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Eaker Award presented to Harford cadet during the Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training Familiarization Course

Roberts stands in front of T-38 aircraft
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Cadet Lt. Col. Elizabeth Roberts of Maryland Wing's Harford Composite Squadron stands in front of a T-38 Aircraft at Laughlin AFB, Texas. Roberts is one of 30 cadets selected nationwide to attend the Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training Familiarization Course.

Commander of 47th Fighter Training Wing makes presentation

By Maj. Joseph R. Winter, CAP
CAP Activity Director, Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training Familiarization Course

7/10/2010–Laughlin Air Force Base, TX–During the Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training Familiarization Course at Laughlin Air Force, Col. Craig Wills, commander of the 47th Fighter Training Wing, took time out to present the Gen. Ira Eaker Award to Civil Air Patrol Cadet Lt. Col. Elizabeth Roberts. The presentation took place at the 47th Fighter Training Wing Club at Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, TX.

Roberts, 19, is a member of Maryland Wing's Harford Composite Squadron and was selected as one of 30 cadet nationwide selected to participate in this year’s familiarization course.

The Gen. Ira C. Eaker Award honors cadets that have completed all 16 cadet achievements and completed the four phases of the cadet program. The award honors the late Gen. Ira Eaker, the late aviation pioneer, career military officer, and one of the chief architects and visionaries of the U. S. Air Force.

During the award presentation, Wills spoke about the desire to have strong leaders like the cadets in the Civil Air Patrol in our future Air Force, adding that the cadets need to continue to work hard in everything they do to set themselves up for success in whatever their career path is.

Roberts joined the Maryland Wing Civil Air Patrol in 2004. She graduated from the New Jersey Wing Encampment in 2005 and serve on the Tri-Wing Encampment staff in 2009. Additionally, Roberts was selected to represent the United States as a participant in the 2008 International Air Cadet Exchange. Roberts is also a graduate of the CAP Cadet Officers School at Maxwell AFB, Al., in 2009.

Outside of Civil Air Patrol, Roberts is a sophomore at the University of Maryland, College Park and is enrolled in the Air Force ROTC program.

For additional information about the Civil Air Patrol cadet program, visit http://members.gocivilairpatrol.com/cadet_programs/

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 58,000 members nationwide. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 72 lives in fiscal year 2009. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counter-drug 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 23,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 68 years.

More than 1,500 members of CAP serve in Maryland. Last fiscal year wing members flew 42 search and rescue missions and were credited with 31 finds. For more information, visit www.mdcap.org