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Kirtland-based air search and rescue crew finds missing Army officer

  • Published
  • By Capt. Ed Longoria
  • Civil Air Patrol Public Affairs Officer
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  A volunteer aircrew from Albuquerque Senior Squadron II of the Civil Air Patrol, based at Kirtland Air Force Base, successfully located a missing active-duty U.S. Army officer in the Gila National Forest Nov. 13, approximately 50 miles west of Truth or Consequences, N.M., bringing a successful conclusion to an intensive search in that rugged part of New Mexico.

On Nov. 12, a fixed-wing CAP aircraft on night patrol located a signal fire built by the lost major. The crew of three, Lt. Col. Ernie Braunschweig, pilot in command; 1st Lt. Tom Billstrand, mission observer and co-pilot; and 2nd Lt. Ryan Stark, mission scanner, reported the location of the signal fire to CAP's incident command base. Army ground teams soon located Thompson and his two dogs in good health.

34-year-old Maj. Jeremy Thompson of Fort Bliss, Texas, was driving his pickup truck with his two dogs the previous afternoon in western New Mexico. His truck became stuck on a muddy side road of Highway 59. His wife, Maj. Samira Thompson, also of the U.S. Army, contacted authorities the next morning when her husband did not report in.

The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center was the lead agency to coordinate search and rescue operations. Civil Air Patrol air assets were deployed from around the state. The U.S. Army deployed ground teams and helicopters with night vision capabilities to search for the lost Major.

The aircraft used in the search was a Gippsland Aerospace GA-8 with hyperspectral imaging technology used in search and rescue operations. Albuquerque Senior Squadron II was founded during World War II and is the state's only all-adult CAP squadron.

The missions of the 70-member squadron focus exclusively on Homeland Security and Air Search-and-Rescue. The many pilots in the squadron bring a wealth of experience to CAP; fighter pilots, airline pilots, active-duty Air Force officers and many others can be found among the squadron's ranks. The squadron maintains and flies several aircraft, including Cessnas.