FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UNITS COMPETE FOR GROUP CHAMPIONSHIP
Cadets from four units vie for title and opportunity to advance
By Cadet First Lt. Cody Premus
(Riverside, Calif.) – Four Color Guard teams competed at the Inland Empire Group 3 Color Guard Competition, which was held last Saturday, 26 February 2011, at the San Bernardino Senior Squadron 5 facilities at Riverside Airport in Riverside, Calif.
Competing teams were scored in five performance events including the In-Ranks Inspection where each team member was thoroughly inspected by judges and the Mile Run in which teams submitted cadets’ most recent cadet physical fitness test (CPFT) run times. In the Standard Drill event, each team is given a 50’ x 90’ drill pad to execute a 25-command drill sequence called in order and from memory. Points are deducted if commands are missed or called out of sequence.
The competition includes two real-world performances as well. During the Indoor Practical event teams’ are given a room that they must post the Colors in. The room is normally very disorganized and the team is given 5 minutes to develop a plan to march in and post the Colors and march out. Teams are charged with moving as little furniture are possible to execute their plan.
The second real-world performance event is the Outdoor Practical. Each team raises the American Colors up a flag pole, secures them, salutes the Colors, brings them down, folds them, and returns the flag to the competition’s head judge. The Outdoor Practical involves a complex series of events, which can be challenging.
“You have to unfold the flag and hook it to the flag poll and raise it to the top, without dropping the flag,” said Cadet Airman Samuel Bertic of Cable Composite Squadron 25. “…and you have to look good the whole time!”
The competition was proctored by three judges including Maj. John Lane, United States Air Force (Ret.), and California State Military Reservists Staff Sgt. Barry Queen and Specialist Thomas Unson.
“This was my first time judging a CAP color guard competition and I think all of the teams did very very well,” said Lane, who was the head judge.
Squadron 11’s Team won the competition, and will represent Inland Empire Group 3 at the California Wing Cadet Competition scheduled for March 11-13, 2011 at Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, Calif.
“Today went better then I had expected,” Squadron 11 team commander Cadet Airman First Class Isaias Castro said after Saturday’s competition. His team won four of the competition’s five events.
Palm Springs Composite Squadron 11’s team is comprised of color guard commander Cadet Airman First Class Isaias Castro, 17, junior flag bearer Cadet Senior Airman Patrick Rovney, 16, lead rifle bearer Cadet Airman Jacob Smith, 13, junior rifle bearer Cadet Airman Danielle Peltier, 12, and alternate Cadet Airman Michael Mayo, 12. The team is coached by Cadet First Lts. Ashley Mayo and Cody Premus.
Hemet-Ryan Composite Squadron 59 placed second. The team is led by Cadet Chief Master Sgt. Elisabeth Loyd, 16, flag bearer Cadet Technical Sgt. Theodore Brumley, 14, and rifle bearers Cadet Airmen Cody Richardson, 14, and Alyssa Ayala, 12. Cadet Airman Darien Carlson, 15, served as the team’s alternate.
Representing Cable Composite Squadron 25 from Upland, Calif. in third place. The team is led by Cadet Senior Master Sgt. Jon Henderson, 17, and flag bearer Cadet Airman Samuel Bertic, 13. Cadet Senior Airman Dylan Keetle, 14, and Cadet Airman First Class Daniel Urban, 15, served as the team’s rifle bearers.
March Field Composite Squadron 45 headquartered at March Air Reserve Base near Moreno Valley, Calif. also competed. The competition team is led by Cadet Staff Sgt. Corwynn Casem, 13, and flag bearer Cadet Airman Jairo Rodriguez, 14. The team’s rifle bearers are Cadet Airman Michelle Ulber, 14, and Cadet Airman First Class James Curtis, 13. The team is coached by First Lieutenant Courtenay Franklin.
The competition was organized for Group 3 by project officer First Lt. Michael Gunter of Chino Cadet Squadron 20. Gunter and a crew of his unit’s cadets facilitated the competition in an effort, he said, to see the competition elements first hand and hopefully compete next year. Additional support for the competition was given by members of San Bernardino Squadron 5. Riverside Airport Manager Mark Ripley donated an aircraft hangar for competition space.
The competition, which was the group’s first in two years, gave cadets a new opportunity to get to know one another. “I think this competition bonded us as Group 3 and brought together all of the cadet squadrons,” said Group 3’s Cadet Programs Officer Major Vicki Woodford-Findley after the competition.
Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 59,000 members nationwide. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 72 lives in fiscal year 2009. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counter-drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the more than 24,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 68 years. Visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com for more information.
Inland Empire Group 3 consists of ten individual squadrons geographically dispersed throughout Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. Group 3’s membership is comprised of cadets ages 12-20 and adult members 18 and older. For more information about Civil Air Patrol in the Inland Empire are, phone (877) 504-1316 or visit us online at gp3.cawg.cap.gov or www.GoCivilAirPatrol.com.
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