, and an additional 407 cadets received advanced leadership training through the Wing Cadet Training and Education Program (CTEP). During the period of this award, 90 cadets earned their Mitchell Award and two received the Spaatz Award.

The Texas Wing Aerospace Education Program increased the number of Aerospace Education Members by 240 percent, and doubled the number of Aerospace Education Officers enrolled in the specialty track. Over 80% of those AE Officers advanced one level in their specialty track rating. The Texas Wing continued an outstanding partnership with NASA by supporting Fly-A-Teacher at the annual Space Exploration Educator Conference at the Houston Space Center, in February 2008 and February 2009.

From January to May 2008, Texas Wing flew nearly 800 hours supporting firewatch missions throughout Central and Western Texas, reporting dozens of fires, thereby saving multiple lives and vast amounts of property.

In April 2008, Texas Wing planned and implemented their first operations providing outstanding and extensive support to designated Federal agencies. During the first half of 2009, Texas Wing again extensively participated in Homeland Security operations, showcasing the ARCHER system as well as night-flying support

In February 2008, Texas Wing earned an Excellent overall rating on their United States Air Force Compliance Inspection, and followed this with another overall Excellent rating on the CAP-USAF Operations Evaluation in May 2009. Safety was an important part of these successful ratings.

Starting the Lone Star Emergency Services Academy in Big Sandy in 2008 and enhancing the Winter Ground Team School in Brownsville helped prepare the wing to respond to a natural disaster of near-epic proportions.

In September 2008, Hurricane Ike hit the Texas coast at Galveston. Hundreds of Texas Wing volunteers contributed to recovery efforts over an eight-week period. In addition to emergency locator beacon missions, radio relay, and distribution of food, water, and ice, the wing flew hundreds of aerial photography sorties which produced 40,000 digital images recording the hurricane's damage – the largest civilian aerial photography mission in history. The wing also provided critical support to FEMA, the State Operations Center, the National Weather Service and the United Stated Air Force.

During the period of this award, Texas Wing volunteers flew over 3,000 hours supporting operational and disaster relief missions, greatly enhancing Homeland Security and providing critical humanitarian relief to our neighbors and communities.

The distinguished accomplishments of the Texas Wing volunteer members brought great credit to themselves, Texas Wing, Southwest Region, the Civil Air Patrol, and the United States Air Force.