The Georgia Wing of the Civil Air Patrol will move next month from its longtime home at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta to a shared space with the Georgia Army National Guard at Fulton County Airport-Brown Field.
The Georgia Wing of the all-volunteer air patrol has resided in the same building at Dobbins for nearly 20 years and has been headquartered at the Marietta base since the late 1940s, said Col. Tonya Boylan, wing commander.
The move is the result of a presidential directive issued last year requiring military branches to reduce their real estate by 20 percent by 2020, said Col. Marshall Irvin, the mission support group commander at Dobbins who is responsible for the base’s infrastructure and day-to-day operations.
The building used by the Georgia Wing has been on a military demolition list since 1994.
“These are our family members and friends and we appreciate everything they do and don’t want to see them go, but now with the presidential mandate we are backed against a wall,” Irvin said.
The patrol was scheduled to be out of its Dobbins location by Sept. 1, but got a reprieve from the base commander while the group searched for a new and affordable location, Boylan said.
At Dobbins, the civilian group was provided free space without paying rent or utilities. A similar agreement with the National Guard in Fulton also provides free space and utilities, but the patrol will be responsible for phone and Internet service.
Boylan said she expects to make the move from Marietta around Sept. 15.
“We have friends in the National Guard who heard about our plight and they found space for us and we are very appreciative of that,” said Boylan, the first woman to command the patrol's Georgia Wing.
The Civil Air Patrol operates as a civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force when performing services for the federal government. The patrol is classified as a nonprofit organization, enabling it to receive private donations and grants.
The Civil Air Patrol, headquartered at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, includes 1,500 units and more than 60,000 members nationwide and in Puerto Rico. The units are divided into 52 wings, or aviation units, in eight regions.
About 50 patrol members are assigned to the Dobbins location.
Patrol members include cadets between 12 and 18 years of age in addition to adult members. No prior military or aviation experience is necessary.
The Civil Air Patrol conducts about 90 percent of inland search and rescue missions in the United States for the Air Force, performs aerial reconnaissance for homeland security, and provides disaster relief assistance for governments and other organizations.
“These are people who will get out of their beds at 2 a.m. to go find and rescue people and we don’t get paid for it,” Boylan said. “These are good people.”
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