TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- During March 25-27, the Air Force evaluation team will evaluate the search and rescue efforts of all the squadrons within the Civil Air Patrol, Oklahoma Wing.

"This is our opportunity for the Civil Air Patrol to shine and demonstrate how well we do our missions," said Col. Bob Castle, Oklahoma Wing commander.

The Civil Air Patrol, Oklahoma Wing conducts search and rescue, counter-drug reconnaissance and disaster relief missions primarily in the state of Oklahoma.

The host squadron for this exercise is the Cleveland County Composite Squadron and the Flying Castle Composite Squadron, which is stationed at Tinker. The mission will be conducted at Max Westheimer Airport in Norman and the Oklahoma City metro area.

This mission exercise will involve CAP senior and cadet members from the Oklahoma area as well as top staff players from the Texas Wing. Other resources include nine CAP Cessna light aircraft with the CAP red, white and blue colors. Other resources include CAP vans that will transport the ground personnel to the various sites.

Col. David Roberts is the incident commander for this critical exercise. The incident commander is the individual who has overall responsibility for the conduct of the mission.

The exercise may consist of a "missing aircraft" signal that is down somewhere in Oklahoma. This requires ground crews and aircrews to locate the aircraft. Other tasks may be integrated into the exercise to complicate the issues so the Air Force evaluators can get a true picture of how efficiently the CAP teams can work the issues at hand.

Civil Air Patrol is the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force and is a nonprofit organization with more than 61,000 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 113 lives in fiscal 2010.

Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of Federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the more than 26,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 69 years. It was a major partner with Wreaths across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans.