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Participants and staff at the National Cadet Competition gather for an opening photo before the action gets under way.
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Scenes from some of the hotly contested NCC volleyball matchups.
Photos by Capt. James Kalemis, Great Lakes Region
Kristi Carr
CAP Volunteer staff writer
OREGON – Cadets in champion color guard and drill teams aren’t the only winners at the National Cadet Competition, which began Wednesday and continues through Sunday in McMinnville.
Putting on the event, which draws close to 150 cadets to compete in either category, takes a staff of some 50 volunteer workers, both cadets and senior members, along with several employees from Civil Air Patrol National Headquarters and several sponsoring organizations.
Lt. Col. Roger Middleton, activity director for NCC, considers them all winners, too.
“I believe these contributors also form a team and go home with many of the benefits experienced by the competitors and their escorts,” Middleton said.
At the competition, cadets test their precision, their intellect and their physical fitness in a series of contests. Included are a mile run, volleyball games, a panel quiz and written exam on aerospace history and knowledge, in addition to numerous drills and military presentations.
The competing cadets are representatives of CAP’s eight geographic regions and vie for CAP honors as “the best of the best.”
Sponsors provide backbone support
One of the sponsors is Linfield College, which provides the cadets with food, accommodation and meeting facilities.
“Maybe it’s something in the water,” Middleton said, “because like everyone else in Oregon, the people at Linfield College can’t do enough to support our cadets — whether it’s at NCC or other activities they host for CAP.”
Evergreen International Aviation Inc. is also a steadfast supporter of CAP, hosting some of the NCC events at its Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville — home of Howard Hughes’ celebrated “Spruce Goose” — as well as another special summer cadet activity, the Capt. Michael K. Smith Evergreen Aviation/CAP Business Academy.
Another NCC sponsor is Sprint Nextel Corp., which provides air-cards to give internet access to CAP laptops and a single “push-to-talk” network that keeps the NCC staff connected during the competition.
In addition, the Cessna Aircraft Co. provides both the top color guard and drill team with a “keeper” trophy — a bronze statuette, artist-signed and -numbered, that’s a miniature of the U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Sweepstakes trophy outside the company headquarters in Wichita, Kan.
Volunteers are NCC’s lifeblood
Indicative of the NCC volunteers’ interest in and commitment to this special cadet activity, Middleton said, is the fact that “the first planning meeting for 2010 took place at Linfield College in McMinnville just two days after the 2009 cadets headed home.”
Middleton himself has been an NCC volunteer for eight years, the last three as activity director.
Lt. Col. Axel Ostling, who is working at the 2010 NCC as director of the drill team competition, may claim to one of the longest tenures at NCC — in the 1950s, he attended as a cadet participant.
Not all the younger CAP members present are competitors. Cadets from six different wings — California, Missouri, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin — came to the NCC not as participants in the various contests but as volunteer workers who make sure everything is in the right place at the right time so the event runs smoothly.
Everyone wins
In his opinion, Middleton said the best part of the NCC is its “camaraderie, esprit-de-corps, teamwork — call it what you will.” And that applies to both its cadet participants and those behind the scenes that allow the competition to play out.
