<p>Every experience and class was meant to help the teens develop their leadership skills and learn more about the military.</p><p>They climbed into the cock pit of a plane and flew with a co-pilot, helped each other over walls and to complete obstacle courses and built rocket ships that can be launched into the air.</p><p>More than 100 teens, mostly from the Midwest and parts of the south, are training at Camp Atterbury this week as part of a Civil Air Patrol training camp for cadet Civil Air Patrol members ages 12 to 18. The camp is a decade-long tradition of the Great Lakes Region of the Civil Air Patrol.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>Camp cadets are spending the week at the National Guard training base near Edinburgh learning the basics of military commands and ceremonies, building and launching rockets, learning some basics of flying planes with professional pilots and learning team work and leadership through the base’s obstacle courses.</p><p>“It’s all about leadership, teaching the cadets how to lead. It brings them out of their shell,” said Major Rick Zalud, of Lansing, Illinois.</p><p>The Civil Air Patrol is the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force that performs 90 percent of the United States search and rescue missions, as well as helping with humanitarian efforts which include disaster relief missions. There are Civil Air Patrol squadrons spread out across the United States.</p><p>A majority of the cadets training at Camp Atterbury this week are part of the Civil Air Patrol cadet program in Indiana. Some of the cadets training are from the Navy Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.</p><p>All of the cadets training at the camp have been through some basic training in the Civil Air Patrol and are involved in Civil Air Patrol missions in their home states and towns, said Christopher Fowler, lead public information officer at the Indiana Wing Encampment through the Civil Air Patrol.</p><p>Cadet schedules this week are tightly structured and include classroom time, lining up and marching and physical training similar to what would be found in military basic training, he said.</p><p>“It’s an opportunity to train with a full squadron,” Fowler said. “They want to get the experience of the encampment.”</p><p>Part of what drives the cadets to the camp this week is to allow them to get more leadership skills, to get a taste of military life and to meet teens from other squadrons, Fowler said.</p><p>Not all cadets are looking for military careers. Some want to learn leadership training that they can use in other future careers. Former cadets have had civilian careers that range from teaching to nursing, Fowler said.</p><p>“This will help them get started. It gives them a leg up. These are our future leaders,” he said.</p><p>Teens who enroll in the cadet program typically want to be involved in something larger than themselves and some cadets who started as trainees come back to Camp Atterbury year after year to get more experience and to be supervisors and leaders for other cadets, Fowler said.</p><p>Some cadets can enroll in training programs at the camp that go beyond the military basics, such as medical and public information officer trainees.</p><p>Medic cadet trainees have spent the week helping their peers with health related issues such as chiggers and heat stroke, said Staff Sgt.,Arjon Odom, a 15 year old from Illinois.</p><p>He joined the Civil Air Patrol’s cadet program and is spending the week at Camp Atterbury as a medical cadet. He joined as a way to gain more experience before joining the military, he said.</p><p>“I have found that this is one of the best routes,” Odom said.</p><p>William Lynch, 13, of Avon, wants to be a cargo pilot and expects to use the skills he learns at training this week to help him reach that career goal, he said.</p><p>“They give you the opportunities to get to (your goals) faster and easier,” Lynch said.</p>
