Charleston Caded Squadron and CAP News

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Seven members of the Charleston Cadet Squadron, Civil Air Patrol were among about 500 Civil Air Patrol members who were enhancing their skills at the National Emergency Services Academy, a multidisciplinary training program held July 26-Aug. 9 at Camp Atterbury, a 35,000-acre Indiana National Guard facility in Edinburgh, Indiana.

Now that these dedicated young people have completed their search and rescue ground team training, they will join Charleston Cadet Squadron’s award winning search and rescue ground team. Three members came away with advanced credentials: Andrew Moss of St. Albans; Andrew Eads of Cross Lanes and Joseph Hoover of Belle. Completing the Basic training class were: Kylie Eads of

Cross Lanes; Christopher Compton and Carl Compton of Pinch; and Brad Berry of Pinch.

National Ground Search and Rescue School provides members the skills they need to expertly perform ground searches. CAP members put these skills to good use. CAP performs 90 percent of all inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. – missions that call into action CAP aircrews, ground teams and incident command staff. In fiscal year 2007, CAP was credited with 103 saves with one in West Virginia.

Cadet Andrew Moss (left) and Brad Berry put some muscle into setting up one of the colorful hot-air balloons at Magic Island during Charleston's Regatta.

(From left) Cadets Christopher Jones, Brad Berry and Charles Jones all enjoy a bird's-eye view of Magic Island from a hot-air balloon they helped set up for launch.

Members of the Charleston Cadet Squadron supplied volunteer ground support Aug 29 for the Charleston Regatta's annual Night Glow and Hot Air Balloon Race, assisting balloon owners with setup and then helping safely maintain the surrounding area.

The squadron's cadets provide the service annually, but by no means is it all work and no play. They received some interesting aerospace education during the course of the event, and and some even enjoyed tethered rides over Magic Island, a public park..