Maine Wing Officer Submits Application to Command Greenland Wing

By ANN Staff

According to documents reviewed by this AuxNewsNow, shortly after Congress introduced the Greenland Annexation and Statehood Act, officials within Civil Air Patrol received an application from Lt Col Earl “Bucky” Lamoreaux, CAP, a longtime member of Maine Wing and its Assistant Wing Administration Officer, to command Greenland Wing.

“I figured if Greenland’s going to be a state, it’s going to need a wing,” Lamoreaux said. “And if it’s going to need a wing, somebody’s got to command it.”

The application was submitted through normal CAP channels, using the correct forms, routed properly, and accompanied by a concise memorandum of justification. No procedural errors were identified.

“At first we assumed it was a joke,” said one officer who reviewed the packet. “Then we noticed it was filled out correctly. That’s when it got uncomfortable.”

Lamoreaux’s familiarity with the process is not accidental. He has served for years as Maine Wing’s Assistant Wing Administration Officer, a role that involves tracking duty assignments, processing personnel actions, and ensuring that paperwork complies with CAP regulations.

“He knows exactly how things are supposed to be submitted,” said one colleague. “Which is why it went as far as it did.”

Lamoreaux does not have a background in Arctic operations, foreign policy, or Greenland specifically. His qualifications include extensive experience with CAP regulations, administrative systems, and what he described as “keeping things moving when nobody else wants to touch them.”

Asked why he applied, Lamoreaux was candid. “It was a slow afternoon,” he said. “And the Act didn’t say I couldn’t.”

The application packet reportedly included a résumé, a CAPF 2 series request, and a short memorandum outlining his qualifications. Among them: prior experience operating in cold weather (“Maine counts”), familiarity with snow removal, and a demonstrated ability to work with limited daylight.

“Greenland is basically Maine with less trees, and Danes instead of the French,” Lamoreaux said. “I think people underestimate how transferable these skills are.”

The application moved upward through CAP channels, briefly confusing staff at multiple echelons, each of whom assumed the request had originated somewhere else.

“Everyone thought someone else had already blessed it,” said one senior member. “Because that’s how properly completed paperwork works.”

Officials at CAP National Headquarters confirmed receipt of the application but declined to comment on its status, noting only that “Civil Air Patrol stands ready to support missions as directed.”

Privately, several individuals familiar with the matter described a sense of procedural inevitability once the request entered formal review. “If Greenland becomes a state,” said one officer, “someone’s going to be the Wing Commander. And he’s already done the paperwork.”

The proposal’s survival, according to several individuals familiar with the internal deliberations, owed less to enthusiasm than to institutional caution.

“One hundred percent, nobody wanted to take it seriously,” said one senior member who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations. “But nobody wanted to be the person who poo-pooed the whole Greenland thing either.”

The concern, the individual said, was not that the idea would succeed—but that dismissing it too early could have unintended consequences.

“Once there’s legislation with money attached, even notional money, people get very careful,” the source said. “No one wanted to risk being seen as the roadblock if funding materialized. So the safest move was to nod, forward the email, and let it keep moving.”

“At some point,” the individual added, “it stopped being about whether it made sense and became about not being the one who killed it.”

Lamoreaux, for his part, appears unbothered by the uncertainty.

“I’m not saying I expect to get it,” he said. “I’m just saying my paperwork’s already in.”

He has also begun sketching ideas for a notional Greenland Wing patch.

“It’s very clean,” he said. “Mostly ice. Maybe a polar bear.”

Asked what his first actions would be if selected, Lamoreaux said he would focus on foundational issues: identifying a headquarters location (“Probably at the airport”), determining whether snow machines qualify as corporate vehicles, and clarifying whether dog sleds fall under CAPR 77-1.