U.S. Army video by Sgt. Nicholas Riccio

In this American Forces Network video, U.S. Air Force Capt. Kevin Abington, commander of Civil Air Patrol's Osan Cadet Squadron, speaks on the benefits and opportunities cadets can receive from the program on Osan Air Base in South Korea. Abington explains the unique opportunity CAP provides to overseas cadets, which allows youth to be active with peers from both Osan Air Base and Camp Humphreys as well as learn about such complex subjects as the fundamentals of aviation and space operations.

Civil Air Patrol's rapid growth at Osan and within its 10 other overseas units — 21% in the past year — reflects recent growth in CAP's overall membership, which has now surpassed the 65,000 mark. That total represents the highest membership mark for CAP since a pre-COVID-19 pandemic impact mark of 67,000-plus in the summer of 2020.

Col. Arlinda Bailey, commander of CAP's Overseas Group, said recruiting is key to rebuilding the organization's membership, especially within the overseas units. “I think that having better qualified adult members [like Abington] has a huge impact on the growth of our cadet numbers,” she said, adding, “The overseas units are in a recruiting mode almost all of the time due to the Permanent Change of Stationing of our military members and of course the youth belonging to those members.”

First Arkansas Wing School-Based Squadron Honors One of the Original Tuskegee Airmen

The Arkansas Wing's Crenchaw Memorial Squadron at Cloverdale Middle School received its charter May 11 after starting out affiliated with the Little Rock-based 42nd Composite Squadron.

The wing's first school-based unit honors Milton Pitts Crenchaw (1919-2015), recognized as the father of Black aviation in Arkansas. An original Tuskegee Airmen, Crenchaw was the first African American from Arkansas trained by the federal government as a civilian licensed pilot. He trained hundreds of cadet pilots at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in the 1940s.

Maj. Garrick St. Pierre traces the squadron’s connections to Crenchaw to 2011, the year the future commander began working at Cloverdale, which had just become Arkansas’ first aerospace-themed school.

“When Cloverdale first became an aerospace school, Dr. Crenchaw would come out and read aviation stories to the students and talk with them about life and growing up,” said St. Pierre, the wing's director of aerospace education and commander of the new squadron. 

Nevada Wing Member, 100: 'Secret of Longevity — Keep Busy'

The 9/11 terror attacks remain a vivid memory for millions. So does President John F. Kennedy’s assassination nearly 38 years before that.

More than eight decade later, the number who have similarly vivid memories of the attack on Pearl Harbor dwindles by the day. At age 100, Lt. Col. Bill Brew of the Nevada Wing‘s Henderson Composite Squadron remembers not only those momentous occurrences but also President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous reference to “yesterday, Dec. 7th, 1941 — a day that will live in infamy.”

Brew, then 19, was driving when he heard the broadcast of the president’s address to Congress. Buffeted by trepidation and outrage, he wondered what the future might hold for him. And shortly afterward, he applied to join the Army Air Corps Cadets. Just before receiving his acceptance to the program, he was drafted into the U.S. Army as an infantryman.

CAP Honored for Gaetz Aerospace Institute Support

The Gaetz Aerospace Institute at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has recognized Civil Air Patrol’s Aerospace Education department with the Community Champion Award for supporting the institute’s SMART@ER middle school and high school program.

AE has been providing Embry-Riddle with the CAP curriculum for use in SMART@ER — Space, Manufacturing, Aviation, Robotics, Technology @ Embry Riddle. CAP AE’s AEROSPACE: The Journey of Flight textbook is the official textbook, and STEM Kits, Aerospace Connections in Education (ACE) materials, and other resources have been provided as needed.

The Community Champion Award was presented Sept. 11 at the Embry-Riddle SMART@ER Conference at Daytona Beach, Florida. 

Cadet NCO of the Year Excels in CAP as Leader

As a high school freshman, Verity Gray promised she would take the initiative to challenge herself and serve others around her at the same time.

“Though this was a very general goal of mine, it has become one of the values that is most central to my personal identity,” Gray said.

Now that she’s a senior at East Mountain High School in Sandia Park, New Mexico, as well as a cadet first lieutenant in the New Mexico Wing’s Albuquerque Heights Composite Squadron, Gray can relax: At age 17, she’s already accomplished her goal.

But “relax” isn’t part of her vocabulary, judging from her extensive list of achievements and honors from her school, community, state, and Civil Air Patrol.

Most recently, Gray was recognized as the Air Force Sergeants Association National Cadet Noncommissioned Officer of the Year at CAP’s 2023 National Conference in August.

2 More National Emergency Management Awards for CAP

The International Association of Emergency Managers has once again honored Civil Air Patrol with two national emergency management awards:

• Volunteer Emergency Manager of the Year Award — Lt. Col. John May, Florida Wing. In 2022, May (right), director of emergency management for the wing, supported the federal and state response to hurricanes Ian and Nicole while serving multiple weeks as CAP’s incident commander during each of those responses. This included spending 16-18 hours a day, with minimal time off, during the historic multi-incident response and recovery. To support these extended responses, he took a leave of absence from his part-time employment to meet CAP’s needs for l command and control of the incidents.

• Private Sector Integration and Public Sector Partnership Award — CAP and Operation Pulse Lift. In 2022, the combined efforts of the American Red Cross, Armed Services Blood Program CAP, and many other blood collection agencies led the nation in volunteer emergency blood support during the COVID-19 pandemic; the wildland fires in California and Oregon; hurricanes Ian and Nicole in Florida; Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico; the winter storms in Oklahoma, Texas, and New York; and the Quad State Tornado and flooding in Ohio, Illinois, Tennessee, and Kentucky. During that 12-month period, the mission supported the collection of 8,783 whole units of blood and 1,081 units were transported, potentially (according to the Red Cross) saving 27,430 lives. During the same period, the well over 5,000 participating members of CAP had over 10,000 encounters with the public, but because of a high level of safety and health services protective practices and discipline, they did not have a single secondary cross-infection caused by COVID-19.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Calls in Oregon Wing for Aerial Survey Flight of Willamette Valley

New commanders of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Portland District conducted an aerial survey of Willamette Valley dams and reservoirs during a flight provided Sept. 15 by Civil Air Patrol’s Oregon Wing.

CAP Col. Brian Bishop (left) served as mission pilot for the flight with Col. Dale Caswell, Jr. (center), Army Corps district commander, and his deputy commander, Lt. Col. Katie Werback, along with the district’s operations project manager, Erick Petersen.

Caswell took command of the Portland District in July and wanted to understand the Willamette Valley system mission.

“The flight gave Caswell a better understanding of the Portland District geography assets,” Petersen said. “This, along with topography of our area of responsibility and proximity of our assets to infrastructure and communities, was also helpful to the colonel.”

NHQ News

Save Your Spot for Wreath Day Training Session

Back by popular demand, Civil Air Patrol will provide a training session to support squadrons for this seasonal event.

Join us Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. CDT for updates to the program, engaging resources, and answers to all of your Wreaths Across America questions.

The training session will be moderated by WAA staff as well as National Headquarters'development staff.

CAP Observes Cybersecurity Awareness Month

October marks the start of a new fiscal year ... and Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Civil Air Patrol is a 2023 Champion Organization again this year, partnering with the National CyberSecurity Alliance. All units in CAP are encouraged to host cyber security training regularly. With many attending school and working from home, there's no better time to educate and #BeCyberSmart to keep devices and home networks secure. Resources can be found at staysafeonline.org.

One great opportunity to jump-start or continue your learning is to complete the Introduction to Cybersecurity course as part of CAP’s partnership with Cisco Networking Academy (NetAcad).

When asked why members should consider completing this course, Maj. Gen. Edward D. Phelka, CAP's national commander/CEO, said, “Cyber security affects every one of us and is critical to the safety of ourselves and the sovereignty of our nation. Taking courses such as those offered by our partners like Cisco is imperative to ensuring that we continue to embrace a safety culture that will keep not only ourselves but also our fellow Civil Air Patrol airmen and citizens safe from those who would do us harm.”

Civil Air Patrol is continuing to advance training and education for all members, including the cyber badge program for cadets and the National Cyber Academy (pictured) for cadets and adult members.

CadetInvest Opens 2024 Application Period

CadetInvest launched at noon Oct. 3 and will remain open through Jan. 15 to provide scholarships and financial assistance to Civil Air Patrol cadets in 2024.

Check out the CadetInvest page for details and application information on the following opportunities:

• Academic scholarships;
• Flight scholarships;
• LIFT/TOP: NCSA and NFA financial assistance; or
• NCSA and NFA activity scholarships.

Last Call to Apply for Cadet Programs Staff Positions

National Headquarters is accepting applications for six national volunteer staff positions in Cadet Programs but your time to apply is running out.

The application period for Producer-Podcast, Producer-Video, Instructional Designer, Senior instructional Designer, TLC Basic Coordinator, and TLC Intermediate Coordinator ends Oct. 5.

Details and the desired requirements for these positions are available here.

Many other volunteer staff positions are also open for applications indefinitely, including a new National Director of Development position.

This Week's Top Headlines

“Civil Air Patrol Partnership Slashes Bomber Repair Timeline”

-afgsc.af.mil

“'How Aviation Students at the CTE Academy Are Flying into Career Options, Flight Practice”

-ArgusLeader.com

“Flying to the Rescue: Civil Air Patrol Prepares for Crisis in Community”

-TandD.com

Tweet of the Week @Civil Air Patrol

For more information, go to Operation Pulse Lift's new webpage on GoCivilAirPatrol.com. There you will find the latest Blood Donation Center schedules, instructions on how to set up a BDC, and other mission information.