Civil Air Patrol National Cadet Competition

Highly skilled Civil Air Patrol cadets from across America are gathering at National Headquarters for the 2015 National Cadet Competition, renewing a prestigious CAP inspection and drill event that originated nearly 70 years ago.

Scheduled for Wednesday through Friday at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, the competition will be held in front of special guests that include senior U.S. Air Force and CAP personnel.

“Civil Air Patrol’s very best cadets will be front and center for this competition,” said Maj. Gen. Joe Vazquez, CAP’s national commander and chief executive officer. “These cadets work year-round to get here.”

Started in 1947, the National Cadet Competition has inspired generations of cadets to strive for excellence. Last year, the event was postponed in order to expand it beyond its inspection and drill emphasis and make the competition more “squadron-friendly” and accessible to each of CAP’s 1,000 cadet units nationwide.

Returning after the one-year hiatus, the new competition has been reduced to teams of six cadets, and the menu of competitive events is much more diverse.

“Whereas the previous competition focused on military drill, the new model includes model rocketry, a fitness circuit, public speaking, team leadership problems and more,” said Curt LaFond, director of cadet programs at National Headquarters.

“At the national-level event, 96 cadets are participating, but the true measure of the new model’s success will be in its ability to attract more teams at the wing and region levels in the years to come.”

The 96 cadets competing in the 2015 competition earned the right to attend by winning local, state and regional competitions. Each of CAP’s eight regions is represented, as well as 14 wings – Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah and Virginia.

Participants will be demonstrating skills in events that involve precision and teamwork. These skills include indoor and outdoor color guard challenges, a written test of leadership and aerospace knowledge and a Jeopardy!-style game, a physical fitness test, an obstacle course-like fitness challenge, public speaking, model rocketry, team leadership problems (group problem solving challenges) and a uniform inspection.

Judges will be faculty from the U.S. Air Force Senior Non-Commissioned Officer Academy.

The winning cadet team takes home the Air Force Chief of Staff Sweepstakes Award Trophy. Second- and third-place team trophies will also be presented, along with individual awards for cadets competing in several categories, including top written score and fastest mile run.

“We’re glad that the National Cadet Competition is back,” said activity director Lt. Col. Grace Edinboro. “Our cadets and their senior leaders look forward to this event. So it is great for us to be together again, this time for an exciting, new year-end competition at Maxwell.”

The National Cadet Competition is one of 50 National Cadet Special Activities sponsored by CAP in 2015. #2015CadetComp

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 or follow the wing on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MarylandWingCivilAirPatrol.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 58,000 members nationwide, operating a fleet of 550 aircraft. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs about 85 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 70 lives annually. Its unpaid professionals also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 24,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet programs. Performing missions for America for the past 73 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.

Article posted by Capt. Alice Raatjes, Public Affairs Officer, Group II, Maryland Wing, Civil Air Patrol