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Marine Takes Service to New Heights
(October 8, 2010) | 
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TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. (Oct. 6, 2010) - Marines are
encouraged to be active in their local community, but an
instructor with the Marine Corps Communication-Electronics
School here has taken that challenge to new heights –
literally. |
Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Robert Hofmann, who also serves as an assistant deputy
commander with the Palm Springs, Calif., Civil Air Patrol's Composite Squadron
11, was awarded the Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager Aerospace Education Achievement
Award after completing CAP's aerospace education program for senior members,
Sept. 26.
Hofmann, who joined CAP in 2008, said the best part about receiving the award is
that he now can use what he learned to contribute to CAP's mentoring program for
children and young adults ages 12-20.
"I took a 100-question exam," Hofmann said. "It took me about two hours to
complete and was an elective part of completing the next level of my
professional development in the CAP.
"It felt good, as it is the first step in my education in aerospace knowledge,
which |
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Staff Sgt. Robert Hofmann, an instructor with the Marine Corps Communication-Electronics School, also serves as an assistant deputy commander with the Palm Springs, Calif., Civil Air Patrol's Composite Squadron 11, and was awarded the Gen. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager Aerospace Education Achievement Award after completing CAP's Aerospace Education Program for Senior Members, Sept. 26,
2010. Hofmann, who joined CAP in 2008, said the best part about receiving the award is now he can use what he has learned to contribute to CAP's mentoring program for children and young adults ages 12-20.
Courtesy Photo |
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is a very important part of CAP and CAP's cadet program," continued Hofmann, a
native of London, Ontario, Canada. "Teaching the cadets about leadership, drill
and physical fitness is a skill set that the Marine Corps has given me, but
there is still the aerospace education aspect of CAP, which I also need to learn
to be able to fully teach and mentor the cadets." |
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The Civil Air Patrol is a nonprofit organization with 59,000 members nationwide.
In its Air Force auxiliary role, CAP performs 90 percent of inland search and
rescue missions in the continental United States, as tasked by the Air Force
Rescue Coordination Center, and was credited with saving 72 lives in fiscal
2009.
Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counterdrug
missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a
leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the more than 24,000
young people participating in CAP cadet programs.
"Many of these people, both young Marines and cadets, come from backgrounds
where they have had little or no guidance in their lives, and these young people
have taken the first step to bettering themselves," Hofmann said. "By having
enlisted in the Marines, or by having joined the cadet program with CAP, they
have shown that they want to do something more. It is at that point where I can
help them with becoming better people and citizens and mentor them for success."
Hofmann also challenged more Marines and sailors to step up and reach out to
their communities.
"There are so many organizations that need help, and it is very gratifying to
give that help," he said. "I have met some of the hardest-working people I have
ever known in the CAP, and they aren't doing it for anything more than the
simple feeling of a job well done. A lot of people think they don't have time to
volunteer, but any effort to lend a hand is appreciated." | |
By USMC Cpl. R. Logan Kyle
Office of the Secretary of Defense Public Affairs
Copyright 2010
Provided
through DVIDS
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