My three oldest sons all belong to Civil Air Patrol.  The two younger members are still cadets, the oldest has moved up to a senior member.  The two youngest are what they call Ground Team Qualified.  That means that they can be called out on search and rescue missions.  

About a week and a half ago the youngest of the three was called out on a mission to search for an 85 year old man.  He had disapeard out in the woods a couple of days earlier and they needed bodies to look for him.  The people from my sons squadron went out to help along with some National Guard troops.  Our guys were out there two days.  Because of their age they are allowed to be out three but could only stay two as school has already started around here. 

When my son came home he was tired, bug eaten, and a little disapointed that they had to leave before the man had been found.  To be honest he still hasn't been found.  They had worked so hard, pulling 10 hour days in the field searching and couldn't find him. 

The people at the campground were so nice though.  The search teams are required to keep a 72 hour kit ready to go.  I contains food, water clothes, and camping gear for 72 hours, as well as their search and rescue gear.  But the people ate the campgrounds put them up and fed them the whole time they were there.  As a matter of fact my son told me that when ever they came in the staff was always trying to feed them.  "Do you want soup?  How about a sandwich?  Do you need something to drink?  Can make you something?  It's no trouble."  I was very impressed with them, they weren't required to do any of that.

On the other hand I think they were equally impressed with our kids because they called the national head quarters to tell them what a good job the cadets had done and to thank them for coming.  National then got in touch with Regional who passed the message on to state who forwarded it down to our squadron.  My son was walking on cloud nine today when he told me about it. 

We have a good squadron.  The kids would tell you it's the best in the state.  From all the awards they get they could be right.  On the other hand it's so good because we have good kids who belong to it.  They work hard for the squadron and their community.  They are required to keep their grades up or they can't belong.  They are incouraged to do community service not just through CAP but on their own as well and they do.  They put in thousands of community service hours last year.  They are just an awsome group of kids.  I hear people talk about kids today and yes there is reason to worry.  On the other had these kids give me hope.