Local Civil Air Patrol Squadron holds Cadet Change of Command Ceremony

6/22/2017 - Gaithersburg, MD - The Bethesda-Chevy Chase Composite Squadron welcomed its new cadet commander during a recent dining out and cadet change of command ceremony held at the Montgomery County Public Safety Headquarters in Gaithersburg, Maryland. During the event, C/Maj. Vivek Uppoor assumed command of the squadron's cadet corps from the outgoing cadet commander, C/1st Lt. Meagan Collins.

C/1st Lt. Meagan Collins served as the cadet commander for the squadron for almost one full year. During her command term, 19 new cadets joined the squadron, 13 cadets attended encampment as cadre or students, cadets attended 5 different National Cadet Special Activities, 103 individual cadet promotions were held (including 12 milestone achievements), and numerous unit activities were planned and executed. C/1st Lt. Collins will be entering her freshmen year in the Honors Program at the Catholic University of America where she will be studying biology in the Pre-Medical Track. During her final remarks, C/1st Lt. Collins talked about the immense growth and change that she personally experienced as a member of the squadron and Civil Air Patrol.

Her successor, C/Maj. Vivek Uppoor, takes over as he enters his senior year at Richard Montgomery High School. C/Maj. Uppoor joined Civil Air Patrol as a member of the Parkland Magnet Middle School Cadet Squadron. After completing his 8th grade year at Parkland, C/Maj. Uppoor transferred to B-CC where he went on to serve in multiple positions including flight commander and cadet aerospace officer. During his first remarks as cadet commander, C/Maj. Uppoor stressed his desire to work as a team to ensure the squadron's future success.

The guest speaker for the night was C/Capt. Jon Ciavolino, who served as the Cadet Wing Commander during the 2017 Tri-Wing Encampment. During his speech, C/Capt. Ciavolino stressed the importance of being an "inspirational leader." He highlighted the fact that since attending the 2012 Tri-Wing Encampment as a student, he geared his entire cadet career towards preparing himself for and becoming the encampment's cadet wing commander. He went on to speak about how, as leaders, it is important to remember the fact that you are not only dealing with cadets, but with human lives. He ended his remarks by issuing a personal charge to each cadet in attendance, challenging them to be an inspiration to others by influencing them in such a way that they become better people.

The event included the traditional and infamous grog bowl ceremony, cadet promotions, milestone certificate presentations, and many award/badge presentations to unit members.

• C/Senior Airman Brooke Mengistu was named the Cadet of the Year
• C/Chief Master Sgt. Amaris Galik was named the Cadet Staff Member of the Year
• C/1st Lt. James Upmeyer was presented with the Deputy Commander for Cadets Award
• C/1st Lt. James Upmeyer was presented with the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Officer of the Year Award
• C/Chief Master Sgt. Amaris Galik was presented with the VFW Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year Award
• C/1st Lt. Ronald Ramsaran was presented with the Air Force Association’s (AFA) Cadet of the Year Award
• C/MSgt Fay Phlersphlao was presented with the Air Force Sergeants Association’s (AFSA) Outstanding Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year Award

The Squadron would like to send a big thank you to everyone who helped make this event a success. Another thank you goes out and to all attendees, including Col. John Knowles, Col. Joseph Winter, and Lt. Col. Rory Garnice, who came to celebrate with C/Maj. Uppoor and C/1st Lt. Collins. We wish C/1st Lt. Collins the best as she moves on to a new and exciting chapter in her life.

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.

Nearly 1,600 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 dollars. For more information, contact the Maryland Wing at www.mdcap.org, like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MarylandWingC... and follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MDWGCAP.

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.capvolunteernow.com for more information.