The Statesboro Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol celebrated a tremendous year during its promotion ceremony on April 22. The highlight of the evening included being awarded the Quality Cadet Unit Award by Georgia Wing Commander Col. Michael Willis.
“This is a hard-won award with all the members doing their part to contribute to the program,” said 1st Lt. JoEllen Flannery, Commander of the Statesboro Composite Squadron. “In addition to the Quality Cadet Unit Award, we celebrated the hard work of all our members through promotions and recognition of individual achievements.”
One of those cadet achievements included Cadet Staff Sgt. Syndey Blackmon, who was selected as Cadet of Year for reaching training milestones and going above and beyond to serve the squadron. Blackmon has steadily progressed in her training and as an airman filled in for the flight sergeant when needed and takes part in STEM night at local schools and community food drives. Blackmon has excelled in her training and is one training away from reaching a major milestone of becoming a mission radio operator.
Adult volunteers were also recognized at the promotion ceremony. Richard Besaw was promoted to Senior Master Sgt., a tremendous milestone that takes years of work and dedication.
“But we haven’t been concentrating just on ourselves,” Flannery said. “We’ve been out in the community supporting STEM night at local schools by showing students how to fly drones and talking about rockets. We also taught a rocketry lesson at the recreation department’s Kid’s Power Hour and they got to shoot off their air-powered rockets.”
In addition to rocketry, the squadron has been working with NASA to complete experiments during the two Solar Eclipses.
“The data we collected for them will be used for years,” she said. “We have plans to be involved with more community events at the Statesboro Airport, working with the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), and attending the school open houses.”
To know more about the squadron, visit their website at Statesboro.cap.gov or email them at [email protected].
About Civil Air Patrol
Founded in 1941 and established as the official civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force seven years later, Civil Air Patrol is chartered by Congress as a nonprofit organization for the purposes of youth development, aerospace education, and to promote general aviation. In an auxiliary role as a Total Force partner of the Air Force, CAP operates the world’s largest fleet of single-engine aircraft for search and rescue, disaster relief, training, and education. Civil Air Patrol is dedicated to serving America’s communities, saving lives, and shaping futures.
Visit CAP.news or GoCivilAirPatrol.com for more information. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
