Gazette photo by Andrew Wallmeyer Members of the Eden Prairie-based Viking Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol help a disoriented cross-country skier, played by an actor, back to their van as part of a simulated search-and-rescue operation at the Lake Elmo Park Reserve Saturday afternoon.

BAYTOWN TOWNSHIP - About 125 members of the Civil Air Patrol, a civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, converged on the Lake Elmo Airport this weekend for a training exercise comprised of about 25 missions involving everything from reconnaissance photography to a wide range of search-and-rescue scenarios.

The two-day exercise was hosted by the St. Croix Composite Squadron, which has about 70 members and is based at the Lake Elmo Airport.

CAP Incident Commander Tony Rossini, who is based out of the Lakeville Airport, said the goal of the exercise was to get CAP members from around the state to practice responding to the various kinds of requests the organization might field. Six Air Force observers were on hand to evaluate the group's performance.

Rossini said missions included looking for downed aircraft, searching for missing persons, assessing storm damage, and taking aerial photos for the Department of Homeland Security and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

"There are a lot of different agencies that will task us with things that they need," he explained Saturday afternoon. "We're a volunteer organization, so we're able to keep the costs down. Some agencies might charge $2,500 an hour to fly an aircraft over something; we charge less than $100."

St. Croix Squadron Commander Lt. Col. Bill Rutten, a retired St. Paul police officer who lives in White Bear Lake, said the weekend exercise was a great success.

"Everything went very well. The Air Force was happy with our performance, and we had about 110 folks participating on Saturday and another 80 on Sunday," he said this morning. "A lot of training was done, and I'm very happy with that."

Though the Civil Air Patrol participates in a wide range of activities, the organization is best known for its search-and-rescue missions, which account for the bulk of its operations.

"We do about 95 percent of the search-and-rescue missions for downed aircraft in the continental United States, so that's our primary job," said CAP Capt. Don Vance, who lives in Stillwater. "Another important thing we do is disaster relief. For example, we sent people down to southeast Minnesota during the floods last summer to help local authorities make sure people didn't drive on roads that impassable."

On Saturday, Vance was one of seven CAP members who were sent to Wisconsin to check out an emergency response beacon signal that was reported by a pilot flying in the area. Using triangulation to pinpoint the source of the signal, his group was within a quarter-mile of the transmitter when they learned the snowmobiler they were looking for was safe.

"Anytime you get volunteers together for an exercise like this it's good, because you're coordinating, working together, sending teams out, etc., and all of that means we'll be that much better prepared when someone calls on us in the future," he said.

Vance, who retired from the Army in 2002, said he and his teenage son Michael joined the Civil Air Patrol after learning about the group at a booth at the Minnesota State Fair. Now he oversees the St. Croix Squadron's 28 cadets, who range in age from 12 to 18.

"The Civil Air Patrol is a great organization for people who want to give back to the community and the nation. It's a good opportunity for public service, you don't need to be a pilot and you can join as young as 12 years old," he said.

"Depending on their progression through Civil Air Patrol, cadets could solo in an airplane by the time they're 14 or 15 years old," Vance continued. "It's just a great opportunity for young people with an interest in aviation or the military to get out there, get some experience and get a lot of leadership training."

Despite the fact that the Civil Air Patrol dates to 1941 and its 25 squadrons in Minnesota have a combined 1,200 members, several CAP members who participated in this weekend's exercise said most people don't even know their organization exists.

Of course, part of that is intentional.

"Hopefully, local residents won't have even noticed we were here," Rossini said. "For an exercise like this, we try to be very low-impact. ... We're just here to do some serious training - that is our mission this weekend."

For more information on the St. Croix Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol, visit http://stcroix.mncap.org.