Local Civil Air Patrol Color Guard Wins State Cadet Competition

Earlier this month, six cadets from the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Composite Squadron competed in the Maryland Wing Cadet Competition held at Maryland Wing Headquarters in Woodstock, Maryland. The competition brought together color guard teams from around the state where they competed in events aimed at evaluating every facet of the Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program including physical fitness, drill and ceremonies proficiency, wear of the uniform, teamwork/communication skills, and aerospace/Civil Air Patrol knowledge and concepts.

Competition events included the written exam, outdoor practical drill, indoor practical drill, uniform preparation, uniform spot inspection, team leadership problem, team jeopardy, and the cadet physical fitness test. The outdoor and indoor practical drill events evaluate 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.

After a long day of competition judged by Civil Air Patrol senior members and Air Force ROTC cadets from the University of Maryland, College Park’s Detachment 330, the B-CC Color Guard was recognized as the Overall First Place team.

Winners of the team events are listed below:

• Written Test Event: B-CC
• Team Leadership Problem Event: B-CC
• Uniform Spot Inspection Event: B-CC
• Uniform Inspection Preparation Event: St. Mary's Team #2
• Outdoor Posting Event: Frederick
• Indoor Posting Event: Glenn L. Martin
• Team Jeopardy Event: B-CC
• Cadet Physical Fitness Test Event: B-CC

Individual Award Winners included:

• Top Written Exam Score: C/Chief Master Sgt. Felix Caratini (Glenn L. Martin) and C/Capt. Ronald Ramsaran (B-CC)
• Top Individual CPFT Score: C/Master Sgt. Brooke Mengistu (B-CC)

Congratulations to C/1st Lt. Matthew Deveau (Team Commander), C/Capt. Ronald Ramsaran, C/Senior Master Sgt. Emilia Wright, C/Master Sgt. Brooke Mengistu, C/Tech Sgt. John Spillane and, C/Staff Sgt. Bernadette Winnard on their stellar performance and for representing the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Composite Squadron so well!

B-CC’s color guard and a color guard from the St. Mary’s Composite Squadron will now go on to represent Maryland Wing on April 13-15, 2018 at the Middle East Region Competition held at Ft. Pickett, Virginia. They will be competing against team 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 CAP members serve in Maryland. Last year wing members flew 13 search and rescue missions. The wing was credited with four finds. Maryland Wing flew 32 missions for the State of Maryland. Members flew 2,245 hours in all mission categories. Volunteers contributed services estimated at $4.6 million. For more information, contact the Maryland Wing at mdwg.cap.gov or follow the wing on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MarylandWingCivilAirPatrol.

Civil Air Patrol, the longtime all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary, is the newest member of the Air Force’s Total Force, which consists of regular Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, along with Air Force retired military and civilian employees. CAP, in its Total Force role, operates a fleet of 550 aircraft and 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 78 lives annually. Civil Air Patrol’s 56,000 members nationwide also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. Its members additionally play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 24,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet program. Performing missions for America for the past 75 years, CAP received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2014 in honor of the heroic efforts of its World War II veterans. CAP also participates in Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans. Visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com for more information.