Yesterday Maryland Wing members met our IACE guests for the first time.  Traveling down to the Crystal City Hilton, Maj. Joe Winter, Capt. Tom Reed, and myself were introduced to the group we will be hosting for the next ten days.  Quickly we all settled in as if we knew each other for a long time. Let me introduce you briefly to each of them.

Harry is a university student in Hong Kong and is a member of the Hong Kong Air Cadet Corps;
Eddie is the escort from Hong Kong and an active member of the Hong Kong Air Cadet Corps;
Sharon, one of two cadets from Israel, is an officer in the Israeli Air Force;
Yariv is the other cadet from Israel and also a member in the Israeli Air Force; and
Nate is the Israeli escort, who is a major in the Israeli Air Force.

Most of them have been to the United States before, although Maryland is new to everyone except Yariv, who has visited before.  They had just spent three days touring Washington, DC, as a group with the other IACE participants, visiting the Pentagon, Arlington Cemetery, the State Department, along with some of the monuments and museums.

After meeting our group at the hotel, we gave them a briefing on Civil Air Patrol, Maryland Wing, and an overview of what they can expect during their stay with us.   All are very interested in aviation so the possibility of flying opportunities and seeing military aircraft excited them.  Of course, they also liked the fun stuff we have planned and Sharon was very interested in the shopping opportunities.

Maj Joe Winter briefs IACE members

We left the hotel and drove through Washington, DC, to our first stop — a tour of Fox News in D.C.  The tour was conducted by Rick Yarborough, an investigative reporter with Fox who is familiar with CAP and the Maryland Wing.   The timing of the tour was to coincide with the mid-day news broadcast which we were to see live.  After a quick tour of the building, our group was divided in two — half sat in the studio during the live news broadcast and the other half were in the control room.  At the commercial break we quickly switched places to see the other side.  It was very interesting to watch all that goes into the broadcast and to see the numbers of people that make it happen.

Yariv, Sharon, Nate, Eddie, and Harry (back left to right) pose with the Fox News anchors after the broadcast.

Following the broadcast, Rick introduced us to one of his photographers that accompanies him on his investigations.  We were shown the equipment used and learned more about how reporters go undercover to get the real story.

It was lunch time and we were all getting hungry so we said our good-byes to Rick and walked down the road for a bite to eat before proceeding on the next leg of our journey.

We next traveled to McDaniel College in Westminster, Md., where the CAP Honor Guard Academy was wrapping up its two week event.  We watched the graduation practice and our guests were able to observe three flights perform their rifle presentations.  Both Nate and Yariv remarked on how impressed they were with the discipline and teamwork demonstrated by these cadets given their ages and were amazed at how much they had learned in just two weeks.  I was glad they had the opportunity to experience a CAP National Cadet Special Activity and see 100 cadets from around the nation in one spot.  After the practice, several of the cadets met with our guests and exchanged questions and answers.

Cadets practice for graduation at the Honor Guard Academy

Eddie talks to Honor Guard Academy cadets about Hong Kong.

We headed to the Reed home for dinner and to settle in for the evening.  Sitting out on the deck, everyone continued to get to know each other and the conversations lasted well into the night.  The cadets checked emails and watched TV with C/Col Jake Reed, while the escorts took advantage of the opportunity for some well needed sleep.

Sharon and Yariv discuss life in the Israeli Air Force.

And today it begins all over again!    Tonight I hope to have them write on the blog about their experiences so far.

~Brenda Reed