Magazine Puts Vietnam Vets, Past and Present, in the Spotlight

The newest issue of Civil Air Patrol Volunteer magazine, now arriving in mailboxes, commemorates the 50-year anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and celebrates our members who served in the military and CAP during that period.

The 68-page Spring 2023 edition's (top right) striking cover honors CAP members who died during the war, while the cover story, “Vietnam Veterans Still Serving America,” salutes current members who served during the war. Bonus coverage is also included in the digital version of the magazine.

The new Volunteer contains a handful of related articles, including “I Dare You,” a story about former CAP cadet Clifton Cushman, still missing in action, who inspired youth as an Olympic medalist in the 1960s and continues to dare us to be our best.

Other profiles in this edition of the Volunteer include:

• “Phantom Ace,” about retired U.S. Air Force Col. Charles DeBellevue, one of the most decorated airmen of the war (seen above signing his Volunteer article at this past weekend's Camp Legacy event in Washington, D.C.);
• “No Man Left Behind,” about retired U.S. Army CWO Frederick Ferguson, one of two CAP members awarded the Medal of Honor during the war; and
• “Healing Body and Soul,” about Chaplain (Col.) Linda Pugsley, CAP's chaplains corps chief, who served in Vietnam as a flight nurse.

Do you want to share your story? If you served during the Vietnam era and weren't interviewed for this issue of the magazine, we’d love to hear from you. Submit your story and we'll add it to a special section of CAP.news.

Simply visit this link and provide the information requested on the submission form, then send it to us via email with "Vietnam Legacy" as the subject line.

New CAP Pilots Describe Certification as 'a Point of Pride That Cannot be Diminished'

Cadets from the Florida, New Jersey, South Dakota, and Texas wings recently earned their private pilot certificate through CAP's Youth Aviation Initiative's Cadet Wings program. They are (from left):

• Cadet 2nd Lt. Jake Arrington of the Texas Wing’s Apollo Composite Squadron, who plans to become an airline transport pilot and travel the world. He plans to train for an instrument rating and from there to pursue the commercial license.
• Former Cadet Lt. Col. Alan Yeung of the New Jersey Wing’s Picatinny Composite Squadron, who just transitioned to being an adult member of CAP. Yeung will graduate this fall in aerospace engineering from Georgia Tech and plans to pursue a master’s degree. This summer, he will join NASA mission operations contractor KBR as a mission operations intern working with the International Space Station. His goal is to pursue a career in space exploration.
• Cadet Senior Master Sgt. Adam Braman of the Florida Wing’s North Palm Beach County Composite Squadron, who plans to become a commercial airline pilot and achieve ratings all through ATP. He will attend the Florida Institute of Technology to complete the remainder of his flight training.
• Cadet Lt. Col. Keon den Hoed of the South Dakota Wing’s Sioux Falls Composite Squadron, who plans to eventually fly corporately for local businesses in his area. Also, he wants to be a flight instructor part- time and when not instructing to fly for charters and help with the upkeep of his local airport. 

Cadet Nets 3 Service Academy Appointments

A cadet flight commander for the North Carolina Wing’s Hickory Composite has received not one, not two, but three service academy appointments, ultimately choosing the U.S. Coast Guard Academy as her next destination.

Cadet 2nd Lt. Shaley Dunn also received appointments to the U.S. Air Force Academy and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, along with an alternate appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy for good measure.

She’ll begin studies this summer at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, majoring in operations research and data analytics. After graduation she’ll serve as a Coast Guard ensign.

The Kansas Wing learned recently that five of its cadets were appointed to U.S. military service academies this year. Meet these cadets at this link on the wing website.

South Dakota Wing Helps Search for Runaway Mustang

The South Dakota Wing participated in the effort to find a Mustang horse named Finlay (pictured at right with Gin Szagola) that broke free from a wilderness camp May 2 in Wind Cave National Park, searching from aircraft and photography drones as well as on the ground.

“The incident was an unusual situation but one that was similar to a missing person search,” said Craig Goodrich, Civil Air Patrol incident commander and wing vice commander. “This mission was a good opportunity to practice searching for a missing person.

“It also allowed (the wing) to work closely with the National Park Service and other agencies, which will enhance our ability to work together if we need to look for a missing person at Wind Cave or in the southern Black Hills." 

Delaware Wing's Aerospace Education Day Focuses on Cadet Mars Challenges

Delaware Wing cadets took on the twin challenges of designing and building a habitat on Mars and constructing a planetary rover on a limited budget during the wing’s recent Aerospace Education Day.

The Mars Habitat Challenge tasked cadets with designing and building a model of a habitat that could support human life on Mars.

The Mars Rover Challenge required them to design and build a rover that could travel farthest in a gravity-assisted race using nothing but different types of pasta and candy. 

'Learning Never Ends,' National Commander Tells New Spaatz Cadet

Cadet Col. Zurich Begin is the Ohio Wing’s newest recipient of the Gen. Carl A. Spaatz Award, Civil Air Patrol’s top cadet honor, after a presentation by one of his Spaatz-achieving predecessors — Maj. Gen. Edward A. Phelka, CAP national commander.

Begin, who joined CAP in April 2019 at age 12, is cadet commander of the Medina County Skyhawks Composite Squadron and also serves at the wing level, helping plan and direct activities for his nearly 500 fellow cadets in Ohio. He was recently recognized as the Ohio Wing’s 2022 Cadet of the Year.

“Never give up on your dreams,” Begin told the cadets present for the award ceremony. "It's not difficult; it just takes effort.”

Phelka flew a CAP aircraft into Medina Municipal Airport for the presentation. He held a question-and-answer session afterward with Begin and the other cadets.

“Remember that this award is not being finished with the cadet program,” he told Begin. “Learning never ends.”

Teachers, School, Partnership, Student

Nationally Recognized for ACE Achievement

Goldsboro Elementary School in Sanford, Florida, and its flight and space STEM teacher, Robert Wakelyn, head the list of national honors announced for 2023 by Civil Air Patrol’s Aerospace Connections in Education program.

Goldsboro Elementary has been named National ACE School of the Year and Wakelyn as National ACE Teacher of the Year.

Other top awards include:

• National ACE Student of the Year – Parker Van Sloten, a sixth-grader at Fellowship Baptist Academy in Carson, Michigan.
• National Sustained Excellence ACE Award – Amy Kranich, a second-grade teacher at Kenwood Elementary in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, and ACE teacher for 14 years.
• National ACE Plus Collaborative Team Award – the Dan River Composite Squadron and the Rockingham County Middle School in Reidsville, North Carolina.

Cadets Assist Scouts at Airport Aviation Day

Cadets from the New York Wing’s Westchester Cadet Squadron put their aviation and aerospace knowledge to work in helping local Girl Scouts from Troop 1165 earn their Aviation Day patch.

The event was sponsored by the Greater New York Chapter of the Ninety-Nines, who organized the activities, and hosted by PepsiCo Corporate Aviation in its hangar at Westchester County Airport. 

NHQ News

Cadet Program Makes 2023 USAFA, USAFA Preparatory School Nominations

Each year, Civil Air Patrol submits recommendations to the U.S. Air Force Academy for one cadet to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy Preparatory School.

It's common for the academy to admit several CAP cadets annually through this program, not just the promised one. The prep school is a one-year

program that greatly increases a student's potential for admission to the Air Force Academy. It's a fantastic opportunity for cadets who might not otherwise qualify for appointment to the academy. CAP recommends up to 20 cadets to the school.

Status of 2023 CAP nominees:

Academy Appointments

• Cadet Col. Bradley Gorham (Tri-Cities Composite Squadron, Washington Wing).
• Cadet Lt. Col. Clay Dellinger (Redstone Composite Squadron, Alabama Wing.
• Cadet Maj. Annabelle Towles (Langley Composite Squadron, Virginia Wing).

Falcon Foundation Offers

• Cadet Col. Jacob C. Brown (Redbird Composite Squadron, Texas Wing).
• Cadet 2nd Lt. Dylan Mamawal (Albuquerque Heights Composite Squadron, New Mexico Wing).

Prep School Offer and Acceptance

• Cadet 2nd Lt. Elisha Rhoades (Erie Composite Squadron 502, Pennsylvania Wing).

Last Call for Entries in 2023 Balloon Challenge

Civil Air Patrol’s Aerospace Education team is seeking entries for the third annual National High-Altitude Balloon Challenge for cadets, with team registration open through May 22.

So far 130 teams have registered representing all eight CAP regions. Those teams are already working on designing their experiments to be placed in the capsules being launched in August as part of the challenge.

Begun as the first national cadet STEM competition in 2021, the balloon challenge involves innovative cadet-designed science experiments to test high altitudes' effects on various items that could be used to support the quest to live and work in space. 

Last year more than 1,500 cadets from 122 squadrons across all eight CAP regions participated, designing more than 500 experiments for launching to the stratosphere in 50-milliliter test tubes on high-altitude weather balloons.

CAP's JanEX Project innovation and Marketing and Strategic Communications teams are also seeking entries this month for their respective competitions, with May 31 being the final deadline to register.

New Application Windows Set for CadetInvest

Cadet Programs has made some changes in the CadetInvest application cycle to be more in line with CAP's fiscal year funding and the National Special Cadet Activities registration schedule.

As a result, CadetInvest is now offering two application windows to popular Civil Air Patrol flight programs and flight/academic scholarships:

• Cadet Wings – July 1-Sept. 30.
• Top/Lift and Scholarships – Oct. 1-Jan. 15, 2024.

To learn more about CadetInvest, visit this link.

Safety/Health Services' Monthly Newsletter Online

The latest digital edition of The Dispatch, the Safety and Health Services programs' new monthly newsletter, is now available online.

Compiled and edited by Alecia Singh, Safety Program administrator, and Lt. Col. Gordon Helm of the Health Services program, this electronic publication includes the following articles:

• “Pilot’s Role in Collision Avoidance” by Lt. Col. Phil Holt of the Tennessee Wing.
• “Vehicle Risk Management Program” by Emmanuel Manning, CAP's vehicle fleet manager.
• “What is Your Fitness Plan This Week?” by Capt. Cole Ettingoff of the Health Services advisory team.
• “How are Your Eyes Doing?” by Lt. Col. Gordon Helm, Health Services public information officer.
• “The Hazards and Symptoms of Head Injuries” from CDC Free Education on Concussion (Source: Maj. Catherine Scantlan, RN, of the Florida Wing, adapted from NFHS Learn | Interscholastic Education, Made Easy).

Please also take a look at the Drivers Awareness Bulletin, a logistics created platform that is a new quarterly publication about vehicle safety. It is not mandatory but is strongly encouraged to view/read.

Members are also encouraged to participate by submitting articles on/about vehicle safety. You can submit your article(s) to the logistics team at this link.

Tweet of the Week @Civil Air Patrol

InstaPhoto of the Week #Civil Air Patrol

This Month's Top Headlines

“Aspiring to Become a Pilot, Indonesian Dispora Teenagers Become Civil Air Patrol Cadets”

-Voice of America/Indonesia

“Emergency Services Training at Whitewater Park”

-KTTC.com

(Utica, Minnesota)

“Cambria Heights Senior Surprised with Four-Year Air Force Scholarship for College”

-The Tribune-Democrat

(Patton, Pennsylvania)

“Riverside Prep's Civil Air Patrol Squadron Chartered”

-AccessWDUN.com

(Gainesville, Georgia)