not sure how i should feel about this......

[CAP1]

hi all.....

as you all know, i'm in the Civil Air Patrol, in the lovely republic of new jersey. i'm pretty proud of what i do.
 when i was more involved on the squadron level, i had the pleasure of mentoring anywhere from 15 to 30 incredible young men and women. we all go out of our ways for these cadets.
 2 years ago, we had one of our female cadets got to talk with Thunderbird #3, Maj. Nichole Malachowski. the Major, was the first female pilot appointed to the Thunderbirds, and also a former CAP cadet. this made this a special thrill for our cadet.  she's got her sights set on flying A-10's. this is awsome,  she'll be in one of the most badarsed planes in the air, yet relatively safe
 one of our male cadets signed up in the USMC last year. he was able to visit with us at the squadron when he finished boot camp.
 i just found out that he's been deployed to iraq. herein lies my quandary. on one hand, i'm soo friggin proud of this guy. he has the courage, and drive to do what a lot of us didn't do when we were his age. i'm very proud to know him because of this.
 my problem, is that if anything happens to him during his deployment, then it is partially my fault, as i was mentoring him. he was my kid once a week for 2 or 3 hours, along with the rest of the cadets, and i truly do care about these cadets...otherwise i wouldn't do this. and it completley sucks, as there is nothing i can do for him now. except to worry about my kid.
 and for those of you that are going to say he's a man, this is true, but as he was one of my cadets, he'll ALWAYS be one of my kids.

hope he gets back to the states OK.

[gunnss]

Cap1,

I understand,
I trained lots of folk that are in charge now. When I left the service in 96, I worried, and still worry about my guys. At the end of the day all you can do is put your head down and keep going. If the training is good, the trainee has all the tools needed to make it. And then the time has come for the trainee to become the operator and trainer in their own turn. After that it is all random numbers, and there a service member in country is only roughly 1.5 times as likely to be killed in action as they are likely to be kill in a fatal car crash stateside. (for the number crunchers, 500K service members, 300 fatalities a year. car driver / passengers 1.5 million 28,000 fatalities a year. car numbers swag ed a bit to reflect the hazards of being young and driving)

Regards,
Kevin

[Serenity]

Well, Ill tell you this. It's nice to see some senior members out there who care.

We had a cadet jump off the wagon in a similar way. I say it like that because this guy was gung-ho Air Force. He was a C/2Lt, and had his pilot's license at 17. He actually got me hooked up with the instructor that finally got me my license. He was going to college, everything was looking good for him, and then the day he turned 18, (And to this day, none of us know why...) he went and enlisted in the Marine Corps. He went to Iraq around last spring, and fortunately for him, got a cushy job pushing papers and never left the base to be put in the line of fire. If anything happens, don't blame yourself. The kid is doing what he really wants to do, and I'm sure he knows what he is getting himself into. He wants to go, and I'm sure with all of the skills the Marine Corps has taught him, and the leadership, decision making, and general common sense you've taught him along with the others in CAP, I'm sure he'll go in one end, and come out the other just fine, and thankful to be home.

[Airborne]

I was in Marine JROTC, then joined the Army at 17. My SMI (Senior Marine Instructor) probably felt the same way, mentoring kids in a paramilitary manner then seeing them go off and join to serve on the line as Infantrymen- be it Marine or Army.

I've been fine through my deployments over the last 8 1/2 years, and so will this one. So long as you did your best, and the NCO's who train him do their best and he pays close attention, all will be ok.

[Phaser11]

That is what you should be feeling. It is why we make sure that no matter how insignificant our role is in the training of one of “our troops” it is the best that we can make it.  I know you said CAP, but it could have been the scouts. We see people from many of these groups join the military when they get older.
 Training in something as simple as attention to detail, learning to follow an instruction set know matter how complicated it, is saves many lives every day. Following orders, working as a team and as you know there is much more for them to learn.

What would bother me the most is if one of my people went to war and I didn’t care.

Well done Cap1, carry on.

[CAP1]

thanks guys........appreciate the input a LOT.

probably part of it, is because when i first joined the squadron, he was just another cadet. we all helped him move up through the ranks, and he made it to being the squadrons Cadet Commander. he's a great guy.
 it still feels like i sent my kid over there. i'll keep worrying, but at least i know the Marines'll take good care of him for us.


oooo.......and he has one helluva fast 86 mustang gt that he built in auto shop in highschool. i'm hoping he's back in time to run it this summer.