Yellowstone Regional Composite Squadron

The Yellowstone Regional Composite Squadron (YRCS) hosted their annual Family Night on Dec. 17.  The night included multiple promotions. New cadets Court Braten and Kate Hutchins earned their first achievement and were promoted to Cadet Airman, Cadet Josh Meznarich was promoted to Cadet Airman First Class and Cadet Samantha Pelfrey was promoted to Cadet Master Sargent.

 

The Wyoming Wing Commander Colonel Ken Johnston who was a special guest for the event promoted YRCS Commander Tera Cowles to captain.

 

“It’s rare that I get to promote this many cadets at one time and it’s especially rewarding to be included in the same promotion ceremony with my daughter Cadet Master Sargent Samantha Pelfrey,” Cowles said.

 

Passing a physical fitness test, a written leadership test and an aerospace education test, as well as being able to demonstrate the ability to lead and follow orders are the requirements needed to achieve promotions for cadets. Cadets also have to go through a promotion board led by senior members of the squadron.

 

Meznarich also was awarded Cadet of the Quarter. This award is given to the cadet who best exemplifies the ideals of Civil Air Patrol through promotions, school grades and participation in squadron events.

 

After the awards ceremony all attendees were invited to have dinner with the squadron.

 

After dinner the Sunlight Martial Arts demo team joined in the festivities with a demonstration of martial arts and the disciplines they practice. Owner and head instructor Bonnie Emery had the team show guests how martial arts forms are practiced and which weapons are used.

 

Following the demonstration, Cadet Senior Master Sargent Zach Johnston led the cadets in a drill demonstration to give parents and other guests an idea of some of the things they have been working on. Second Lt. Jerry Cowles also had a flight simulator up and ready for demonstration, as well as the new robotics kit that cadets will start working on January.

 

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 57,000 members nationwide. CAP performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center.

 

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 more than 22,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs.

 

CAP has been performing missions for America for 71 years. There are more than 270 members of CAP in Wyoming.