Well we have started a new year and the squadron has a busy schedule. The cadet and officer staffs have been working hard to ensure that we hit all the targets on the wing score card for 2008. B-CC did extremely well on the 2007 score card. For those of you who don’t know what the wing score card is, it’s a long list of programs, activities, and bench marks that each Group and Squadron is graded on. Some of the squadron’s accomplishments for last year were Middle East Region Squadron of Distinction, Maryland Wing squadron of the year, Group 1 squadron of the year, and many commanders’ commendations for cadets and officers. The cadets met many milestones last year and I expect will meet even more this year. B-CC finished its first year working with the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) cleaning the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. All those who participated were awarded certificates and t-shirts by the VVA.
The schedule for 2008 will include many SAREXs. Hopefully, we will have more cadets and officers become involved in the emergency service program. Capt. Crockett has done an outstanding job ramping up and making the ES program fun and exciting. Sometime in April, we will hold another triple play weekend and I would like to see the participation double from last year. The O Rides have taken off well (pardon the pun); Cadet Lopez is doing a great job with that. Lt. Queen has the Aerospace program running at top speed. A model rocket weekend is planned for the weekend of March 8-9 at the Cherry Hill National Guard Base. B-CC is putting together several fun activities for you cadets this year (Pentagon tour, PAX River Naval Air Station tour, Planetarium tour etc.).
Community service is a big part of CAP, this year I would like to expand our community service participation. Nothing brings CAP to the public’s notice like being there and helping others. This past year, we started helping the Air National Guard by working in their kitchen. This is something we will continue do more often. We get a tremendous amount of support from the ANG so let’s give some back. We should all be on the lookout for other community service opportunities. Support for Montgomery Senior Squadron needs to increase. The MSS/CFC does a lot to support B-CC. They gave us a Cessna 152, but I’ve noticed that when they ask for our help, it’s not as forthcoming as it should be.
Recruiting has been great but retention could be better. I’m not sure what the problem is but we need to fix it. Cadet programs under Col. Foster and Capt. Carmello are right on track and doing great. I have made a change in the testing procedures, there will be scheduled testing as usual. We will have a full set of testing material at the squadron soon. The reason for this is there will be no more testing outside of the meetings. Anyone who needs to test outside of the regular testing night can make a request to the squadron commander or cadet programs officer.
Last, but far from least, we have an IG inspection coming up in April. I need the cadet staff and officers to make sure we have all our ducks in a row. In the last IG inspection, I believe we led the wing but still had room for improvement. Let’s be on top this year also.
Thomas Vineer
Capt. CAP
Commander B-CC