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Last updated on Wednesday, March 18, 2015
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - 1st Lieutenant Cody Gordon was one of 9 individuals from Indiana who traveled to Washington D.C. last week for Civil Air Patrol’s Legislative Day.
The Indiana Wing Civil Air Patrol uses Legislative Day to brief Congress on the activities of the 1,100 Indiana volunteers who support the Civil Air Patrol's three missions of Aerospace Education, Cadet Programs, and Emergency Services.
Prior to the visit, Lt. Gordon learned about the Civil Air Patrol budget and its annual Congressional appropriation through the Department of Defense budget. He met with members of the Indiana Congressional delegation including Representative Todd Young.
"Every staff member we met with seemed genuinely interested in Civil Air Patrol and wanting to see our program succeed," Gordon added.
Gordon has served as a squadron Deputy Commander for Cadets, Public Affairs Officer and Drug Demand Reduction Officer. He is currently serving as the Assistant Public Affairs Officer for the Monroe County Composite Squadron as well as the Squadron Activities Officer. He is a fully-qualified Mission Public Information Officer as well as a Ground Team Member Trainee. The Ground Team primary function is locating missing and downed aircraft. Its methods may also be used for locating lost persons.
"It was an amazing opportunity and an honor to meet with Congressman Todd Young, Congressmen Pete Visclosky and shake hands with Deborah James who is the current Secretary of the Air Force," Gordon says. "I learned several things during my time there about government and the process by which we receive the federal portion of our funding."
Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 58,000 members nationwide, operating a fleet of 550 aircraft. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs about 85 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and is credited by the AFRCC with saving an average of 70 lives annually. Its unpaid professionals also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 24,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet programs. Performing missions for America for the past 73 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. Visit www.capvolunteernow.com for more information.
To learn more about the Civil Air Patrol, please visit gocivilairpatrol.com.
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