The White Falcon - 01.05.1987, Blaðsíða 6

Miami area Sea Cadets spend week
Sea Cadet Petty Officer Second Class A lex Gilson, right,
launches an aircraft as AMH2Kathleen Vasquez looks on. Photo
by PH3 Patricia Foraker.
By JOZ Chlqutta L. Land
Staff reporter
While most teenagers in Miami, Fla. spent their
spring break at the beach or in backyard swimming
pools, working on their tans two young men made
their way to Keflavik to spend a week training with
Patrol Squadron 44, currently deployed here.
The two teens, Cadet Petty Officer First Class
Chris Hildebrandt and Cadet Petty Officer Second
Class Alex Gilson, are members of Enterprise
Division of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps (NSCC).
Enterprise Division drills at the Naval Reserve
Center in Miami. Chris is the Leading Petty Officer
of the unit and Alex is the Chief Master at Arms.
The 15-year-old boys came to Iceland to visit the
Keflavik Division of the Sea Cadet Corps, and to do
what is known in the Sea Cadets as a TWT, or Two
Week Training. TWT can be, and in this case was,
less than two weeks.
"I got tired of seeing the sun all
the time," said Alex, a soph-
omore at Coral Gables Senior High
School in Coral Gables, Fla. "I
wanted to see some real snow,
and get more experience working
with aircraft." He wants to attend
Auburn University and become a
naval flight officer.
Chris is a junior at Palmer High
School near Miami. "Iceland has
been an adventure. It's a world
apart." He wants to attend Navy
ROTC at Cornell University and
become a naval aviator.
This wasn't the first time the
youths had spent time with a
squadron. Both have worked at
Cecil Field in Florida with FA-18s
and at NAS Key West with F-Ms.
This was the first time either had
worked with P-3s, and according
to their supervisors at VP-44,
A02 Pat Phillips and AMH2
Kathleen Vasquez, who is part of
the reserve unit deployed to the
patrol squadron, they were a lit-
tle scared the first time they
were allowed out on the line.
Vasquez was enthusiastic about
her experience with the two Sea
Cadets. "They did pretty good.
They were scared the first time they went out to
launch an aircraft, but that's natural. If other
cadets who wanted to come out were as good as
these two, I wouldn't mind having them at all. "
The trip to Iceland was no boondoggle at tax-
payer's expense. Each had to pay for round-trip
tickets and living expenses while here. The cost
for each of them was approximately $900.
According to J02 Joseph Land, who is a Lt.j.g. in
the NSCC and commanding officer of Keflavik
Division, the boys made NSCC history by coming to
Iceland. "This is the first time cadets have gone
out of the continental United States to train where
the host country doesn't have a comparable pro-
gram." Canada and Bermuda both have Sea Cadet
programs, and each has exchange programs with
the NSCC. Iceland is also the only place outside of
the United States to have an NSCC unit.
"I would recommend training in Iceland to other
cadets," Chris said."It was definitely an adventure.
6
The White Falcon