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Squadron Alert! : About the Author April 2001 CadetStuff staff member Major Darin Ninness has uncovered a novel written about Civil Air Patrol in 1954 - the Golden Age of young adult adventure novels. Follow Cadet Tom Carroll and his adventures in the Civil Air Patrol! Continue reading

Squadron Alert! : 1. Search and Rescue April 2001 Right after the motor had been cut, a tall, slender man climbed out of the four-place plane. He was wearing the light blue uniform of the Air Force, though with distinctively different insignia decorating it, and was followed by two other men similarly clothed. Behind them came a khaki-clad boy of about the same age as Tom and Red. "I'm Major Boswell," the first man said, extending his hand to Nick. "And here are Captain Hall, Lieutenant Fuller, and Cadet Sherman." Continue reading

Squadron Alert! : 2. Hangar Meeting April 2001 The morning passed slowly after church services, and Tom was at the hangar well before the time set for the meeting. Pacing back and forth in front of the building, he impatiently awaited the others. He wondered about Nick's friends, and then he tried to imagine whom Red would bring to the conference. Much, if not all, depended upon the note struck at this first get-together. Continue reading

Squadron Alert! : 3. Interest Mounts May 2001 Within a matter of hours Tom became acquainted with more schoolmates than he had met in the six weeks since he had been enrolled in the school. On all sides, in all classes, it was evident that there was no lack of interest in flying, for he was the target of an almost endless stream of questions. To all who queried him, he gave the best replies he could devise, at the same time acknowledging that his information was sketchy and telling his interrogators that they could not hope for specific details until Mr. Tolliver heard from the CAP authorities. Continue reading

Squadron Alert! : 4. Patrol Flight May 2001 Just then the drone of an airplane motor came to their ears. The trio moved to the front of the hangar, spotted the approaching craft and watched it circle over the airport. A moment later it nosed down and made a perfect landing on the strip, finally taxiing to the hangar door where the roaring motor was cut. Continue reading

Squadron Alert! : 5. The Dawsons June 2001 As he referred to the exploit of the previous Sunday, a generous account of which had appeared in the Ledger, the hall echoed with applause and all eyes sought Tom and Ralph. Behind that accomplishment, Tolliver stated as the noise died down, lay an efficient organization with elements in every state and territory. In general terms, he went on to tell of the structure of the CAP and of the people who made it up. Continue reading

Squadron Alert! : 6. Progress June 2001 This time Tolliver called upon a few students in the front to distribute a supply of blank forms to all who were present. He then explained to the group how the forms should be filled out and instructed them to take them home, study them carefully, obtain the signatures of their parents and bring them with them to the next meeting. After that he launched into a description of what had happened since their last session together. Continue reading

Squadron Alert! : 7. The Corwin Property July 2001 Though he arrived at the airport late in the morning, Tom found that Sam Tolliver and Nick Crynes were already there. Together with others, they had observed the flight of the National Guard planes over the Wayfield area on the previous day. Now, like Tom, they were anxiously awaiting the photographs that Major Boswell had promised to deliver before noon. Continue reading

Scott's Big Adventure - 1 July 01 - If it's Tuesday, this must be Birmingham.. July 2001 15 minutes till boarding time when, lo and behold, the power goes out at the airport! This of course turns off the metal detectors, meaning no one can go through to get on the planes. People start freaking out, and soon a police officer shows up to tell us that there is another security checkpoint at a different end of the airport. Everybody charges over there to get through (I arrive at the gate wearing my belt around my neck). Continue reading

Scott's Big Adventure - 2 July 01 - Phew! Get some Right Guard.. July 2001 It is hot and muggy. I filmed a class in a practical application of leadership involving an actual Gulf War scenario, and then some footage from a CAP command structure class. There are 105 cadets here, and I met a friend from my basic flight at National Blue Beret, that was cool. Continue reading

Scott's Big Adventure - 7 July 01 - I'm going WHERE..? July 2001 COS was a cool activity that I would highly recommend for officers around the country. It’s a great way to get 1000’s of dollars worth of direct leadership knowledge and expertise for so much less. The cadets I’ve interviewed had a variety of interests and goals, and felt that COS will greatly help their CAP and life careers. Continue reading

Scott's Big Adventure - 9 July 01 - It's so hot, I saw one of them guys burst into flames! July 2001 I had no way to contact the guys at AETCFC to let them know, and I arrived an hour late. For 3 hours I tried all my contacts trying to find a way to get in touch, and eventually got the number of where the activity is being held. Soon my pickup arrived, and I was off. Continue reading

Scott's Big Adventure - 10 July 01 - Wow, airport seats are really comfortable... July 2001 I arrive at the airport with nobody here to pick me up. This is getting to be routine. I have just spoken to an airport agent (I’m at ABE, Allentown, in PA), and he says Hawk Mountain is approximately an hour away, and is experiencing storms, so that’s the most likely cause for the delay. Continue reading

Scott's Big Adventure - 12 July 01 - Is that a *real* mountain..? July 2001 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. Continue reading

Scott's Big Adventure - 13 July 01 - OK, enough with the fun & games... LET ME DOWN! July 2001 Today I went back to the mountain, and filmed some more rope work. This time I was rigged up and went down about half way to get some point of view shots, fun! Tonight I will do laundry in preparation for leaving to the Powered Flight Academy in Virginia tomorrow evening. Fun, fun! Continue reading

Squadron Alert! : 8. The Campaign July 2001 Sam Tolliver first collected all the application forms that had been filled out by the prospective cadets and signed by their parents. Immediately after that he placed before the students the idea of forming into teams so that they might visit their neighbors and obtain their support of the CAP. Continue reading

Scott's Big Adventure - 16 July 01 - Can I get HBO on this flight information monitor..? July 2001 I'm writing from the computer in the facility used here at the Virginia based National Flight Academy. Due to another mixup in dates, I spent another night at the airport. I've decided that as interesting as they are, I don't want to do that anymore so I've made arrangements with a contact at national to get all the updated phone numbers before I to each one. Continue reading

Squadron Alert! : 9. The Town Meeting August 2001 By a quarter to seven the auditorium was jammed. Still the crowd poured in, the overflow standing around the edges of the hall as seats on the floor, in the bleachers and in the balcony disappeared. At five minutes to seven the members of the Town Council, a group of five men, filed down the aisle and mounted the stairs to the stage. Continue reading

Squadron Alert! : 10. HQ, Wayfield Sq August 2001 At Nick's hangar the next Friday evening, the regular meeting night, both seniors and cadets gathered eagerly. There was no hiding their enthusiasm, for adults and students alike showed in their faces that they were eager to get on with the job that lay ahead. Continue reading

Squadron Alert! : 11. Blue Skies September 2001 DESPITE the fact that the squadron, at the outset, possessed very little in the form of equipment, Major Tolliver lost no time in getting it started on its training program. Continue reading

Squadron Alert! : 12. Storm Signal September 2001 "March?" one grizzled master sergeant exclaimed in answer to a question concerning this phase of the activities. "Why, they're out marching before we're up in the morning. I'd be willing to bet that if they had been marching in one direction, most of them would be at home right now." Continue reading

Squadron Alert! : 13. First Mission October 2001 The C.O.'s announcement followed upon weeks of study and training in which the members of the Wayfield Squadron had worked unstintingly to ready themselves for any call on their services. It had not been easy, for many of the seniors and all of the cadets had found themselves in a world that was strange to them. Continue reading

Squadron Alert! : 14. Student Pilot October 2001 For as long as he could remember, Tom had wanted to fly. The hours that he had spent with Nick, carried as a passenger in the L-5, had given him a full measure of satisfaction. Yet he had been just a rider, not at the controls, and something had been missing. Continue reading

Squadron Alert! : 15. Editor's Son November 2001 He was justifiably proud to receive the certificate that entitled him to pilot a light plane and to carry passengers, but his pride in no way matched the jubilation that he had enjoyed on the day that he had made his first solo. Continue reading

Squadron Alert! : 16. The Trap November 2001 "Looks like our cadet supply officer is nailed with the goods." There was no mistaking the triumph in Ed Dawson's tone as he gathered with the others about Tom. "What's going on, Tom? What are you doing with this stuff?" Ralph Cross asked anxiously. Continue reading

Squadron Alert! : 17. Ordeal of Doubt December 2001 To Tom's surprise, Ed Dawson was one of those who spent a great deal of time around the headquarters. He was often to be seen poring over a book on aviation or tinkering with equipment of some sort. He became, in fact, something of a nuisance to Tom, since he was frequently borrowing materials from the supply room to practice with or to study. Continue reading

Squadron Alert! : 18. Forest Fire! December 2001 As he watched them work, Tom breathed a sigh of thankfulness. Here, once again, the CAP training was paying dividends. The two Dawsons, schooled in communications, were expertly laying out a panel reply to the plane flying above them. Continue reading

Squadron Alert! : 19. The Wayfield Cadets January 2002 "Just a moment, Son. I've got one more thing to say. That plane that you used yesterday, Tom, seemed to take a beating. I've been on the phone today, and the squadron will have a new one delivered in a short time." Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Introduction February 2002 There are few Civil Air Patrol groups that are surrounded by as much mystery as the Cold War era "77th Ranger Support Unit". Known to very few people outside of its own ranks, it was based in the wilderness of Drummond Island, Michigan, and conducted its training and developed its methods in seclusion. Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Death March Pt 1 March 2002 I had completely closed in on myself. I was no longer living by the day, the hour, or even the minute. My focus had narrowed considerably. I was literally thinking “One more step, one more step, just one more…”. I wanted to cry, but I didn’t have the strength. I just kept raising one burning thigh and putting it down. Then I would raise the other and put it down. Every step became a conscious, agonizing effort. Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Death March Pt 2 April 2002 We continued to march along in our semi-zombie state until we ran across the bus. I was so physically and emotionally wrecked that I didn't even see it until I was ten feet from the hood. I was walking around in a stupor and my tunnel vision was getting really bad. One of the cadets from Charlie was being carried, but the rest of us had made it. Band-Aid Billy was bandaging some guy's foot. I noticed the rain had all but stopped as I climbed aboard. We waited about 10 minutes for some stragglers, and then we rode the few miles back to base. Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Mess May 2002 Dear Sir, I was very surprised to hear that you are discouraging your cadets from attending Drummond Island. While I understand that there have been stories circulating around about abuse and extreme conditions, I can state for a fact that no cadet has ever been abused up there, and I would put our safety record up against any activity in the nation. I should point out that those stories are spread by people who have never attended Drummond Island. Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Consumate Squad Leader June 2002 Sir, As requested, here is the information on C/TSGT Hannibal and his background with the Civil Air Patrol, as known to me. I hope this information helps as you prepare to make your selection for your unit’s next cadet commander. While he has not progressed as fast as would normally be preferred, Hannibal has several qualities that I believe make him worth training and others that need tempering. His and my paths have crisscrossed quite a bit over the last few years. Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Tea July 2002 Anyway, one of the younger cadets heard they were giving away free candy bars, so he got in line. The staff asked, "Did you drink any tea?" He said "yes," expecting a nice fat candy bar. Next thing he knows, some big Asian guy in jungle pants and a black commando sweater has two fingers of one hand in his mouth trying to tickle his uvula. The Foxtrot Commander told him "You bite me, kid, and I swear to God I'll kick the crap out of you." Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Death Notice August 2002 "...It is with remorse that I have to anounce to all of you that as of 2400 18 August 1982, Group XII has been discontinued on the roles [sic] of the Michigan Wing...however I am EXCITED to announce that we have been merged with Group XI and are now the largest group in the Wing - WE ARE NOW GROUP II (and I am counting on each and everyone [sic] of you to make it the number on Group in the Wing.) I have been assured by Col PAULSON the Wing Commander that the DI SAR Training RANGER program will not be discontinued, it will only become better..." Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Interview September 2002 Editor's note: As we mentioned in 'The Death Notice', our DI source material has been running dry. We'd already used the most interesting stuff; the remainder was largely 'administrivia'. We had was nothing but rumors and random intelligence. But DI alumnus knew our name by now, and they were interested. We'd been doing research all the way up into the Upper Penninsula. Even as we were running out of source material, source material came to us from a most unexpected - but very welcome - source... Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Raging Queen October 2002 None of us had any idea what was going to happen once we crossed the water. ALL activities on Drummond Island were kept secret from anyone who hadn't gone up there to train. It seems odd to me today that so many cadets signed up and competed for a slot on DI, and yet none of us knew what it was or what we would do there. All we knew was that we would be living outside and that we were expected to work hard and follow orders. DI was a complete mystery to us, and the whole thing was tremendously exciting and romantic. Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Rocks November 2002 They would line us up “fire brigade style” from the pile to wherever the rocks needed to go. We would then pass the rocks between us. No one was spared this duty no matter what size or shape. I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but I always seemed to be between the two tallest guys in my team. Both of them were a good two feet taller, and several years older, than me. Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Pig December 2002 On the second day, the driver asked one of the staff to go into his gear and get something for him to munch on. That’s when they found it. Unbeknownst to the driver, a girl back home had removed his socks and shoved a Miss Piggy doll into his butt pack. For a few short minutes, the staff just kidded him about it, but then one of them had a flash of genius. “We’ve been infiltrated by a communist pig!” he shouted. Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Rebellion January 2003 Normally, what everyone wants to know is how to get people to obey. To paraphrase an old friend of mine in the forums, the emphasis always seems to be on bending cadets to the leader’s will instead of trying to lead the cadets. However, to do so goes against the natural tendencies of the teenage cadet. Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Leper Colony February 2003 "... From now on, I will give one word commands like sit, stand, come, etc. That is the way you train dogs, and we are animals. We will feed, because we do not eat. Human beings eat. When I say jump, you will do it and ask ‘how high’ on the way up. When we build something, we will let everyone know that we built it, and we will build it with the highest quality and as quickly as we can. We will do everything together. We will eat, sleep, crap, shave, stink, laugh, cry, and die together. We will work together and we will lead the way." Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Church March 2003 “ At that time, the year-round population on the Island was a little over 200 people. These “Islanders” didn’t particularly like people from off the Island. This is pretty common in rural places where tourism is a major industry. Being invaded by drunken campers and rowdy hunters all the time can make the locals a bit wary of strangers. Being invaded by 80 screaming lunatics with brush cuts and black berets could have been pretty disconcerting if we hadn’t made every effort to make friends. Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The King April 2003 Suddenly, the staff began shouting “All hail King Edward!”, “Grovel, you knaves!”, “On your face, peasant!” , “Long Live King Edward!”, “Drop! You bloody Celts!”, and other helpful advice. Our conditioning resulted in immediate compliance with orders. We all dropped down onto the dusty ground and started saying “Grovel, grovel, grovel”. Even so, we kept our heads up to see what was going on. Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Taj Ma-hole May 2003 “Ladies and gentlemen, we aren’t going to just dig a Latrine. We are going to build the Taj Mahal of latrines. We are going to build a latrine that the Queen Mother would be proud to take a dump in. Since Delta doesn’t take crap from anyone, we had better give them a good place to leave it. Let’s go.” Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Hair June 2003 There was one minor racial incident in 1982 that does stand out in my mind. It was completely insignificant to the school (it only involved me and one other person), but it had a dramatic effect on my leadership style from that point onward. On that day, I started to learn something fundamental about leadership that had little to do with race relations and everything to do with how to treat the people under my command. Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Sleeves July 2003 I left my assistant team leader in charge of them and, with nothing left to do, wandered over to where the other teams were getting ready. It was chaos. Many of the cadets looked completely lost, and there were very few staff members around. In fact, there were way too few staff members for this many cadets. I wasn’t sure where the team leaders were. Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Shelter August 2003 As I sat there in the undergrowth hoping that no staff member would see me goofing off, I watched my teammates. Some guys were stringing up ponchos, but my parents couldn’t afford to get me everything on the packing list so that wasn’t an option for me. One of the guys was digging a deep hole near a tree. He said he was building some kind of “defensive position”. I don’t know what he was thinking, but it did give me an idea. Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Council of War September 2003 The Colonel explained that we would vote as the ancient Vikings did: in a Council of War. If we felt that someone should join our clan, we were to raise our knives (in lieu of swords) in the air. If we felt they should not pass, then we were to pound the tip of our blade into the table. He was probably just making it all up as he went along. I almost laughed, but you were never really sure if the Colonel was being serious or not. Continue reading

Drummond Island: Declassified - The Death March Part III November 2003 There was one interesting development from the Atomic Rice. After some cadets dumped it in the woods, the bears stopped coming into our base camp… While we had had them traverse our compound repeatedly in past years and even that week, we never saw them again, even in later years. Continue reading

Drummond Island:Declassified - The Oatmeal War December 2003 When her team served our breakfast, I was stunned. The oatmeal was burned, and they only served water to drink. No sugar, raisins, or toast were served. It was an inedible, hideous meal. My people and I were hungry, and I was concerned that this could really affect my team's fragile state. With things going so badly, good food was essential for our sagging morale. Continue reading

G3: From Encampment to Afghanistan August 2004 I'm currently in the D.C. area as the National Guard has brought me out to talk about the videos I did over there, work on a couple projects and the opportunity to basically become the Guard Bureau's "in-house" cinematographer. Continue reading

Civil Air Patrol and Aerospace Education February 2006 " ... With a society built on a dynamic technology, the leaders of education dare not lag behind." The quotation above is as vital today as it was 15 years ago. The United States does not have, nor has it ever had, a monopoly on aerospace technology. Today, as never before, it MUST remain competitive. Its survival as a first rate power, and possibly even the survival of the free world, may depend upon how well the American people understand that unchallengeable aerospace power is essential if the United States is to maintain the position of world leadership it has enjoyed since World War II. Continue reading

This one time, at Encampment... (Part 1) May 2006 Signing in was just walking, except with a Cadet Weaver biting at my heels, sarcastically encouraging the semi-stupid, gawky cadet with glasses. Eventually, I stand at attention in front of two desks, answering 'no' to all the health questions and being issued my new best friend: the MAWG Cadet Encampment 2005 Basic Cadet Operating Instruction – Mr. OI. He was a small, blue, pocket-sized manual makes it clear that your initial impression was right: dudethisisgonnasuck! Continue reading

The Ever-Evolving 52-16 June 2006 Late last year, Civil Air Patrol National Headquarters released for comments from the field a proposed draft of Civil Air Patrol Regulation 52-16, Cadet Programs. 52-16 is the regulation that governs pretty much everything in the CAP Cadet Program, from encampments to awards, CACs to CPFTs, and everything in between. It is the CAP cadet program. Continue reading

How Did the Civil Air Patrol Change Your Life? September 2006 Being a Cadet in the Civil Air Patrol has taught me that leadership can be a good thing when used in the right way. I’ve learned that "You can't be a leader if you don't learn to follow first". Leadership begins with followership. This is probably the hardest, but most important lesson that you ever learn. My first exposure to this concept was like a big slap in the face. Continue reading

So, what is it that you Air Force guys do..? (Part 1) March 2007 When I was a basic cadet at CA Wing's encampment in 1996, we had an Air Force Structure, Mission, and Heritage class. It was about 3 hours long, and the only thing I remember from it is that it made me want to gouge my eyes out. I want to teach you about the Air Force... Continue reading

So what is it that you Air Force guys do..? (Part 2) June 2007 The F-16 started as a small, light, cheap air defense fighter. Now it is a small, expensive, heavy, multi-role-but-mostly-ground-attack fighter. It was designed by John Boyd and Harry Hillaker to be the most agile fighter in the world. Don't let the term agile confuse you, it can turn a tight corner, but that isn't what makes it agile. It can transition from one maneuver to another faster than the enemy can react to it. Think of the F-15 as our muscle car, and think of the F-16 as our sporty little Porsche. Continue reading

FM 22-102 Released (finally!) April 2008 Some of your Senior NCOs and older officers will remember the many and varied forms of leadership advice offered by this manual as an integral part of a daily diet of discipline and duty. Many a soldier from Privates all the way to Captain were lucky enough to have had the opportunity to be counseled in heretofore unknown ways found within the very pages of this unlikely tome. Continue reading

The Young Ambassadors April 2008 At the same time the student of Mr. Dixon's homeroom were trying to make their rockets go 3000 feet in the air, some other Civil Air Patrol cadets were traveling thousands of miles to visit their cadet brothers and sisters in other countries as representatives of the United States Air Force Auxiliary. Continue reading

Back When CAP Was "Hip" April 2008 Recently I was contacted by a shadowy figure and offered some "interesting" videos. Expecting the opportunity to watch ABSCAM-like surveillance footage of a senior officer receiving briefcase loads of cash from a major uniform item supplier, I jumped at the chance. Imagine my surprise, however... Continue reading