Sooo...What exactly is CIVIL AIR PATROL anyway?

What is Civil Air Patrol?
Civil Air Patrol is a non-profit volunteer organization for people ages 12 and up. It consists of three primary missions: Cadet Programs, Aerospace Education, and Emergency Services. CAP currently has 64,000 members, over 27,000 of those being cadets. Civil Air Patrol offers hundreds of opportunities that cannot be found anywhere else.
What are the Cadet Programs?
CAPs cadet program has more than 27,000 members, ages 12 to 21. The cadet programs are credited with teaching the importance of personal integrity, accountability, self-discipline, and respect for others to the nation's youth. The cadet programs offer an immense amount of resources and activities for your children. Our goal is to instill integrity, teamwork, self-discipline, respect, initiative, and responsibility while building leadership and self-confidence in the cadets. Some of the activities offered includes the National Flight Academy (your child could solo in two weeks for less than half the price of taking flying lessons anywhere else), Cadet Officer School (the top minds in leadership, strategic/critical/creative thinking, speaking/writing, and many other fields speak and teach here; if the course provided was taken anywhere outside of CAP, it would easily add up into the tens of thousands of dollars), and the International Air Cadet Exchange (cadets 17 years of age or older can apply for this activity and be selected to travel to different countries and act as ambassadors). These are but three of the many activities provided through the CAP cadet programs. The things your child could learn and accomplish in the cadet programs are simply amazing.
Why should my child be a part of the cadet programs?
CAP offers a vast amount of resources for the youth of today. Senior members work alongside the cadets, ensuring that they learning the valuable skills necessary to become a leader in today's world. Experienced cadets who are familiar with the program are there to assist the cadets in anyway they need, building in them the values and skills they learned as younger cadets, while building their own leadership skills through practice. Through CAP's cadet program your child will learn what it takes to be a dynamic and influential leader.
Where can I find a squadron near me?
The CAP National Headquarters website offers a unit locator. Select your state from the list provided or enter your zip code and it will give your the location, meeting time, and contact information. http://cap.gov/join/unitlocator.html
The Civil Air Patrol cadet programs offer resources, activities, and opportunities that cannot be found anywhere else. It's an amazing program for anyone to participate in. I highly recommend that you check out your local unit and see if the program is right for your son or daughter. You might even be interested in joining as a senior member, you never know!

I got this article from www.donnayoung.org You might want to stop by her site because she has TONS of homeschool printables!