NEWSLETTER OF May Issue 2007

PCR-WALEWIS COUNTY COMPOSITE SQUADRON PCR-WA-110 WASHINGTON WING, CIVIL AIR PATROL Published by Lewis County Sq., CAP PO Box 56 Chehalis, WA 98532 Editor: 1st Lt Ruth A. Peterson

Spring Conference 07
By 1st Lt Ruth Peterson Civil Air Patrol is an organization that provides a lot of training for its members. Much of the training is done at the squadron level, and there are encampments and SAREXs that provide training at a Group or Wing level. Another opportunity for training for both cadets and officers comes twice a year in the form of a Wing-wide Conference. The Spring Conference is usually scheduled sometime in the month of April, and it runs for an entire weekend from Friday evening until Sunday noon. The Fall Conference runs for only one day and is scheduled in the month of October. This years conference took place in Yakima, and over 200 cadets and officers attended. Lewis County Composite Squadron (LCCS) had 12 cadets and 5 officers attend the conference this year. Friday night was the check-in and social time for both cadets and officers. This time allowed members to catch up on the news from other squadrons and friends that they may have met previously at encampments and SAREXs. After breakfast on Saturday morning, all the members gathered in the conference room to watch the presentation of Wing-wide awards. A very special promotion was also performed. Attending the conference was one of the original CAP members, Gordon Ebbert, who joined in 1942 and was a sub-chaser. He was promoted to the rank of Colonel as a result of 65 years of CAP service. He is still an active member and pilot at 94 years of age. The rest of Saturday was filled with classes on various subjects with members attending the ones that would be of most interest to them. Much information was presented and discussed with ideas being exchanged between members of different squadrons. A banquet is one of the highlights of the Spring Conference, and this year was no exception. The food was excellent, and the speaker was very interesting. The speaker was from the LiftPort group whose mission it is to create a space elevator. The speaker explained many of the concepts and principles along with some of the obstacles that need to be overcome. While most of the project is still in the theory and concept stage, the ideas presented and the opportunities that projects like this will provide cadets in the future are incredible. A silent auction was being run during the entire day Saturday, and the results were announced at the banquet. The Wing challenged all squadrons to donate items. After the action was over, the item with the highest bid would have that amount donated to the squadron that donated it. Cadet Frances Hodges of LCCS donated a wonderful handmade metal sculpture of some salmon. This item was the top bid taker, so LCCS will receive that amount for its own funds. Thank-you Cadet Airman Hodges! One of the best parts about conference is that it gives everyone a chance to get to know others from around the state. By learning from each other, we can get many ideas that might work in our local squadron. Many friendships are developed at Wing activities, and that adds to the value of attending these functions. Hopefully all Cadet Hodges poses with her sculpture. LCCS cadets will be able to attend at least one Also posing with the fish is 1st Lt Hershey of the conferences in the next year. who was the lucky winner of the auction

Inside this issue:

Spring Conference April Birthdays Promos & Awards O Flights Websites of Interest Upcoming Events 2 3 3 3 4 4

Cadets! Please have your parent or guardian sign here to indicate that they have received and read the FIREBALL.
Parent Signature:

Cadets should bring a signed FIREBALL with them to the first drill after they receive it.

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Volume II, Issue 5

Congratulations Lt Wehnau!!!
The Lewis County Sheriffs office held its annual Volunteers Ice Cream Social on 21 April 2007. Each group of volunteers that work with the Sheriffs office was represented, and there were several awards given to those volunteers who went above and beyond the normal activities. 1st Lt Ron Wehnau received the Volunteer of the Year award for Lewis County Composite Squadron. Lt Wehnau has consistently been available to our squadron as a Chaplain and Moral Leadership Officer. He has also worked hard to get the squadrons communications equipment and training up to speed so that we can be ready in the event of an emergency. Lt Wehnau has put hours of time into many areas of need for the squadron and the county, and for that, we are very grateful. We join the sheriffs office in thanking Lt Wehnau for all his hard work.

CIVIL AIR PATROL Drug Free and Proud!

National EncampmentsEach year, Civil Air Patrol schedules encampments all over the country for its members. Whatever a member is interested in, there is an encampment that offers training, excitement, and fun in that area. Each month, one of these encampments will be highlighted. Even though there are many kinds, they all have one thing in common; you must attend a Washington Wing Basic Encampment. The next Washington Wing Basic Encampment will be held in August. Please plan to attend if you have not done so already.

Spring Conference
By C/MSgt Jonathan Peterson So, you want to know about Spring Conference. Well, there where two portions of it. One part was for Cadets and the other for Senior Members. Seeing as how I'm not a Senior Member, I will talk about the cadet side. On the ride to Yakima, we were ahead of schedule and stopped to have a snowball fight. When we got to the conference, we split into three groups: airmen, sergeants, and officers. I'm only going to talk about the sergeant part because that was the group I was in. At check-in, we got a packet with a map schedule (the schedule turned out to be worthless because they changed the time of classes), and a pass for the banquet. Our first class was the next day. That class was about how to be a good NCO. I think the main point of being an NCO is loving what you do; however, don't love work as much as SerCadets Ben Witt and Jonathan Peterson get their snowballs ready to throw at an geant Shea. unsuspecting senior member. There where many other classes, but there were too many to go into detail about, so well go straight on to a teenagers favorite thing the banquet. The food was terrific: pineapple, salmon, garlic bread, and other numerous delicious foods. There was a dance after the banquet, but I spent most of that time out in the hall hanging out with friends and talking. The dance ended somewhere around 2300 hours, but we still didnt go to bed until 0015. I was so tired the next morning I felt weird. We had pop tarts and juice for breakfast the next morning and some of us went to chapel. After a complication trying to find keys to CAP van we went home at 1300. It was a weekend full of classes and fun. If you can go, it would serve you well and give you loads of knowledge to use throughout your CAP career.

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May Birthdays
06 C/Amn Danyel Rider 13 C/CMSgt Jonathan Shea 25 C/Amn Nathanael Long 30 C/Amn Christopher Sanwald

07 C/2d Lt Kyle Whalen 16 - Maj David Painter 25- C/SSgt Paul Anderson

Orientation flights
By C/SMSgt Thomas Whalen Flying an airplane is one of the best things ever. I think that is because when I flew a plane by myself for the first time, I flew down to Oregon. I got to see the ocean and it was the best thing I have ever seen in my whole life. The second reason is that everybody on the ground looks like a little tiny speck. I really enjoyed flying over the Columbia River, which was awesome because every one on that river was in boats but I was the only one flying. The plane I flew in was the Spirit and its tail number is N110FM. It is also known as, November 110 Foxtrot Mike. The pilot of that flight said I was the best cadet he had ever flown with, and that made me happy. So if you ever get a chance to get an O flight, sign up immediately if possible. Trust me, you wont regret taking an O flight.

April Awards and Promotions

COMMUNITY SERVICE RIBBONS
C/MSgt Josiah Beresford C/TSgt Karrie Hoksbergen

C/MSgt Jonathan Peterson

PROMOTIONS
Cadet David Jackson to C/A1C Cadet Frances Hodges to C/A1C
Cadet Eric Tibbits to

Cadet Andrew Martin to C/A1C Cadet Kayla Hughes to C/SSgt

C/MSgt

Civil Air Patrol

Websites of interest for Cadets: National CAP Website
(Check out the National encampments! You must sign up for them by the end of Dec.)

OFFICER DRILL SCHEDULE THURSDAYS IN MAY

http://www.cap.gov/
Washington CAP Website

6:30 pm SCOUT LODGE At 3rd and Adams Chehalis, WA

http://www.wawg.cap.gov/
The Hock Shop (For Uniforms)

http://www.thehock.com/
DATE
We are working on a squadron website that will allow cadets to find information about upcoming events, forms, and other information . Check us out at:

TOPIC Business & Planning Drill Operations Training Senior Training Cadet Programs To be announced

May 3 May 10 May 17 May 24 May 31

http://www. firemountaincap.org

Important DatesAdd to your Calendar TODAY!

For More Info, go to www.wawg.cap.gov. Click on Members. Under Members, click on Cadet Programs. If you have any questions about events (price, how to apply, etc) call your higher-ups, and they can help you out!
11 - 13 May is Motivation Phase weekend. There will be lots of training and fun to be had for the new cadets, but there will be plenty of training for the more experienced cadets. We have lots of activities planned for the weekend, so plan to attend this weekend event. 8 - 10 June is the Basic Marksmanship Encampment. Price is $75 for the weekend. Get your applications in early and be sure to send letters to both the Squadron and to ASH for scholarship reimbursements. It is one of the most popular events in CAP, so get your applications in early. 15-17 June - War Birds is an air show that is held in Olympia. Cadets are needed to help with parking and with finding lost children. There will be plenty of exciting aircraft coming and going all weekend. 11 - 17 August - summer encampment. Lets have a huge group attending this year!

PLEASE NOTE: Deadline for articles is on the 15th of the month. Schedules must be in by the 20th. Send to the editor at Grpete@centurytel.net The Fireball is an unofficial newsletter, published monthly in the interest of the members of Lewis Co. Composite Squadron, Civil Air Patrol. Opinions expressed by the publishers and writers are their own, and are not to be considered official expressions of CAP or the U.S. Air Force. Advertisements in this publication do not constitute an endorsement by CAP or the Dept. of the Air Force of the products or services advertised.