Maryland Wing Civil Air Patrol commander Colonel Kay Joslin Walling recently visited the St. Mary's Composite Squadron to conduct a ceremony marking the promotion of a cadet officer and presenting major cadet program milestone awards. Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Haley Blevins was presented her certificate of completion for the Ira Eaker Award and Cadet First Lieutenant Diane Mattingly was promoted to the grade of cadet Captain and presented with the Amelia Earhart Award completion certificate. After the promotion/awards ceremony the wing commander conducted a question and answer session with squadron members. This visit by Col. Walling marks the first visit of a sitting wing commander to the St. Mary's Composite Squadron in it's history.
Cadet Blevins joined CAP in 2000. She attended encampment at Ft. Pickett in 2001, MERCLS at Seymour Johnson AFB in 2003, and participated in IACE to England in 2005. She also participated in CAP Legislative day in 2005. She is the former cadet commander of her unit and presently the Vice Chair of the MDWG Cadet Advisory Council. She is a senior at Great Mills High School and plans to go to college in the fall.
Cadet Mattingly joined CAP in 2001. She attended encampment at Ft. Pickett in 2001, the National Military Music Academy in 2003 and 2004, and MERCLS at Seymour Johnson AFB in 2005. She is presently the cadet commander of her unit. She is a senior at Leonardtown High School where she also plays soccer. She plans to go to college, majoring in Chemical Engineering next fall.
The St. Mary's Composite Squadron meets Wednesday evenings from 7-9 p.m. at the St. Mary's County Regional Airport, in the Capt. Walter Francis Duke terminal building, and is commanded by 1st Lt. Donald W. Cone Jr.
CAP, the official U.S. Air Force Auxiliary, is a nonprofit organization with more than 60,000 members nationwide. Its volunteers perform 95 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as well as homeland security, disaster relief and counter drug missions.
The members take a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the almost 25,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. Cadets in CAP participate in a structured program through group and individual activities that include aerospace education, physical training, leadership, and moral and ethical values. The program encompasses 16 achievement levels that include study in these four areas.
There are approximately 1,300 members of CAP in Maryland. Last fiscal year wing members flew 31 search and rescue missions as assigned by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, and was credited with 19 finds. For information, visit http://mdcap.org.