DOTHAN, Ala. — The Civil Air Patrol Dothan Squadron held a ceremony awarding and honoring cadets for achieving an amazing accomplishment.
The patrol started before WW2 and is a nationwide program.
The Dothan program provides aerospace education, emergency services, and cadet programs that raise 12-to-20-year-olds to be contributing members of society.
The Dothan Composite Squadron held a ceremony for the awarding of the prestigious Billy Mitchell Award.
“Over the past year, we’ve had four in our squadron,” said Maj. Kevin Loughnane, Dothan Squadron Operations Officer. “Normally, there’s only one every couple years, and our cadets really got after the requirements. The testing and the volunteerism and everything to be able to receive this award.”
The four cadets went through examinations on leadership and aerospace topics and completed a week-long encampment on challenging core values and STEM environment.
The cadets who received the award were extremely proud of their accomplishments and said this will help them moving forward.
“It’s going to help me in my career as an Airforce officer, and it helped me get into the Airforce Academy prep school,” 2nd Lt. Ambria Clark said. “It’s helped me get into many colleges.”
Another cadet hopes this will help him in the aviation field.
“I hope later down the road getting this award,” 2nd Lt. Will Green said. “I get the chance to get scholarships to different colleges for aviation, and other opportunities in the field of aviation.”
One cadet said he’s glad he has gotten this award because it will help him if he chooses to enlist.
“If I want to enlist, I can enlist as a higher rank,” 2nd Lt. Mason Pridgen said. “I’m more likely to get scholarships, more likely to get certain jobs if this is on my resume because very few cadets receive this award.”
