National Honor Guard Academy is the newest National Cadet Special Activity, completing its first summer as a National activity in 2002. Prior to becoming a National Cadet Special, the Academy spent one year as a Maryland Wing activity, and one year as a Middle East Region activity. The mission of the Academy is to produce the finest honor guardsmen in Civil Air Patrol.

The Academy is a two week program that for basic students is filled with an intensive curriculum of drill and ceremonies, ettiquite, flag history, and various other activities designed to create honor guardsmen. This year, the Academy was privileged to have members United States Air Force Honor Guard based at Bolling AFB and members of the Langley AFB Base Honor Guard present for the entire two weeks to instruct cadets of all levels in drill. Most of the drill instruction was done by the Air Force honor guardsmen, with some help given to basic students by the intermediate and advanced students. The military training instructor, Colonel Dave Friedenburg also was responsible for the perfection of each cadets drill. Ceremonies were primarily taught by Colonel Freidenburg, with the help of the Air Force honor guardsmen. Classes were taught by various Academy senior staff members, and tactical officers.

The structure of the Academy is different from many wing and national special activities in that there are no cadet staff. While more advanced students might occasionally assist in instruction, there are technically no cadet staff members, and the chain of command goes directly from each cadet to their tactical officers. Because of this system, there is no hazing on the part of CAP members, and most activites are run very smoothly. The lack of cadet staff might change in future years as the Academy ages, and any cadet who desires to return a fourth year may serve as an assistant instructor.

The daily schedule of the Academy was fairly regular. About half the time, there was PT starting at 0515, with reveille at 0500. The rest of the time, reveille was about 0600, with morning formation for the march to chow always at 0645. After chow, there was usually about an hour for each flight to work without any instructors on drill, and then the Air Force honor guardsmen began instruction. The afternoon was usually classes or more drill instruction, either with AF members or senior students. After dinner was usually about an hour more drill/flight time, and then "directed time". Directed time is up to the discretion of each floor's tactical officer, and can include shower time, practice time, or flight time. Lights out was usually 2200, or earlier at the tactical officer's discretion.

There were times when the schedule was altered. Three times during the week, there were beach trips of the entire academy to relax from training for a few hours, including one trip that lasted more than five hours, including a barbecue, halfway through the academy, after the stress of a barracks inspection. There were also visits from the Deleware attorney general, the Middle East Region commander, and presentations about the Drug Demand Reduction program. About halfway through the academy, the visit of Deleware's attorney general brought high motivation to many cadets, as she was able to present basic cadets with their parade rifles, replacing the wooden practice rifles that most of the learning had been accomplished on. The act of earning parade rifles highly motivated most cadets, and pushed them to become honor guardsmen.

Rather than a tough, in-your-face environment like many basic encampments are, the Academy is all about learning. The qualities pushed into cadets at wing encampments are a given at National Honor Guard Academy. Because of this, a lot of material can be covered in the two weeks of the Academy. The one thing that is really pushed hard into cadets is teamwork. The Drill and Ceremonies Manual says that the purpose of drill is to promote teamwork and discipline. Honestly, I've always told people that when they asked, but I've never really believed it. It never seemed applicable. At the Honor Guard Academy, it is essential that teamwork and discipline is the purpose of drill.

The drill at the Academy is about learning new stuff, but it's also about teamwork and leadership principles that can always be applied. For example, it takes everyone working together to stay in step. One person not working as a team will completely destroy a formation. An honor guardsmen can't even dress himself/herself. It takes at least two, more like three people to dress an honor guardsmen, and you have to work as a team to prepare for a performance. It is all about working as a team. There are quite a few elements of intermediate and advanced drill that are quite dangerous if you don't work as a team. One movement, the Meat Grinder, will seriously hurt one member of the team if everyone is not paying total attention. Imagine having a four pound rifle hit you hard in the head, and you'll realized the importance of teamwork. The total concentration needed is also important to the discipline purpose of drill. What I said quite often to cadets who seemed to be having trouble drilling was, "You're here to drill. Now drill." That seems kind of harsh, but it's true, in that you have to concentrate on the task at hand. The mental difficulties of the Academy helped every student learn to focus better, and be a better cadet in general.

The drill instruction I received was fun and important, the classes informative, but the invaluable lesson I learned is the importance of teamwork and discipline. There is nothing that will beat a team, for as the Bearer's Creed says, "Every action is sharp, crisp, and well-rehearsed; for we are a team, and together we are one." You cannot beat the power of a strong unit of one.

With honor and pride.