This was a life changing summer.  This summer has changed my life because of the many opportunities I’ve had in the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), such as searching for an Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) from an airplane crash or practicing Drill and Ceremony.

My favorite thing so far was a CAP meeting in West Columbia with cadets from the International Air Cadet Exchange (IACE) program.  I loved it because I was able to meet other cadets from New Zealand, United Kingdom and Canada.  I learned a lot about them and their culture.  We all got to go swimming in a beautiful pool with a diving board and my new friends taught me how to dive.  I did my very first dive that day.  We then went to the lake.  I was scared at first because there were turtles in it, but I got used to it.

The hardest part of CAP was going to the week long summer encampment.  I thought it was going to be all fun, but it wasn’t what I thought.  I had a handful when I went there because the Flight Sergeants made me march, drill, make my bed, and inspected everything.  They startled me out of bed at 5:30 a.m.  I had to sleep on the top bunk and every time I got out of bed, I would hurt my feet when jumping to the floor, and then I would slip and fall because of my socks.  This only happened the first couple days, but then I got used to it.  Then we would go out onto the sports field to do some running, push-ups, bicycles, and a lot more physical training.  I also had to do a lot more drill.  While I was standing at attention, my ankles would feel like they were going to fall off.  That’s how bad they hurt.

The week started getting better when I got to fly in a C-17.  The C-17 looked boring at first because the seats were sideways and the windows were small, but then we took off.  I changed my mind about boring, I thought it was exciting.  It tilted sideways, and then it went super fast.  It went so fast that I was leaning on my friend.  I got to walk around the plane, but when the plane would shake, I would start to fall.  It was very fun.  I found out that we flew all the way to Charleston.  I got a good view of how big Charleston was and I got to see the beautiful Cooper River Bridge.  It was a great site.
Another fun part of the encampment was going to the water park.  It was like a vacation from all the hard work I had been doing.  I went on the lazy river, slid down the water slide, and splashed about Water Island.  It was very fun and exciting.  I met new friends and I met Jake.  He became my escort for that evening Formal Dining-In.

The Dining-In was very fun even with the Grog Bowl.  It had Ketchup (to represent blood), Salt (for sweat), and some Lemonade (for tears).  There were a lot more ingredients.  I went to look into it and it looked like baby food with cereal and spoiled milk.  I’m glad that I didn’t have to drink it because one cadet threw up.  When it was time to eat, I stood up and all the gentlemen stood as well.  They were learning manners and etiquette. Jake and I went to the food dishes and I got a little of everything.  It was hot and smelled so good.  Then there were desserts.  I got enough banana pudding for five cadets.
The next day we had a dance party.  It had all kinds of fun music and I learned some new dance moves from my friends.  It was very exciting!
The next day was time to graduate. We had to march in a Pass and Review in our dress blues.  I was able to see my dad and my brother and sister for the first time in a week as I marched past them.  I lost my hat, but nobody saw me.

To help celebrate a very hard and rewarding week, Lt Booker took some of us to the Columbiana Mall for lunch.  Then I went home again.  I was happy for a fun week, I was happy to be home again, and I’m happy to be part of the Civil Air Patrol.