For youth considering a career in military service, the Army’s Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps — commonly referred to as ROTC — is often the first program to pop into mind. But this is Air Force country, and the United States Air Force Auxiliary’s Civil Air Patrol is opening doors for Teller County students to gain the knowledge and experiences which prepare them for a future in civil service, the military, or civilian aerospace careers while nurturing character development and civic responsibility among its cadets.

Meet your Woodland Park neighbor, Jason Ledlie who commands the RMR-CO-807 Merit Academy Cadet Squadron of CAP. Though his squadron is just shy of its 3rd year, it already has 55 students actively enrolled.

Merit Academy’s CAP squadron is one of only two school-integrated squadrons. However, its affiliation with Merit Academy does not preclude students who attend other schools or those who are homeschooled from joining. In fact, about 20-percent of the local squadron comes from outside the Academy.

“Students attend weekly two-hour meetings on Friday afternoons and occasional supplemental meetings for programs like Private Pilot ground school or Cyber Patriot competitions,” Ledlie said.

Launched in 1941 to recruit civilian pilots for coastal patrol flights during WWII, aviation remains a sharp focus of the CAP program, and students not only obtain ground school training, but each cadet is offered orientation flights in CAP’s fleet of aircraft.

“We have one cadet who has pursued flight training beyond O-flight basics,” Ledlie said. “He is currently preparing for his first solo flight and is on track to obtain his private pilot license.”

The CAP program encourages cadets to embrace structure and to set goals by celebrating their milestones. In October, Cadet Commander Natasha Viele received the Billy Mitchell award of excellence. This accolade is achieved only by 15-percent of cadets, so the ceremony was a school-wide event.

“It was the whole student body with lots of little kids, but you could hear a pin drop,” Ledlie said. “You could tell everyone understood this was something important.”