27 Granite members complete first encampment
27 Granite members complete first encampment
7/30/2022 - GRANITE, Md. - Twenty-seven Civil Air Patrol members from Maryland Wing's Granite Cadet Squadron completed their first basic encampment during the summer of 2022. Encampment is a week-long in-residence training course designed to introduce new cadets to the many aspects of cadet life in CAP. In addition to the 25 cadets, two adult leaders completed the encampment as part of the senior staff. Two cadets completed the Pennsylvania Wing Encampment in June while 23 cadets and 2 seniors completed the New Hampshire Wing Encampment in July.
The purpose of the cadet encampment is for cadets to develop leadership skills, investigate the aerospace sciences and related careers, commit to a habit of regular exercise, and solidify their moral character through an immersion into the full challenges and opportunities of cadet life. Cadets are motivated to work together in small teams to succeed in meeting these challenges. In the process, they experience classroom instruction, hands-on practice of drill, while engaging in fun learning opportunities such as obstacle courses, rappelling, orientation flights in both powered Cessnas and glider aircraft, leadership reaction courses, and other activities depending on the encampment attended.
Cadets bring back the knowledge learned to their squadron to help increase the professionalism of their unit and members. Encampment is a requirement for cadets to achieve the Gen. Billy Mitchell Award and promotion to cadet officer.
For many Granite attendees, this was the first year encampment was available to them since the squadron chartered due to Covid lockdowns.
Granite Cadet Squadron meets at Maryland Wing Headquarters in Granite, Md., on Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Prospective cadets and their families are welcome to stop by the squadron. Visit the squadron’s website https://granite.cap.gov for more information or email granite@mdwg.cap.gov for specific questions.
More than 1,400 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.
Established in 1941, Civil Air Patrol is the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force and as such is a member of its Total Force. In its auxiliary role, CAP operates a fleet of 555 single-engine aircraft and 2,250 small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) and performs about 90% of all search and rescue operations within the contiguous United States as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center. Often using innovative cellphone forensics and radar analysis software, CAP was credited by the AFRCC with saving 108 lives last year. CAP’s 58,000 members also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. As a nonprofit organization, CAP plays a leading role in aerospace education using national academic standards-based STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education resources. Members also serve as mentors to over 24,000 young people participating in CAP’s Cadet Programs.
Visit www.CAP.News or www.GoCivilAirPatrol.com for more information.
For More Information:
Lt. Col. Brenda A. Reed, CAP
Commander, Granite Cadet Squadron
granite@mdwg.cap.gov
