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B-CC cadet accepted to US Air Force Academy

Tatel presents certificate to Asbury
Maryland Wing Cadet Capt. Colin Asbury of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Composite Squadron receives his appointment to the U.S. Air Force Academy from Maj. Carmilla Tatel, USAF, during a recent ceremony.

By Maj. Brenda A. Reed, CAP
Maryland Wing Public Affairs

6/11/2012–BALTIMORE, MD–Civil Air Patrol Maryland Wing Cadet Capt. Colin Asbury has been accepted to the United States Air Force Academy. Asbury, a cadet in the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Composite Squadron, will be a member of the class of 2016.

Asbury, a member of the Civil Air Patrol Maryland Wing since 2009, is a graduate of the 2009 Maryland-Delaware Encampment and the Maryland Wing Basic Survival Course in 2010. He has also attended the 2010 CAP Middle East Region Search and Rescue College and is a member of his squadron’s emergency services ground team. He was named Top Cadet of the 2011 CAP National Flight Academy at Fort Pickett, Va. At his squadron, Asbury has been named Squadron Honor Cadet four times and currently serves as the cadet deputy commander.

“I think the biggest way CAP has helped me is simply getting to experience a leadership position before I go,” said Asbury of how CAP has helped him prepare for life, “As cadet deputy commander of a squadron, I know how to manage people.”

Of the activities he has been involved in, Asbury considers the Maryland Wing Basic Survival Course to be the most influential in his decision to apply for the Air Force Academy. “It was taught by an Air Force Academy graduate and I had a chance to pick his brain for details I couldn't get anywhere else.”

Asbury attended Churchill High School in Potomac, Md., where he was a member of the varsity swim team and was selected to the Montgomery County All-County First Team. Asbury also competed with All-Star Aquatics in Bethesda, Md., and the Potomac Swim Club of Potomac, Md.

During his training at the CAP National Flight Academy, Asbury soloed in a CAP Cessna 172. He has continued his flight training and is pursuing his private pilot’s license.

Asbury is a graduate of Churchill High School in Potomac, Md., and is a member of the National Honor Society and the Churchill High School Math, Technology, and Science Academy. While at the Academy, Asbury hopes to major in aerospace engineering and hopes to earn a pilot slot in the U.S. Air Force.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with more than 61,000 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 113 lives in fiscal year 2010. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the more than 26,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 69 years. It is the largest sponsor annually of Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans. For more information on Civil Air Patrol, visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com or www.capvolunteernow.com.

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.