Captain Scott Matthews is California Wing's answer to Kevin Smith. His seminal works, the 1999 California Wing Encampment video and his more recent encampment commercials (click here and here) have been featured here on CadetStuff previously. This year, Scott has been tapped by National Headquarters to travel to each National Cadet Special Activity this summer and document the events for future advertising and promotional use. CadetStuff equipped Scott with a CadetStuff t-shirt (literally the 2nd t-shirt off the presses!) and asked him to send us updates as he journeys across the country. Each week, his travelogue will be serialized here in as many parts as is required.

07/12/01 - Hawk Mountain

Thanks to the glorious CadetStuff staff [Hey, we try. -DN], after an email, an evening of detailed learning in the nuances of the Lehigh Valley Airport, and a visit to the local Denny’s with the coolest baggage claim area supervisor Tom (can’t remember last name), I finally got a phone number and arranged my pickup again that morning. The mix-up was resolved, and a van arrived promptly.

Quickly, I was on my way to film a days worth of the Hawk mountain area and the cadets marching off to their respective destinations (depending on their year). Some went out to the field to setup for the night, some went out to the local fire training location to practice rappelling alone, tandem, with casualties, etc.

The views, and scenery are quite nice here (being a California boy). And I was even given a cot next to as many electrical outlets as possible!

I’ve been well taken care of, and the staff has been most supportive of carting me around to the different training locations. I must say, the training here is very in depth. The views from Hawk mountain are great.

Scott