Denton Civil Air Patrol Squadron Honored at Wing Conference

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 14, 2013

Denton Civil Air Patrol Squadron Honored at Wing Conference

DENTON, TX — Members of the Nighthawk Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol, stationed in Denton, TX, attended the Civil Air Patrol Texas Wing Conference held in Houston on April 13-14, 2013.  Texas Wing’s annual conference featured not only training and instruction but also honors at the Wing and Region levels for some of the Squadron’s top achievers.

Special guests at the conference included Mr. Gene Krantz, retired NASA Flight Director on the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs and featured in the movie Apollo 13, aviation pioneer Mary Feik, and NASA Astronaut (and CAP member) Air Force Col. Eric Boe.

Presiding over the award ceremonies were Col. Brooks Cima, Texas Wing Commander, and Col. Frank Buethe, Southwest Region Commander.  The Squadron and its members were presented with the following awards:

  • The Squadron was honored by both Southwest Region and the Texas Wing with the Ground Team of the Year award for search and rescue.
  • The Squadron also received the Aerospace Education Excellence award.
  • Maj. Michael Parkhill received the Texas Wing Aerospace Teacher of the Year award.
  • Maj. John Watts received the Texas Wing Property Management Officer of the Year award.
  • LtCol Bryce Herkert was nominated by the Texas Wing to receive the National Frank G. Brewer Aerospace Award.
  • C/MSgt Caroline Personius received the Cadet NCO of the Year award from the Air Force Sergeants Association.

The Nighthawk Composite Squadron is located at the Denton Municipal Airport and it’s over 100 volunteers provide air search and rescue services and disaster response to local, state, and federal agencies.  The squadron has a large and active cadet program which offers those 12 – 18 are introduced to aviation through aerospace education, leadership training, physical fitness and character development.

“Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with more than 60,000 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 has been credited by the AFRCC with saving more than 100 lives this fiscal year. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counterdrug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to over 25,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for more than 70 years.”

On the web at www.goCivilAirPatrol.com and www.dentoncap.org