CIVIL AIR PATROL

AUGUST 2012

It is my privilege to announce that Lt.

Alex Hall has taken over as the Deputy
Commander of Cadet Programs. Lt. Hall
joined Civil Air Patrol in March 2002 as
a cadet and obtained his Mitchell. He has
accomplished many things in his CAP
career and will bring a lot to the cadet
program.
I would like to thank Capt. Chambers for
his commitment and contributions to
CAP and cadet programs. Capt. Chambers has stepped down so that he can
continue his education. Continued success to him!!
As always, summers in Maine are not
long enough, and we are trying to fit
many activities into a very short amount
of time. Please watch your emails for
details of upcoming events.
In August, Officers will begin a new
training schedule. Week 1 will be Emergency Services, Week 2 Aerospace
Education, Week 3 Safety & IT and
Week 4 will be a staff meeting. Please
plan on attending these very valuable
classes.
Cadets, encampment will take place
again this year at Bog Brook 16-25 August; ME035 will be well-represented by
the cadets attending. Have a wonderful
time!
Congratulations to all who have promoted this past quarter. You continue to
set the example for all.
Respectfully submitted,
Maj. Cathie Spaulding, CAP

ME035

As the squadron continues to grow,

the more active the squadron becomes. After months of planning, a
color guard has taken shape. I hope
that this team of cadets will also
grow as fast as the squadron itself. A
color guard is a team of cadets who
are trusted in the care of the US
flags. This team may post the flags at
formal events, or present them at the
beginning of sports games. Any cadet may join the color guard; you
only need to know basic drill and the
cadet oath.
The upcoming encampment is an important event. No cadet may become
an officer without completing an encampment. Although you will be
learning most of the time, encampments are filled with cadet activities;
such as rappelling, land navigation,
and team building exercises. You
may be meeting cadets from other
states; my encampment had cadets
from Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and New York. I hope everyone enjoys his or her encampment
and/or summer vacation.
Respectfully,
C/ CMSgt. Poland

C/Cmsgt Poland has been the Cadet Commander of ME-035 for about eighteen
months now, but he has done more than
that in his five years as a cadet. At the
squadron, he has held the positions of both
flight sergeant and flight commander. He has also participated in several wing-level activities, including two
Airman Academies (as a basic and then as a flight sergeant), a Greenville Fly-in, and the 2011 Maine Wing
Encampment. A few years ago, Cadet Poland was an
integral part of the Maine Wing Color Guard Team as it
competed in the Northeast Region Color Guard Competition; although Maine Wing didnt place to be able to
move onto the Nationals, the team won for both Spirit
and Sportsmanship.
Though most people do not realize it, Chief Poland's
entire life is not lived in CAP. When not busy running
ME-035's cadet program, Poland is an avid biker and
martial artist. He also enjoys designing the layouts of
websites. After high school, his plan is to join either
the Air Force or Air National Guard as a medic.
~~Lt Alex Hall

I want to take this opportunity to introduce

myself. My name is 1Lt. Alex Hall (yes, I am
related to Maj. Hall - I am her
son) and I have recently been
appointed the new Deputy
Commander of Cadets (DCC)
at ME-035.

serving activities the squadron holds for its cadets.

Those who have seen me will likely have noticed that I use a white cane. Let me explain
this, so there is no confusion: I am legally
blind, and have been since birth. I can see
some, but not enough to identify people or inI joined CAP in early 2002 at the age of
spect a uniform, and certainly not enough to
twelve, attending ME-035, then known as Ban- read print. This is why I may not return a sagor Brewer Composite Squadron. I attended
lute; I would very much appreciate it if you
Airman Academy and Encampment in my first could offer a verbal greeting along with the
year, and continued to participate in every
salute as a way to let me know you have not
CAP activity I could throughout my cadet ca- forgotten your customs and courtesies training.
reer, eventually joining the Maine Wing
The small, odd-looking computer I sometimes
Honor Guard, holding staff positions at enuse is a Braille computer, and is how I take
campments, and serving as PAO at a regional notes, manage emails, and the like. If you have
encampment, to name just some of the things questions about my visual impairment or the
CAP has allowed me to do. At my squadron, I technology I use, feel free to ask me - I am not
held every staff position available at one time sensitive or shy about it, and there is no need
or another, and finally served for over a year as for you to be.
Cadet Commander.
In closing, I would like to thank Capt. ChamAt the age of eighteen I started attending the
bers for his work on the Cadet Program thus
University of Maine at Farmington (UMF),
far, and Lt. Nesler for volunteering to stay on
where I graduated with my BS in Computer
as the Assistant DCC (and, of course, for his
Science; though I was still a cadet, I did little outstanding work with Capt. Chambers). My
with CAP during those four years. At 21 I be- plan is to keep and refine what works well, and
came a senior member and took the position of change or update what does not, until MEAssistant PAO (which essentially means I
035's cadet program is the very best it can be. I
work for my mother, so no change there). I
come into this position with high hopes, havgraduated from Farmington in May of
ing been left a great program by my predeces2011 and returned home; however, due to
sor , and I have no doubt that, with your help,
other obligations on Wednesday nights I have it will only improve. I ask only that you do
not been able to attend many squadron meetwhat, I trust, you have been doing all along:
ings, which is why most of you have not seen give CAP one hundred percent. I look forward
me around before. Now, though, I am able to
to working with you all.
stay at CAP for the majority of each meeting,
so you will often find me watching formations 1Lt. Alex Hall
and inspections, sitting in on classes, or obME-035 DCC and APAO

Maine Wing Conference 2012

Bangors Four Point Sheraton Hotel was the site of this years annual Maine Wing
Conference in April, emceed masterfully by Lt Col Jim Jordan. Although it was
only a day-long activity, the agenda of classes, meetings, banquet, and awards
ceremony made it a much needed and valuable learning experience for the 80-plus
people who attended. Speakers from CAP National in Alabama, the Northeast Region, and Maine Wing were on-hand to teach and give presentations. ME035s
Color Guard did an excellent job of posting/retrieving the Colors.
Before the exquisite dinner was served, Capt Rick Gammon and C/Lt Col Christopher Slininger performed the ceremony for the POW/MIA Table, in which we
remember and honor all the soldiers who were captured in the course of their military service, as well as those who never made it home. After dinner, the yearly
awards were presented, with none other than Bangors ME035 garnering the
lions share of the accolades. A very pleasant surprise was the distinction of receiving the coveted Squadron of Merit!!
Congratulations to the following ME035 members:
Maj Susan Hall
Maj Richard Hunter
Maj Brian Smickle
Maj Catherine Spaulding
C/Lt Col Christopher Slininger
C/SMSgt Bryan Poland

Public Affairs Officer of the Year

Unit Finance Officer of the Year
Safety Officer of the Year
Squadron Commander of the Year
Cadet of the Year (C/Capt and above)
Cadet Commander

PARADE PARTICIPATION
Many people think of a parade as an endless march of individuals
on display for peoples entertainment. That, however, is not quite
an accurate description.
As enjoyable as a parade may be, it is actually a cohesive unit of participants
united for one purpose: to pay respect and homage to a certain idea.
There are many parades throughout the year, but the main ones that CAP
especially ME035particpates in are the ones in which we honor our military
and our Country.
Marching in the parade is an ideal way to show how much we, as individuals, respect the sacrifices of our military men and women, the ultimate price paid by
some of them, and the patriotism for our great Nation instilled in the very core of
our being. The other essential part of showing due respect is to have a wellmaintained, correct uniform.
While parade participation is not mandatory in CAP, it is highly suggested and encouraged. Participation is not a means to honor the participant; rather, it is a sign
of utmost respect to take time out of ones busy day to physically say thank you
to those who made, and those who continue to make, it possible to have the freedom to march. ~~Major Susan Hall~~
MEMORIAL DAY 2012

FOURTH OF JULY 2012

New Mars rover photos reveal 'Earthlike' landscape

| Space.com Aug 9, 2012
Mars looks remarkably like the California desert in a new photo beamed home by NASA's Curiosity rover, researchers said.
In the new black-and-white image, Curiosity's Gale Crater landing site bears a striking resemblance to the desert landscape a hundred miles or so east of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena, Calif., where the rover was built, scientists said.
"To a certain extent, the first impression that you get is how Earthlike this seems, looking at
that landscape," Curiosity chief scientist John Grotzinger, of Caltech in Pasadena, told reporters.
"You would really be forgiven for thinking that NASA was trying to pull a fast one on you and
we actually put a rover out in the Mojave Desert and took a picture," Grotzinger added. "A little
L.A. smog coming in there." [Gallery: First Mars Photos from Curiosity]
The high-resolution photo looks to the north, toward the rim of the 96-mile-wide (154 kilometers) crater. An area of disturbed ground is visible in the foreground, perhaps 6 feet (2 meters)
from Curiosity, researchers said.
During Curiosity's landing, the thrusters on the rover's rocket-powered sky crane blasted away
enough dirt in this spot to expose some bedrock, which excites the mission team.
"Here we've already got an exploration hole drilled for us," Grotzinger said. "We got a freebie
right off the bat."
The photo is a composite of two images taken by Curiosity's navigation cameras, which are
now fully checked out. The mission team has stitched many navcam thumbnail photos into a
panorama, and they're expecting to do the same with the high-res versions of the images once
enough of them have come down to Earth.
Researchers also released several other Curiosity images today, including a high-resolution
navcam shot showing the rover's 7-foot-long (2.1 m) robotic arm, which remains stowed, and
the shadow of Curiosity's head-like mast, which was deployed to its vertical position yesterday
(Aug. 7).
Another stunning shot was taken by the rover's Mars Descent Imager camera, or MARDI, about
2.5 minutes before Curiosity touched down. It captured the rover's heat shield a few seconds
after it was jettisoned and began to fall away from Curiosity's spacecraft.
A thumbnail version of this image was already available, but the full-frame shot is a vast improvement.
"This is the good stuff," said MARDI principal investigator Mike Malin, of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. "It's quite spectacular."
Curiosity touched down inside Gale Crater Sunday night (Aug. 5). The rover is set to spend the
next two years or more cruising around Gale, investigating whether or not the area can, or ever
could, support microbial life.
While some of the rover's early photos may remind Curiosity's handlers of home, they're eager
to get a feel for the otherworldliness of Gale.
"We're looking at a place that feels really comfortable," Grotzinger said. "What's going to be
interesting is going to be to find out all the ways that it's different."
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/08/09/new-mars-rover-photos-revealearthlike-landscape/print#ixzz23GHs8Khh