Final Natl. Staff College Graduates 112 After Virtual Training

Civil Air Patrol’s final National Staff College graduates 112 students Saturday, but not without challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am so thankful for the professionalism and patience demonstrated by both the NSC staff and all of our students,” said Col. Lisa Robinson, activity director. “Every person involved in this year’s college has truly worked together as a team to make this last legacy National Staff College a success.” 

Historically, NSC has been held at Maxwell Air Force Base — the home of CAP as well as U.S. Air Force officer development education. For more than 50 years, the college has enhanced the leadership abilities of CAP members who are, or will be, assuming positions at the wing, regional or national levels within CAP.

“Many of our students are already commanders or on wing staff, already contributing to Civil Air Patrol’s leadership,” Robinson said.

NSC training includes seminar discussions, case studies and exercises, which depend heavily on face-to-face interactions between the staff and the students. The students focus on executive leadership, management, organizational behavior and policy formulation while examining CAP’s national-level operations firsthand.

But with COVID-19 and related Department of Defense travel restrictions, CAP leadership had looked at the options of canceling the college or converting it to a distance-learning format.

“Since this would be the last National Staff College and the last opportunity for CAP officers to complete their Gill Robb Wilson Award under CAP’s legacy program, we felt that it was imperative that the college move forward,” Robinson said.

The move to a virtual NSC made sense as Civil Air Patrol transforms its existing professional development program to a new education and training program. With the launch of Volunteer University on Aug. 4, CAP will offer both online cohorts and onsite classes to take the place of NSC and other annual professional development opportunities like it.

With that in mind, a small task force quickly put together a distance-learning 2020 NSC schedule that would cover the college’s established curriculum, normally conducted as a weeklong course, but spread it over a 13-week period. Each week consisted of one to two presentations and one to two small-group seminar discussions. In addition, the candidates had to write short essays on each of the topics presented – a new requirement for this year.

“Without face-to-face conversations, our seminar leaders had to depend on the written homework to determine that the concepts were understood and could be applied back at the candidates’ home units,” Robinson said. “This put a tremendous amount of work on the candidates as well as our staff of 35 to grade and provide feedback.

“When you consider the readings, quizzes, homework, presentations and small-group discussions, this class has devoted the same 90 to 100 hours as our in-residence format requires. I am impressed with the candidates’ dedication to this process.”

The 112 students in this year’s class represent 37 CAP wings, a National Headquarters squadron and three CAP region headquarters. Two of the students participated from the United Kingdom and South Korea, respectively.

Maj. Gen. Mark Smith, Civil Air Patrol’s national commander and CEO, said professional development activities like NSC have been instrumental in CAP’s success as the U.S. Air Force auxiliary and as a premier public service organization.

“By taking advantage of such opportunities, our members have become better leaders in CAP and in their communities,” he said.

Smith was one of many NSC instructors this year. Others, drawn from Air University at Maxwell and from senior CAP leadership as well as other sources of leadership expertise, included retired Air Force Maj. Gen. George Harrison, the 2020 NSC provost, and retired U.S. Army Col. Jayson Altieri, former chair of CAP’s Board of Governors.

“I am particularly impressed with this year’s graduates, as they have succeeded under difficult circumstances,” Smith said. “I congratulate these students, as well as Col. Robinson and her staff, on the innovative manner in which they have approached this year’s college,” he said.

“To accomplish what they have over the past 13 weeks during a pandemic is truly amazing.”

2020 NSC graduates are:

National HeadquartersMildenhall Cadet Squadron

Great Lakes RegionRegion Headquarters

Rocky Mountain RegionRegion Headquarters

Southeast RegionRegion Headquarters

Alabama WingWing Headquarters

Mountain Lakes Composite Squadron

Arizona Wing388th Composite Squadron

California WingWing Headquarters

San Diego Group 8

San Francisco Bay Group 2

San Diego Senior Squadron 57

San Fernando Senior Squadron 35

Lt. Col. Arthur King Composite Squadron 50

Santa Cruz Composite Squadron 13

San Francisco Cadet Squadron 86

Colorado WingNorth Valley Composite Squadron

Jefferson County Senior Squadron

Delaware WingWing Headquarters

Coastal Patrol Base 2 Memorial Composite Squadron

Florida WingWing Headquarters

Hillsborough One Senior Squadron

Eglin Composite Squadront

Lantana Composite Squadron

North Perry Composite Squadron

Pensacola Cadet Squadron

St. Petersburg Cadet Squadron

Georgia WingWing Headquarters

Hawaii WingWing Headquarters

Kona Composite Squadron

Illinois WingWing Headquarters

Group 4 Headquarters

Col. Shorty Powers Composite Squadron

Cornelius Coffey Composite Squadron

Indiana WingWing Headquarters

Titan Cadet Squadron

Kansas WingHeartland Cadet Squadron

Emerald City Composite Squadron

Kentucky WingGroup III

Louisiana WingSt. Tammany Composite Squadron

Massachusetts WingWing Headquarters

Westover Composite Squadron

Boston Cadet Squadron

Michigan WingMaj. Kevin A. Adams Memorial Composite Squadron

South Oakland Cadet Squadron

Minnesota WingWing Headquarters

Mississippi WingWing Headquarters

Vicksburg Composite Flight

Missouri WingCol. Travis Hoover Composite Squadron

Fort Leonard Wood Composite Squadron

Platte Valley Composite Squadron

Montana WingMalmstrom AFB Composite Squadron

Nebraska WingGen. Curtis LeMay Offutt Composite Squadron

Nevada WingDouglas County Composite Squadron

Las Vegas Composite Squadron 70

Reno Composite Squadron

New Hampshire WingWing Headquarters

Hawk Composite Squadron

New Jersey WingGroup 221

Group 225

Jersey City Composite Squadron

Raritan Valley Composite Squadron

New Mexico WingWing Headquarters

New York WingLong Island Group

Suffolk Cadet Squadron 10

Brian M. Mooney Cadet Squadron

North Dakota WingWing Headquarters

Ohio WingGroup IV Headquarters

Wright Patterson Composite Squadron 

Columbus Senior Squadron

Oklahoma WingWing Headquarters

Broken Arrow Composite Squadron

Enid Composite Squadron

Flying Castle Composite Squadron

Pennsylvania WingWing Headquarters

Group 2

Rhode Island WingLegislaative Squadron

South Carolina WingWing Headquarters

Ace Basin Composite Squadron

Coastal Charleston Composite Squadron

Low Country Composite Squadron

Tennessee Wing Wing Headquarters

Knoxville Senior Squadron 1

Wilson County Senior Squadron

Dickson County Composite Squadron

Texas WimgGroup VII

Fort Worth Senior Squadron

Bell County Composite Squadron

David Lee (Tex) Hill Composite Squadron

Lakeshore Composite Squadron

Red Oak Cadet Squadron

Virginia WingCoastal Composite Squadron

Montgomery Composite Squadron

Newport-News Composite Squadron

Tidewater Composite Squadron

Wyoming WingCheyenne Composite Squadron