CAP comes to Greene County
Members of Greene County Composite Squadron 606 accept their official Civil Air Patrol Charter. Participating in the presentation are, from left, Maj. Ed Silassy, group commander; Col. Gary Fleming, Pennsylvania Wing commander; Capt. Earl Gardner, Group One deputy commander; Capt. Dave Shaw, Squadron 606 commander; Senior Members Lucille DeFrank and Shane Hixenbaugh; Cadet Chase Hixenbaugh; Maj. Suzanne McBride, Pennsylvania Wing chief of staff; and Lt. Col. Kevin Berry, Pennsylvania Wing vice commander.
Capt. Dave Shaw, commander of Greene County Composite Squadron 606, left, and Senior Member Shane Hixenbaugh pin Cadet Chase Hixenbaugh with his new rank as part of his promotion to cadet airman.
Capt. Dave Shaw has quite an impressive history with the Pennsylvania Wing’s Civil Air Patrol.
And on Jan. 21 at the Group One Conference and Awards Banquet in McMurray, the Waynesburg resident reached another milestone when he was instated as commander of the newly chartered Greene County Composite Squadron 606.
Shaw has been involved with CAP for 18 years, including 11 years as a member. He started with Squadron 307 in Lebanon County, where he operated a living history event at Fort Indiantown Gap, then transferred to Squadron 601 in Washington County. He left the Washington squadron in early 2016, when he began dedicating his volunteer service within CAP to form a new squadron in Greene County.
“I used to run a World War II living history event, and started using CAP to assist us as a resource. That’s when I first became familiar with it,” he said. “I joined so I could do more from the outside.”
And that now includes being commander of Squadron 606.
“I wanted to do it for the youth of our community to make them better citizens and to help,” said Shaw, noting that his 10-year-old grandson, Traevin Shaw, also wants to join when he is eligible in two years.
Civil Air Patrol is an all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary, and is the newest member of the Air Force’s Total Force, which consists of regular Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, along with Air Force retired military and civilian employees.
CAP, in its Total Force role, operates a fleet of 550 aircraft and performs about 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search-and-rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, and is credited with saving an average of 78 lives annually. Civil Air Patrol’s 56,000 members nationwide also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies.
“We were one of the first to fly over to take pictures after 9/11,” Shaw said.
In addition, its members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 24,000 young people who are participating in the CAP cadet program. Performing missions for the United States for the past 75 years, CAP received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2014 in honor of the heroic efforts of its World War II veterans. CAP also participates in Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans.
“It is one of the best-kept secrets in the United States,” Shaw said. “There was a squadron in Greene County in the ’50s and ’60s, which is a little before my time. I never heard of it, yet so many people were involved in it.”
Squadron 606 has 15 members right now, the minimum required to obtain a charter. But Shaw said he is constantly recruiting, and looks forward to serving the community.
“It will be a pleasure to work with members of the community to provide community service, emergency services and to provide another activity for the youth and adults to do.”
Shortly after receiving the charter, Shaw presented its first promotion to Cadet Chase Hixenbaugh of Waynesburg. Hixenbaugh received the Maj. Gen. John F. Curry Achievement Award, enabling him to be promoted to cadet airman. In addition, Hixenbaugh’s father, Senior Member Shane Hixenbaugh, was recognized as the unit’s first adult member to receive the Charles E. (Chuck) Yeager Aerospace Education Achievement Award.
Greene County Composite Squardron 606 meets from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. every Monday at the Waynesburg VFW. Capt. Dave Shaw extends an open invitation to anyone in the community who would like to learn more about CAP and its missions. Visit www.capvolunteernow.com for more information.
Squadrons and members who received awards or recognition during the conference and awards banquet of Pennsylvania Wing’s Group One of the Civil Air Patrol were:
• Washington County Composite Squadron 601 and Allegheny Composite Squadron 602 and Butler Composite Squadron 712 – Quality Cadet Unit Award;
• 2nd Lt. Tonya Heckle – Drug Demand Reduction Officer of the Year;
• Capt. Alexander Ladzinski – Aerospace Officer of the Year;
• Cadet Col. Adam Parker – Cadet of the Year;
• Cadet Airman Asher Alderette, 1st Lt. William Esau Capt. Earl Gardner, senior member Ryan Gironda, Cadet Airman Dev Hareshbhai Kachhadiya, Cadet Senior Master Sgt. Seth Parker and Lt. Col. Robin Steiner – Commanders Commendation;
• Capt. Cynthia Gironda – Safety Officer of the Year;
• Capt. Eric Gironda – Incident Staff Member of the Year and Commanders Commendation;
• 2d Lt. Melissa Parker – Public Affairs Officer of the Year;
• Maj. Timothy Steiner – Cadet Programs Officer of the Year and Commanders Commendation;
• Capt. John Clelland – Character Development Officer of the Year;
• 1st Lt. Naor Wallach – Grover Loening Award;
• Maj. Glenn Ward – Communications Officer of the Year;
• 1st Lt. Joshua Nussbaum – Senior Member of the Year;
• Lt. Col. William Geyer – Counter Drug Officer of the Year and Commanders Commendation.