JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. --
For one Airmen, it didn’t take him long to realize that
mentoring Civil Air Patrol cadets was something he was greatly interested in.
Senior Airman Jason Washington, 62nd Aircraft Maintenance
Squadron aerospace maintenance journeyman, saw mentoring CAP members as an
opportunity to give back to the community and get some flight hours.
The Civil Air Patrol is a federally supported non-profit
corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliary of the United States
Air Force. CAP has provided 75 years of support to emergency services,
aerospace education and cadet programs.
“CAP was something I was always interested in, even before
the Air Force,” said Washington. “I always was interested in the Air Force and
CAP, but CAP wasn’t really built up where I was from.”
Washington said when he got to McChord Field in 2013, he did
some research on the CAP program.
“Once I got out here and started going to the meetings, it
seemed like a really cool volunteer opportunity to help these cadets out,” said
Washington.
Washington is a testing and leadership officer for the
cadets. He administers the tests needed for the cadets to get promoted to the
next rank.
“Their rank structure is very similar to ours [Air Force],”
said Washington. “These kids range from the ages 12-18 and are competing for
rank. So I am administering the test, whether it’s a physical training test,
drill or whatever test they need to complete for promotion.”
Washington has volunteered more than 100 hours of his
personal time developing and mentoring cadets, but stresses that although that
is important, he is focused on CAP’s biggest mission, which is search and
rescue.
“My main focus in CAP is the search and rescue mission,”
said Washington. “I am a fully qualified scanner, which means when we go out on
search and rescue missions, I am the person sitting in the back of the aircraft
actively looking for whatever it is we are looking for.”
Washington has volunteered more than 50 hours to help the
CAP and Washington Department of Transportation with search and rescue
missions, but is working his way up to become a mission pilot.
“I’m slowly working my way to become a mission pilot,” said
Washington. “Right now I am in mission observer school. I will be done with
mission observer school the end of May, then I will work on becoming a mission
pilot since I am a private pilot in the civilian world.”
The Brooklyn, New York native did pilot training in high
school. He had a job at a movie theater and that helped him pay for his flight
hours.
Washington said he sees this volunteer opportunity as a
gateway to his main goal in life, and that is to be a pilot in the Air Force.
“My main goal is to be an Air Force pilot,” said Washington.
“I am going to Embry Riddle University pursuing my bachelor’s in aeronautics
right now.”
Washington said that once he finishes up his degree within
the next two years, he will apply to officer training school and see if he can
get a pilot slot.
“I’ve loved every minute of this opportunity to mentor these
cadets,” said Washington. “Not only do I get to impact their lives, but I also
get to continue to do something that I love, and that is to fly planes as
well.”