As the Civil Air Patrol celebrated its 75th Anniversary on August 13, during the annual National Conference at Nashville’s Opryland Hotel and Conference Center, local resident Randy Stripling received the National Communicator of the Year award for the United States.
Lt. Col. Randall Stripling serves as the Tennessee Wing Communications Engineering Officer, but has held many positions within the Communications program since joining CAP in 1986. This award comes after also receiving South East Region Communicator of the Year.
While initial impressions of Civil Air Patrol often relate to teenagers, pilots, and planes, this only touches the surface of CAP’s history and mission, officials said.
On December 1, 1941, just 6 days prior to Pearl Harbor, Civil Air Patrol was founded to provide border and coastal patrols, military training assistance, courier services, and other activities for the United States. The 60,000 plus member organization boasts the world’s largest fleet of Cessna single engine airplanes and operates under a Congressional Charter and mandate to perform emergency services, aerospace education, cadet programs, and to provide Total Force support to the United States Air Force.
Lt. Col. Stripling joined CAP as a teenager in Louisiana. After graduating from high-school, Randy, as he is known to friends, pursued a career in electronics thinking his days in CAP were over. Eventually moving to Cleveland, Tn., he met Barry Melton and Allen Wendt. After Randy commented about his days in Civil Air Patrol, Mr. Wendt informed him that a new squadron was forming in Cleveland, and that it's not just for teenagers. Mr. Stripling, Mr. Melton and Mr. Wendt, some of the original Charter members, joined to serve their community, state, and country with the Cleveland Composite Squadron, TN-173 of Civil Air Patrol. Those past thirty years have included many responsibilities in leadership for Lt. Col. Stripling from director of Cadet Programs, Logistics officer, Squadron Transportation officer, Supply officer, Communications officer, as well as the TN Wing director of Communications.
The hundreds of Cessna aircraft and civilian pilots are the work horses of CAP, but those essential field teams require coordination. The Civil Air Patrol communications position serves a crucial role to the mission as CAP handles 85% of inland search and rescue operations around the country. In emergency, search & rescue, or disaster relief operations, adults and cadets alike have been prepared to efficiently pass information from the field, planes, or airports to mission headquarters and back.
As director of Communications and Communications Technical Support officer, Lt. Col. Stripling has trained TN Wing cadets and senior members in the use of VHF (Very High Frequency) and short-wave radios. Each week squadrons across the TN Valley region check into radio nets with the designated Net control station for that week's net. Check in involves a roll call of all squadrons and individual cadets with his or her issued radio call sign. After roll call, information is shared between squadrons as needed. Checking in each week trains members to use the equipment and provides practice with the radio short-hand known as pro-words.
CAP has served in search and rescue missions for downed aircraft, missing persons and disaster relief. TEMA frequently request aerial photography missions after major disasters to help guide deployment of State resources. CAP was instrumental in Deep Water Horizon providing aerial photography in monitoring the clean-up in the Gulf of Mexico for 118 days. Much of Lt. Col Stripling’s work has involved making sure senior and cadet members both are prepared for such operations with sufficient experience and knowledge in CAP communications protocol.
The motivation for recognizing Lt. Col. Stripling as the National Communicator of the Year is clear when hearing of his reputation for going above and beyond to help others. He has been known to drive over a hundred miles each way to help the incoming director of Communications transition into the position. He has traveled at his own expense to help fellow South East Region staff set up their equipment. When other senior members participated in an out-of-state search and rescue exercise, Lt. Col. Stripling provided untold hours of research and assistance for the project. He repeatedly helps other Wing (state) director of Communications and regional communications staff with phone or e-mail support.
In addition to much of the office support, Lt. Col. Stripling participates in the missions of Civil Air Patrol such as Deep Water Horizon where he filled the role of an Observer and Aerial Photographer, words that do not adequately describe the job. Pilots fly the aircraft. Observers do most of the navigation, take the pictures (up to 1000's each day), download the photos, superimpose the latitude and longitude, direction of flight and put labels onto them, and then present them to the mission headquarters. The aerial photos provided by CAP members, such as Lt. Col. Stripling, enabled mission control to check on the oil absorbent booms, the progress of the oil spill clean-up and even keep track of the boom inventory.
Receiving the National Communicator of the Year for 2016 isn’t the end for Lt. Col. Stripling. As others step in, he looks forward to more time in the air and on missions, perhaps with a little less time behind the desk. Recognition by Civil Air Patrol for such a dedicated senior member is a fitting award as the Cleveland Composite Squadron celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and expresses great appreciation for Lt. Col. Stripling and his 30 years of service as well, officials said.