Tennessee Wing Civil Air Patrol (CAP) will host international youth as part of the International Air Cadet Exchange and sends one of its own cadets to Canada as part of the exchange. Each will see various sites and learn about their host nation during a week plus tour of the respective nations.
The 2015 International Air Cadet Exchange gives CAP cadets and escorts an opportunity to serve as ambassadors by visiting participating countries and promoting international friendship and understanding through a common focus on aviation. Cadets are selected to visit one of the following countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, Turkey or the United Kingdom. CAP members also host international teens visiting the U.S., participating in aviation-related activities alongside them.
Here in the U.S., in addition to three days in Washington, D.C., the international teens will spend 10 days in a host wing -- California, Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee or Texas. Tennessee will be hosting two cadets from Turkey and two cadets from the United Kingdom with their escort who also hails from the United Kingdom. They will be landing in Memphis on Friday after spending time in Washington D.C. and will travel to Jackson, Nashville,Tullahoma, Chattanooga, Ochoa, Oak Ridge, Sevierville, Elizabethton, and fly out of Knoxville on Aug 3.
The International Guests will visit Graceland, the Casey Jones Museum, Stones River National Battlefield, State Capital, State Supreme Court, Bridgestone Arena, Lost Caves, Oak Ridge Nuclear Laboratory, and the Dixie Stampede. In addition they will participate in Glider Flights, Powered Flights, and see a Search and Rescue Exercise that are all performed as normal operations for Tennessee Wing Cadets and Senior Members in Civil Air Patrol.
IACE is conducted by the International Air Cadet Exchange Association, a league of 20 air cadet
organizations. CAP has sponsored cadet participation in the program since 1948.
The activity is one of 30 National Cadet Special Activities being sponsored by CAP across the nation this summer. These activities allow cadets to hone their skills in a variety of areas, including search and rescue, flight and emergency services, science, leadership fundamentals, citizenship and military courtesies, and to explore aerospace technology and aviation careers. In 2009, 1,100 youth participated in CAP-sponsored summer activities.
Through its cadet program, CAP builds strong citizens for the future by providing leadership training, technical education, scholarships and career education to young men and women ages 12 to 20.
As a member of Civil Air Patrol, Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Zachary Divers from Kingston Springs
will help foster international goodwill in Canada July 19-Aug. 5 through the International Air Cadet
Exchange.
Cadet Divers has been a CAP cadet since September 2011 and is a member of the Music City Composite Squadron in Nashville where he was Cadet Commander in his squadron and recently
the Cadet Training Group Commander for the Wing Encampment where he led over 100 cadets through a weeklong training school. He is a Senior at Harpeth High School and was named the Top Civil Air Patrol Cadet of Tennessee in 2014. He has also received awards from the Air Force
Association and Veterans of Foreign Wars. He is hoping to attend a Service Academy as a member of the class of 2020.
There are more than 1,000 members of CAP in Tennessee. In 2013 wing members flew 1,644 hours, had 7 search and rescue missions and were credited with 6 finds while also supporting 10 state support missions. There were 680 cadet orientation flights using two gliders and nine single engine aircraft all owned by Civil Air Patrol. Civil Air Patrol supported Disaster Relief missions from the Valentine’s Freeze thru April of this past year.