The Civil Air Patrol is the civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force. All members are volunteers and receive no pay. CAP was established in the Office of Civilian Defense on 1 December 1941 to organize and direct the activities of volunteer civilians who made their time, airplanes, and equipment available for wartime tasks.
As the auxiliary of the United States Air Force, the Civil Air Patrol is organized along military lines, on the National, Wing, and local levels, even though it is a civilian organization.