The more than 150 cadets participating in the 2009 National Cadet Competition line up in formation for a photo with Maj. Gen. Amy S. Courter (front right), Civil Air Patrol national commander, and other dignitaries inside the Evergreen Air & Space Museum in McMinnville, Ore., where this year’s competition will also be held. Behind the cadets is Howard Hughesʼ famous Spruce Goose, the museumʼs centerpiece.
Photo by Capt. James Kalemis
NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS – More than 130 cadets from across Civil Air Patrol will compete this week in the 2010 National Cadet Competition, set for Thursday through Sunday at Linfield College and Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Ore.
Special guests at the event will include Oregon’s own U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. David E. Price, the top manager of Air Force budgeting operations and personnel at the Pentagon.
“Civil Air Patrol is proud to once again showcase the best CAP color guards and drill teams in the National Cadet Competition,” said Maj. Gen. Amy S. Courter, the organization’s national commander. “For more than 60 years, this contest has inspired generation after generation of cadets to strive for excellence.”
Cadets participating in the national competition earn the right to attend by winning local, wing and region competitions. All eight regions will be represented by a four-cadet color guard, and seven regions are fielding a 12-cadet drill team. Each color guard team includes one alternate, and each drill teams includes at least one alternate.
The color guard competitors hail from:
- Great Lakes Region – Ohio Wing.
- Middle East Region – North Carolina Wing.
- North Central Region – Minnesota Wing.
- North East Region – Massachusetts Wing.
- Pacific Coast Region – Alaska Region.
- Rocky Mountain Region – Colorado Wing.
- Southeast Region – Florida Wing.
- Southwest Region – Texas Wing.
The drill competition entrants:
- Great Lakes Region – Ohio Wing.
- Middle East Region – Delaware Wing.
- North Central Region – Minnesota Wing.
- Pacific Coast Region – California Wing.
- Rocky Mountain Region – Utah Wing.
- Southeast Region – Puerto Rico Wing.
- Southwest Region – Arizona Wing.
Cadets will demonstrate their skills in events that involve precision and teamwork, including innovative and standard drill movements, indoor and outdoor posting of the American flag and creativity and knowledge of aerospace-related topics, including a written exam and panel quiz, as well as physical fitness challenges involving volleyball and a mile run.
Inspections and drill competition will be judged by a team including senior CAP officers and members of the Air Force Honor Guard. The volleyball competition will be judged according to USA Volleyball Domestic Indoor Competition rules by volleyball professionals.
The overall winners of the color guard and drill team competitions will earn the U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Sweepstakes Trophy. Last year’s champions were the Northeast Region’s color guard ,from the New York Wing, and Rocky Mountain Region’s drill team, from the Utah Wing.
Top cadets in several categories are also honored, including top written exam score and fastest mile-run time.
Price, a graduate of Willamette University in Salem, Ore., commissioned through the Air Force ROTC in 1978 after graduate study at the University of Oregon, is now director, budget operations and personnel, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller. He is responsible for planning and directing execution of the Air Force’s operations and maintenance as well as military personnel budgets totaling more than $56 billion annually.
This is the second year the competition is being held at Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum as part of CAP’s partnership with Evergreen International Aviation Inc. The museum will also host another CAP educational activity this year: the Capt. Michael K. Smith Evergreen Aviation/CAP Business Academy, scheduled for July 11-17.
“CAP is privileged to have Mr. Del Smith, entrepreneur and founder of the Evergreen International Aviation group of companies, as the sponsor of this year’s competition,” said Lt. Col. Roger Middleton, National Cadet Competition director. “The support that we have received from Mr. Smith, the museum and other members of the Evergreen family has been absolutely first-class.”
The competition is one of 30 National Cadet Special Activities being sponsored by CAP across the nation this summer. These activities allow cadets to hone their skills in a variety of areas — including search and rescue, flight and emergency services, science, leadership fundamentals, citizenship and military courtesies — and to explore aerospace technology and aviation careers. In 2009, more than 1,100 youth participated in CAP-sponsored summer activities.
