Recipients of Civil Air Patrol’s top cadet honor, the Gen. Carl A. Spaatz Award, are few and far between, but newly promoted Cadet Col. Marian Street takes that distinction to another level.
Street, a member of the Ramstein Cadet Squadron, was born and raised in Germany and has spent his CAP career there. Of the 2,521 cadets to receive the Spaatz —less than one-half of 1% —starting with the award’s creation in 1964, he’s only the fourth to do so overseas.
He received his Spaatz award June 17 at Ramstein Air Base from Maj. Gen. Joel L. Carey, director of operations, strategic deterrence, and nuclear integration, Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa.
Street joined CAP to develop his leadership skills and his devotion to service. His cadet training “led to much self-development and improvement, but accomplishments would have been impossible without family and friends support,” he said.
A Civil Air Patrol member since April 2016, he served as cadet commander for the Ramstein squadron and twice for the European Encampment. A founding member of the Overseas Cadet Advisory Council, he helped develop and plan the first overseas Region Cadet Leadership School.
Stateside, he attended the Air Force Space Command Familiarization Course at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, receiving the Academic Award. He also participated in the Engineering Technologies Academy, Mid-Atlantic Region Col. Roland Butler Powered Flight Academy, and National Emergency Services Academy.
He graduated from Taunus Gymnasium in Koenigstein in the spring of 2021, completing the Latinum and Abitur with an emphasis on physics and English. He is pursuing a degree in biomaterials engineering at Technical University of Darmstadt.
Less than one-half of 1% of cadets attain the Spaatz award. Doing so requires completing the cadet program’s 16 achievements, then passing pass a rigorous cumulative battery consisting of a strenuous physical fitness exam, a written essay on a persistent moral issue, and two 60-question cumulative exams on aerospace and leadership.
