Safe skies: Civil Air Patrol marks its 80th anniversary

EPHRATA — Retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. R. Mike Worden had a very important piece of advice for the young people he met Dec. 16.

“Make your bed perfectly every day,” he told a group of Civil Air Patrol cadets and their parents. “Every morning I had to make my bed to perfection.”

“And at the Air Force Academy, if the inspectors couldn’t bounce a quarter off your tight bed, you would be in trouble. And you would be exercising if it wasn’t good enough,” he said.

It may have seemed silly at the time – as Air Force cadets, they were training to fight and win wars, not make tight beds – but Worden, who graduated from the Colorado Springs academy in 1976, said he learned a serious purpose in it, that the little things in life matter.

They matter a lot, in fact.

“Because if you make your bed with precision every morning, you will have accomplished the first task done before you’ve had breakfast,” he said. “It’ll give you a small sense of accomplishment. It’ll encourage you to take on another task and do it very well with attention to detail.”

Worden, a decorated fighter pilot and combat veteran who flew missions over Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War and eventually rose to become deputy commander of the USAF’s Air Combat Command and retired after 33 years in 2009, was in Ephrata to speak to the cadets and seniors – volunteer officers and parents – of the Civil Air Patrol at a banquet at the Ephrata Senior Center in honor of the patrol’s 80th anniversary.

The Civil Air Patrol was founded on Dec. 1, 1941 – a mere week before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor – and proved its mettle during World War II by finding and even bombing a few enemy submarines. Today, the all-volunteer Civil Air Patrol helps with search and rescue operations, disaster relief and aviation education, everything from airplanes to rockets to radios and computers.

And locally, they raise money for Wreaths Across America, a national endeavor that aims to place wreaths on the graves of all U.S. military veterans as a way to remember and honor their service. Cadets from the Ephrata squadron — which is based at the Ephrata Municipal Airport — laid wreaths with the help of volunteers on veteran graves in Quincy, Ephrata and Soap Lake.

“We have the chance to get everyone together and work toward a cause,” said Lt. Col. Jaime Treat, an EMT and an instructor at Yakima Valley College who oversees all 10 CAP squadrons in Eastern Washington. “It’s a chance for everyone to get together and benefit their community.”

But Worden, who said that he advocated for bringing the Civil Air Patrol under the aegis of the USAF Air Combat Command, believes all those tasks ultimately serve the patrol’s main purpose.

“The Civil Air Patrol is not a flying club,” he said. “It’s a breeding ground for leaders. That’s the focus.”

One of those future leaders Worden spoke to was 15-year-old Moses Lake High School student Meghan Henke, who came in a brand new blue uniform ready to be sworn in as a brand-new cadet airman basic.

“I thought it was a good opportunity to meet new people and for personal development,” said Henke from behind a sparkly black facemark. “And new. Something new to try.”

Henke’s father John, a physician’s assistant in Moses Lake, has decided not to become what squadron commander Maj. Jerome Bonneville called a “drive-by parent” – one who simply drops off a kid without getting involved.

“Because if you want your cadet to be successful, you have to be there to help them and support them,” Bonneville said. “Earlier this evening, I heard somebody make a comment that it takes a village and most certainly does. This is a big program. We have a lot of stuff going on.”

“I’m a member now,” John Henke explained. “Basically, because I want to support my daughter. I have zero military background. But, you know, I’ve always felt it’s a very valuable option for young people to keep an open mind about.”

In fact, even before she was sworn in, Henke was busy helping the Ephrata CAP squadron raise money for the wreath laying ceremony – a fact for which she was honored with a certificate at the banquet.

“I’ve just always been the type to volunteer for stuff,” she said. “I feel like it’s good to put yourself out there and give it a chance.”

Which is the kind of thing Worden, a Leavenworth resident who was recently elected to a position on the Cascade School Board, said he hopes to inculcate in young people when he gets invited to speak to Civil Air Patrol gatherings.

“I think it gets our kids launched on a trajectory that will really help our nation and our national security,” he said. “The earlier they get involved, the more they learn, the more they determine what kind of passion burns in their hearts to go whichever way they go.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.