N.J. brother, sister receive CAP's highest cadet award

 

 

(1)
Cadet Col. Stephen Rogacki  and his younger sister, Cadet Col. Stasia Rogacki ,receive their Gen. Carl A. Spaatz Award certificates from retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Tom Garrett. The cadets earned the awards last summer but received them together during the fall in a special ceremony hosted by the New Jersey Wing.

(2)
Maj. Paul Smolen ( center) represents The Spaatz Association at a ceremony honoring Cadet Cols. Stasia and Stephen Rogacki. Smolen, now an active member of the New Jersey Wing’s Teterboro Composite Squadron, received Spaatz Award #33 in 1967 while a cadet in the Connecticut Wing.
 
(3)
Air Force Maj. Nicole Malachowski (center), a former Civil Air Patrol cadet who became the first woman to fly with the Air Force Thunderbirds, poses with Cadet Cols. Stasia Rogacki and Stephen Rogacki at the McGuire Air Force Base Air Show/Expo in 2007.

(4)
Cadet Cols. Stasia Rogacki (right) and Stephen Rogacki (second from left) listen with other cadets listen as a U.S. Coast Guard officer leads a tour of a Coast Guard vessel stationed off the New Jersey coast.  

(5)
Cadet Col. Stephen Rogacki, posing for a photo in front of a CAP Cessna, earned his private pilot’s license last summer following the New Jersey Wing’s Falcon Flight Academy. Now a first-year student at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, Rogacki has been a CAP cadet for the past five years.

(6)
Stephen Rogacki (right) and his sister, Stasia (second from left), sit at the controls of an aircraft during the McGuire Air Force Base Air Show/Expo in 2007.
   
(7)
Then-Cadet Maj.  Stasia Rogacki leads the Civil Air Patrol Honor Guard at the 2009 Honor Guard Academy. Rogacki, now a cadet colonel, served as the academy’s assistant staff instructor.

(8)
Stasia Rogacki takes a seat in the cockpit of one of the many planes on display at the McGuire Air Force Base Air Show/Expo.

(9)
Lt. Col. Joe Sirois congratulates Stasia Rogacki upon completion of the New Jersey Wing Falcon Flight Academy. Rogacki, now a cadet colonel, has been a member of CAP for 4½ years. 


1st Lt. Mark Swanson
Public Affairs Officer
New Jersey Wing

NEW JERSEY -- A brother and sister from the Curtiss-Wright Composite Squadron recently received Civil Air Patrol’s highest cadet honor, the Gen. Carl A. Spaatz Award.

Cadets Stephen and Stasia Rogacki received the rank of cadet colonel along with the award, presented by retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Tom Garrett on Nov. 27. Ceremonies were held at a meeting of the Curtiss-Wright Composite Squadron in Fairfield, N.J.

The siblings’ father, Capt. Stanley Rogacki, commands the Curtiss-Wright squadron. Their mother, 2nd Lt. Elizabeth Rogacki, has served as the unit’s aerospace education officer and finance officer.

For Stephen, the ceremonies were a weekend away from duties at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he is a first-year student. He completed the requirements for the award last summer, just before reporting to West Point, then waited to receive the honor until he could have time off from the academy to enjoy the ceremonies with his sister, who earned the Spaatz award in August.

Although they could not make the gathering, U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen and Curtiss-Wright Corp.’s director of human services, Kenneth Lewis, and its chairman, Martin Bernante, sent letters expressing their best wishes for the cadets’ continued success.

In addition, Maj. Paul Smolen of the Teterboro Composite Squadron presented letters from Brig. Gen. Richard Anderson, president of The Spaatz Association and a past national commander of CAP, welcoming them to the organization. Smolen received the Spaatz Award in the 1960s.

The award honors the late Gen. Carl A. Spaatz, the first chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force and the second national commander of CAP.

The Spaatz is awarded to cadets who “successfully complete all phases of the CAP cadet program and the Spaatz award examination,” consisting of a comprehensive leadership and aerospace education written examination, a graded essay and a physical fitness test.

Only 0.5 percent of CAP cadets ever earn the award, which carries with it promotion to cadet colonel -- the highest grade obtainable in the cadet program. Upon reaching age 21, Spaatz cadets are eligible to transfer to the CAP officer program with the grade of captain.

The Spaatz honors were first awarded in 1964. Since then, only 1,746 cadets have received the honor – 46 of them from New Jersey.

In the last five years, the two Rogackis have compiled impressive records in CAP, their schools and communities.

Stephen is a 2009 graduate of Seton Hall Prep. In high school, he played varsity soccer and earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. He completed the Boy Scout program as well, earning the grade of Eagle Scout.

In CAP he took part in multiple air shows and encampments and participated in the 2008 Civic Leadership Academy. He attended a CAP Honor Guard Academy and also represented the U.S. in Great Britain in the International Air Cadet Exchange.

After receiving CAP training in a powered aircraft at the Falcon Flight Academy at Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst, he earned a private pilot’s license in 2009.

Stasia is a senior at Mount St. Dominic Academy, where she is a member of the lacrosse, cross-country and winter track teams.

The record she has compiled in CAP is as enviable as her older brother’s. She has also worked at multiple cadet encampments and academies and, in 2008, she served as cadet commander of the New Jersey Wing Eagle Flight Encampment at Fort Dix. She attended the CAP Civic Leadership Academy and National Honor Guard Academy in 2009.

Col. David Mull, New Jersey Wing commander congratulated the pair on their newest achievement -- the first Spaatz awards in the state since he took command in August.

“The Spaatz cadets represent the best we have to offer in the CAP cadet program, and we are proud to congratulate Stephen and Stasia Rogacki,” Mull said. “They are models for other cadets, for their schools and for our communities.”