Fort Mill student serves in Civil Air Patrol

A week before Pearl Harbor was bombed 74 years ago, more than 150,000 volunteers began the Civil Air Patrol – citizens who share a love of aviation and are committed to using their flying skills to defend the country.

Thousands of volunteers answered the nation’s call to duty following Pearl Harbor – the surprise attack by Japan on U.S. forces Dec. 7, 1941 – by performing critical wartime duties. During World War II, members logged more than 500,000 flying hours, saved hundreds of American crash victims and were even credited with sinking two enemy submarines.

With its contributions to the war and place in the U.S. military established, President Harry Truman incorporated the organization as a nonprofit in 1946. Two years later, Congress permanently established the Civil Air Patrol as the all-volunteer auxiliary of the new U.S. Air Force. Three primary mission areas were set forth at that time, including aerospace education, cadet program and emergency services.

There are several South Carolina units including the York County Composite Squadron, which houses 15 cadets and seven senior members.

Cadet Staff Sergeant Ben Clish, a 15-year-old Fort Mill High School student, is one of the cadets. He joined the Civil Air Patrol three years ago after one of his Boy Scouts friends turned him onto the program. Clish said he wants to parlay his involvement in the Civil Air Patrol into an education at a military college and a career in the Army, but he is enjoying his time in the organization and getting invaluable experience.

“Just this year alone I have gone to a week-long summer encampment on a National Guard base, flew in a Cessna 182 aircraft, flew in a glider three times and spent a weekend training with other cadets at a National Guard training center,” Clish said.

“I’ve had a conversation with a brigadier general, flew in a C-17 and sat in the pilot seat of a Black Hawk helicopter.

“I’ve shot M4’s on a simulation range, I’ve gone to a wing conference where all the cadets were spoken to by the enlisted adviser of West Point (and) I’ve been to the Middle East Region Search and Rescue College where I took the aircraft ground handling course.”

Clish said his favorite activity was the C-17, which he got to control from the co-pilot seat, but has enjoyed everything about his three years in the Civil Air Patrol.

“It is so much fun and it’s something I’d like to try to spread the word about,” he said.

“Right now we recruit new members any way we can. We get people who are already in it who recruit friends and family members or we go to schools and recruit kids by having a table or making fliers to hand out, but we want people to know it’s out there.”

Civil Air Patrol members can start at age 12, and they draw in a lot of middle-schoolers. After passing a quick online exam, cadets can participate in most of the flying opportunities, many of which are free or cheap to take part in.

Cadets can’t fly planes by themselves until they turn 16 and pass a flight school, which costs around $1,600, but is half price if cadets are members of the Civil Air Patrol. As soon as members pass the online test they can fly from the co-pilot seat and can participate in many of the events Clish did this year.

“There are a variety of senior members as well as cadets as young as 12 years old participating in this nationwide service,” Clish said. “These people are responsible for a lot of vital needs that our nation has such as conducting search and rescue operations, conducting aerial photography, monitoring the borders, helping with drug interdiction and raising the next leaders of America.”

This story was originally published December 11, 2015 at 2:45 PM with the headline "Fort Mill student serves in Civil Air Patrol."