![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picture1-Bennington.jpg\")
The squadron, based at William H. Morse State Airport, is\nnow known as the Bennington Composite Squadron. The new name reflects the\nsquadron\u2019s combined membership of both adult members, and cadets \u2013 both male\nand female \u2013 aged between 14 and 18 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In attendance were the cadets\u2019 friends and families; the\nVermont Wing deputy commander, Major Richard Beach; the Bennington Composite\nSquadron commander, Captain Jonathan Mercer; the squadron deputy commander,\nFirst Lieutenant Brian Doxsee; the squadron\u2019s deputy commander for cadets,\nCaptain Hal Friday; the Vermont Wing director of cadet programs, Captain Kelli\nBosley; the Vermont Wing director of education and training, Captain Joe\nBosley; and forty-year member of the Civil Air Patrol and former Vermont Wing\nCommander, Colonel Esther Abrams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Captain Mercer, Captain Friday and Major Beach welcomed the\ncadets and their families, then each spoke briefly about the history and\npurpose of the Civil Air Patrol and specifically about the cadet program and\nits importance to the Vermont Wing, Bennington, and their fellow Vermonters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Captain Friday observed: \u201cThis ceremony follows a\nchallenging and troubling year. These young men and women before you today took\na look at this world and asked for more. More challenge. More responsibility.\nMore opportunity to serve. More opportunity to shine. The stated mission of the\nCivil Air Patrol Cadet Program is to develop America\u2019s leaders for tomorrow.\nAnd make no mistake: these young people are the leaders of tomorrow. I have\nseen it already, in just two weeks of working with them. These are leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cadets – I look forward to training with each and every one\nof you. We will make each other better. I have very high expectations…and I\nknow you will deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Squadron Commander Captain Mercer said: \u201cI am sure you know\nthat Captain Friday and I, your parents and family, and everyone in the Vermont\nWing is hoping that you will all do really well in the CAP and make us proud.\nWhat I hope is that the things you do in the CAP make you proud and give you\nthe self-confidence and self-respect to feel that nothing is beyond your reach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new cadets responded in kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cadet element leader Andrea Kaufer said that \u201cI feel really\nexcited for what is to come in the cadet program and I cannot wait to do\nsomething bigger in my community. Every time I put on the uniform, I get a\nsurge of pride in myself for joining this program, but also for doing something\nmy dad \u2013 who has since passed \u2013 also participated in when he was in high\nschool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cadet Andrew Marsden added: \u201cThe Civil Air Patrol cadet\nprogram\u201c\u2026has been an experience like no other. I can already tell that great\nthings will come out of this program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new Bennington cadets will be able to participate in\neducational programs that include flight training in gliders and the Wing\u2019s fuel-efficient\nCessna aircraft; cyber defense operations; numerous leadership and character\ndevelopment opportunities; and training for search-and-rescue, disaster relief,\nand airborne photography operations. CAP also offers multiple scholarship\nopportunities and military-related benefits for interested cadets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Bennington Squadron of the Vermont Wing of the Civil Air Patrol has inaugurated a new cadet program, creating new opportunities for local area youth interested in community service, aerospace and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education, and development of leadership and other skills. The new program was launched to meet strong local interest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18859,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-education","category-vermont"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picture2-Bennington.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18858"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18861,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18858\/revisions\/18861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}