B-CC Composite Squadron. MER-MD-071. 2nd Quarter - July 2009. Issue 3
Cadet Commander’s Comments
By: C/Capt Diana Lopez, CAP, Cadet Commander
This has definitely been an exciting start to the new command term. With the many individual awards and recognitions, I am not at all surprised that we got the Unit Citation Award, Squadron of the year, and MER Ground Team of the year. There are many more awards to be mentioned but too little space to put it in this article. I really want to reiterate the fact that this was a group effort. So, thank you cadets and senior members for striving in all of your duties and putting B-CC at the top. Let’s make sure that we keep improving as a squadron so that we can win most of not all the awards at this year’s Wing Conference. Speaking of which, it is going to be held in October and it gives the opportunity to both cadets and senior members to attend seminars ranging from leadership theory to what exciting activities Maryland Wing will be hosting. I really hope to see all of you there to help support your squadron as well as learning something new! This term is going to focus a lot more on learning and being more actively involved in the community. Cadets with that in mind, please feel free to share your ideas up the chain of command so that your opinions are shared and hopefully more activities will be coordinated. I hope that with this new term come a lot of positive changes. Continue working on your command presence and promotions but also don’t forget why you are here. You are here to continue learning and growing as a leader but more importantly we are all here to make a difference or a positive impact. This can mean being a positive role model for younger cadets or it can mean going to a few more activities to help your community. I will leave that personal goal up to all of you. Let’s keep up the good work and let’s stay motivated to be the best.
Emergency Services
By: MICHAEL A. CROCKETT, Maj, CAP
Deputy Commander for Seniors/ES Training Officer
I'd like to offer several congratulations to members of B-CC.
First, to all of the cadets who just graduated from encampment. You all pushed yourselves further than you thought you could all week long. Keep pushing yourselves and you will go far.
Second, to the B-CC members who won awards at the encampment:
-C/Capt Knowles - Honor Squadron Commander
-C/Capt Vliet - Honor Flight Commander
-C/Capt Vliet - Honor Line Officer
Third, I'd like to congratulate several members of the ground team (including those on the ground team from wing headquarters) for making June a busy month in processing ES paperwork by getting new qualifications or renewing old qualifications:
-Capt Sheinberg for renewing his GTM3 rating
-C/SSgt Knowles for renewing his GTM3 rating
-C/Capt Vliet for completing his GTM3 rating
-C/2d Lt Aryankalayil for completing his GTM3 rating
-C/SMSgt Johnson for completing her GTM3 rating
-Capt Carmello for completing his GTM1 rating
-Capt Vineer for completing his GTM1 rating
-Lt Col Drury for renewing his GTL rating
-Lt Col Weiser for renewing his GTL rating
and finally...
-Capt Carmello for passing his Ground Team Leader checkride and becoming the 8th Ground Team Leader on the B-CC alert roster. For those who don't know, Ground Team Leader checkrides put a potential team leader through every situation they could possibly face....all at once. Please join me in congratulating Capt Carmello on this accomplishment.
Safety
By: 1st Lt Matthew Cauthen
MD071/SE
Wow we are already in July, and the 101 critical days of summer are going by way too quickly. So I figured I would use this opportunity to write a little reminder to everyone about staying safe in whatever summer activity you may be doing.
I also want to tell everyone how proud I am of BCC continued high level commitment to safety. Please feel free to contact me or talk to me at the meeting if you have any safety concerns that you feel need to be addressed.
Remember to stay safe this summer, but also have tons of fun.
Aerospace
By: 1st Lt Jeremy Cheron, CAP
It is an exciting time of year and the B-CC cadets are moving fast on the rocket badge. After recently completing work for the Aerospace Excellence Award (AEX); an award that will deliver honors, kudos and a nice plaque to the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Composite Squadron the unit has not taken so much as a single breath and continued onto the rocket badge. To earn the rocket badge each cadet must take a safety lesson on rocket safety, build and launch no less than five rockets of various designs and methods of propulsion, and study for and pass three exams. Already 18 cadets are on the board with 12 cadets on track at 33% completion and two cadets pulling out in front and running neck and neck at 55% complete. But be warned we still have tests ahead and the dreaded solid rocket motor flight to deal with. With all this excitement going on and the possibilities of the squadron competing in the national rocket challenge next year, not to mention the cool activities going on in the wing and during the summer, who knows what will happen – What a great time for AE.
Triple Play weekend spring 2009, April 17-19
By: C/SSgt John Stein, CAP
Triple Play weekend, spring 2009, was kicked off on Friday afternoon with a vigorous game of football. After all the cadets had their fill of the gridiron, they got down to business setting up the tents and gathering firewood. The night ended late, around the campfire roasting marshmallows.
Saturday morning began with physical training. After the intense PT, every cadet was delighted to see a delicious breakfast waiting for them. Less of a delight but useful was C/XO 1st Lt O’Brien’s memory work. The memory work winner was given the first spot in line. Once the cadets had their fill and gathered more firewood, the fun filled activities of Triple Play weekend began.
Triple Play Weekend is intended to encompass the three missions of CAP; emergency services, cadet programs, and aerospace education. All present got a great taste of each. The first activity of the day was an ES related step counting exercise, conducted by C/CMSgt Aryankaliyal, in which the cadets counted the times their left foot struck the ground for 100m. This helps you judge distance while on ground team exercises. Following this was a compass reading and orienteering activity, conducted by C/CMSgt Walters, where cadets where given a demonstration of compass usage and then set out in pairs to find a series of compass readings, which would end with arrival at the starting location. As the morning progressed, the cadets transitioned into the construction of wilderness shelters.
The next set of activities aerospace in nature. C/CMSgt Walters taught a lesson on motors vs. engines and provided everyone present with an in depth discussion on piston engines. We all then had the opportunity to design their own orbital rocket and present their pseudo-blueprints to the class. A winner was chosen out of the many designs. After long, fun hours of activities, cadets piled into the lunch line orderly and again enjoyed delicious food. The highlight of the day was a strenuous yet rewarding nature hike up the local mountain. At 1500ft, the view was spectacular. Soon after returning from the hike, cadets participated in quite a fun exercise for maintaining military discipline. Led by C/XO 1st Lt O’Brien, each cadet would individually try to break every other cadet’s military discipline in the line, while they were at attention. Some cadets and cadet staff came up with particularly humorous ways to make a cadet laugh at attention, such as C/CMSgt Sturgeon and C/A1C Roberts. After many more hours of fun, the cadets assembled for a pasta dinner. After dinner, the cadets were put on two teams for the famous “Spiderweb” teambuilding exercise. The entire team had to go through a series of holes in the web in order to get to the other side and win. Each hole could not be entered twice, and if you messed up the entire session had to be started over. This promoted unit cohesiveness by forcing everyone in each group to work effectively as a team. The day’s last activity was similar to the second, involving compass reading and orienteering, only in the dark of night. It got tricky when navigating but was still a whole lot of fun. The night ended toasting marshmallows and making smores, which everyone enjoyed. Everyone slept well that night, after quite a full day.
Sunday morning began yet again while the campground slept, at 5:00AM, with PT. The cadets ate their last breakfast for the weekend, and began the clean up procedures. The second to last activity of the weekend was the Litter carry, conducted by C/CMSgt Aryankaliyal, with myself being carried in the litter. After going over the procedure of carrying an injured person on a litter, I was carried through the woods by 6 cadets. The next step was constructing an improvised litter by using a tarp and two large sticks. The cadets preceded to breakdown the tents, gather their belongings, and clean up the entire campsite. The last activity to top off the weekend was impromptu speeches, conducted by C/1st Lt Santos V. Many cadets created funny speeches with only one minute to prepare. Finally, every cadet and senior member departed, ending a weekend full of fun and learning.
Overall, Triple play weekend was a great experience. I would like to give credit to C/SrA Goenner for taking photographs, and thank the senior members for cooking and providing support, as well as the cadet staff for making every activity work. Triple play was a great success, and I look forward to another great weekend in the fall.
PROMOTIONS
Congratulations to the following squadron members promoted in Q2 of 2009!
April Promotions:
Adams C/SSgt
Ghulati C/SrA
Glekken C/A1C
Goenner C/SSgt
Munson C/TSgt
Scheiner C/SSgt
Shivacharan C/SSgt
Honor Cadet: Glekken
May Promotions:
Deus C/SSgt
Jahangiri C/SSgt
Kavathekar C/CMSgt
Lutschaunig C/TSgt
Maroulis C/CMSgt
McConnell C/SSgt
Munson C/MSgt
O'Brien C/Capt
Santos, K C/1st Lt
Santos, V C/1st Lt
Santos, W C/A1C
Srinivasan C/SSgt
Stien C/TSgt
Honor Cadet: C/SSgt Adams
May award certificates:
C/Capt Knowles: Earhart
C/2d Lt Vallinas: Mitchell
C/Capt Vliet: Earhart
June Promotions:
Aryankalayil C/2d Lt
Goenner C/TSgt
Johnson C/CMSgt
Kerr C/2d Lt
Maraj, S C/Maj
Mistowski C/Amn
O'Calihan C/Amn
Sheinberg Capt (senior member)
Honor Cadet: C/Amn Asbury