MINERAL WELLS, Texas – Over the weekend of Feb. 26-28, 39 CAP cadets, both students and staff, gathered at Fort Wolters in Mineral Wells, Texas for the Group II Airman Leadership School (ALS). The students’ purpose was to improve their leadership, followership, and writing skills, while being taught how to succeed in Civil Air Patrol. Although senior members supervised the activity and offered aid, cadets planned, ran, and attended it.

For many students, this ALS was the first CAP activity they had attended. This was by no means my first CAP activity, but it was still a new experience for me. I was the Cadet Public Affairs Officer in Charge, and that meant that I was to mentor the Cadet Public Affairs Non-commissioned Officer (NCO), Cadet Tech. Sgt. Peter Goodwin. I had been in leadership positions before, but this was a new kind of leadership position for me. Rather than giving advice on uniforms or drill procedure to a squadron full of cadets, as I had done as my cadet squadron's cadet first sergeant, I was to teach a cadet as much as I could about something that cannot be summarized in a regulation: how to succeed in Public Affairs.

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[1] The staff ensured that everything was ready for the students' arrival. [2] The students began to arrive, wondering what the weekend would bring. [3] The students diligently took notes in each class. [4] Each student wrote four essays over the course of the weekend.

The staff arrived at the ALS at 6 p.m. on Feb. 26. In the time available to us before the students arrived, I briefed Cadet Goodwin on photography techniques, such as framing and the rule of thirds. We then began taking pictures of the students as they started to arrive. At 7 p.m., the students began to gather nervously in the building that would soon become their classroom and dining hall. After they had signed in, the activity truly began.

That evening, they were briefed on procedures and expectations before taking a pretest and a writing class. They were then given their first assignment: a 500-word essay due in only one hour. After conquering their first assignment and having their apprehension transformed into relief, the students were asleep by midnight. The cadet staff, on the other hand, collapsed into bed around 2 a.m.

After only a few hours' sleep, the cadets and staff alike awoke at 5 a.m. for physical training (PT), which included exercises such as jumping jacks, runs, flutter kicks, and the dreaded “cherry pickers.” They changed from their PT clothes into their uniforms and went to breakfast. The students’ day was filled with classes on subjects ranging from proper wear of the uniform to CAP history and leadership styles. Once Cadet Goodwin and I had taken enough classroom photos, we used the rest of the classroom time to start assembling a slide show that pictorially summarized the weekend's activities. We also started working on our articles about the ALS.

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[4] Each student wrote four essays over the course of the weekend. [5] Everyone woke up quickly when faced with the combination of cold morning air and flutter kicks. [6] Cadet Tech. Sgt. Peter Goodwin takes his photos.

Some of the students’ tension was released at the Dining-In, a long-standing CAP tradition. The meal featured a grog bowl. Cadets could send anyone whom they wished to annoy to take a drink from the grog, rumored to be a disgusting concoction but actually composed mostly of fruit punch. To send someone to the grog, a cadet had to accuse the victim of a real or imaginary peccadillo. But tradition demands that the accusation must be made in rhyme, which adds to the hilarity.

No one is immune from being “grogged,” as Sgt. Goodwin and I quickly learned. Despite our best efforts and rhymes, we were sent to the grog for standing too close to the grog bowl while taking pictures. After the grog bowl had been closed for the night, the meal ended on a more sober note, as the cadets honored POW/MIA service-men and -women. After each sentence of the reading, they exhorted themselves, “Remember.”

Cadet 1st Lt. Addison Jaynes, the activity's cadet commander, said, “The purpose of Dining-In is to give cadets an opportunity to experience traditional Air Force ways.  It also helps them unwind after a stressful weekend.” To finish the evening, back at the billets, the students ended the day by writing three two-hundred-word essays on what they had learned throughout the day’s classes. Cadet Goodwin and I were also busy, as we finished writing our articles before adding pictures from the Dining-In to the slide show.

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[7] Rules of the Mess": The head table announced the rules of Dining-In; breaking them would result in a trip to the grog. [8] The simultaneous "grogging" of four cadets was one of Dining-In's highlights. [9] The graduation ceremony demonstrated the hard work of both the students and the staff.

On the third day, the students faced two of their greatest challenges yet – taking the post-test and giving impromptu speeches. They performed admirably on these final ordeals before graduation, the culmination of the weekend’s hard work. Graduation would also mark the moment when the public affairs staff would be done with their work. After editing our articles, Cadet Goodwin and I spent the morning setting up the projector and speakers. We would use these to present our slide show to the cadets and parents.

The students enjoyed the slide show, although the cadet staff feigned embarrassment whenever a picture had caught one of them in a not-quite-photogenic moment. It was part of the fun. Immediately after the slide show, the graduates were called up one by one to receive their certificates. The students’ dedication was rewarded – all cadets graduated, despite the school’s stringent standards.

The students learned much over the weekend, as did I. By teaching Cadet Goodwin how to become a better Public Affairs Cadet NCO, I became a better Public Affairs Cadet Officer. By watching him learn, I gained more confidence in my own abilities, both as a Public Affairs Cadet Officer and as a mentor and leader.

The Group II ALS was a great success for all involved.