Civil Air Patrol members from four Colorado Squadrons participated in the 29th annual Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals by providing 697 hours of community service while distributing more than 2,000 gallons of water to the record crowd of drag race fans over three days. Members from Foothills, Parker, Thompson Valley and Mustang Cadet Squadrons spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday pumping water into cups for the patrons to drink.
With the heat of the weekend the members were not only busy with water but the hundreds of heat cases that took place each day as well. Not only were people were passing out in front of our tent, but because our tent said "relief station" on it, people were bringing the cases to us from other areas of the track. With the volunteer EMS staff from Saint Anthony Hospital only a few hundred feet from us, we were the logical choice and fastest to respond to issues when speed was of the essence. All the members of the squadrons performed their duties with distinction and professionalism.
While at the Drag races, two cadets were surprised when they were promoted by one of the guests of honor. Canadian Forces Lieutenant General
Charlie Bouchard, deputy commander for NORAD and the highest ranking Canadian officer on America soil, took time to promote Cadet Airman
Smith and Cadet Basic
Christensen and then talked with another fellow Canadian who is also a cadet in CAP.
Thank you to everyone who volunteered and gave their time. See you next year.
Do you have a child ages 12-18 that would like to learn new skills, help the community, build leadership traits and make a new group of friends? Check out our website and make a meeting that will change your life and that of your child. Please email
rmr05031@hotmail.com or check out our website at
http://www.orgsites.com/co/foothills if you have any questions.
Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with almost 60,000 members nationwide. It performs over 90% of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center. Volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counter drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members take a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the almost 25,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for more than 66 years.