Local Civil Air Patrol Cadets Win State Competition

Last month, 12 cadets from the Bethesda-Chevy Chase (B-CC) Composite Squadron competed in the 2020 Maryland Wing Cadet Competition held at Maryland Wing Headquarters in Woodstock, Maryland. This year's competition included 6 color guard teams from across the state who competed in various events aimed at evaluating every facet of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Cadet Program including physical fitness, drill and ceremonies, wear of the uniform, and general CAP knowledge/concepts.

Competition events included outdoor practical drill, indoor practical drill, uniform inspection, color guard standard drill, standard element drill, panel quiz, and the cadet physical fitness test. The outdoor and indoor practical drill events test color guard teams on their ability to render appropriate honors in ceremonies that color guards commonly conduct throughout the community. These ceremonies could include raising/lowering the American Flag on an outdoor flagpole and posting/retrieving flags at an indoor function for local civic, community, and military events.

At the end of the day, B-CC Color Guards were recognized as the Overall First Place and Overall Second Place Teams.

Full results are listed below:

• Top Male Physical Fitness: Cadet Chief Master Sgt. Makalou Upper Montgomery Cadet Squadron)
• Top Female Physical Fitness: Cadet Staff Sgt. Hirschberger (B-CC Team 1)
• Indoor Posting Event: Esperanza Middle School Flight
• Outdoor Posting Event: B-CC Team 2
• Element Drill Event: Glenn L. Martin Composite Squadron
• Standard Drill Event (Tie): Upper Montgomery Cadet Squadron/ B-CC Team 2
• Uniform Inspection Event: B-CC Team 2
• Team Physical Fitness: St. Mary's Composite Squadron
• Panel Quiz: B-CC Team 1
• Overall First Place: B-CC Team 1
• Overall Second Place: B-CC Team 2

B-CC's color guard will now go on to represent Maryland on May 1-2, 2020 at the Mid-Atlantic Region Cadet Competition held at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia. They will be competing against teams from Washington DC, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Delaware.

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The Bethesda-Chevy Chase Composite Squadron meets every Thursday from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Montgomery County Public Safety Headquarters located at 100 Edison Park Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20878. For more information visit www.bcc-cap.org. You can also follow the squadron on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BCCMD071 or follow @BCCMD071 on Instagram.

Nearly 1,500 members serve in Civil Air Patrol’s Maryland Wing. Last year, wing members flew 13 actual search and rescue missions. Overall, the Maryland Wing flew 32 missions for the State of Maryland, flying 2,245 hours in all mission categories, and was credited with four finds. Volunteers contributed services estimated at $4.6 million. For information, contact the Maryland Wing at mdwg.cap.gov or follow the wing on Facebook.

Civil Air Patrol, the longtime all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary, is the newest member of the Air Force’s Total Force. In this role, CAP operates a fleet of 560 aircraft, performs about 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and is credited by the AFRCC with saving an average of 82 lives annually. CAP’s 61,000 members also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. In addition, CAP plays a leading role in aerospace/STEM education, and its members serve as mentors to over 25,000 young people participating in CAP’s Cadet Programs. Visit www.GoCivilAirPatrol.com or www.CAP.news for information.