Leadership

Massachusetts Wing Encampment, planned and led by a cadet cadre, focuses on aerospace education, and character and leadership development. Cadets participate in obstacle courses and physical fitness exercises, and orientation flights aboard Civil Air Patrol aircraft. However, encampment is about more than aviation and physical fitness — it is about building future leaders. Cadets plan every detail of the weeklong training event, with adult member volunteers serving as guides and mentors.

Long before encampment begins, cadet cadre are studying what it means to be a leader. Leadership isn't learned in a single week. It is developed over time.

Standing atop the same ridge that Captain John Parker used to ambush the British Regulars retreating from Concord, 15 cadets and adult members of the Massachusetts Wing reflected on how Parker could so successfully rally his men from the morning’s disaster on the Lexington Green.  

“The level of discussion and cross-talk between age groups was remarkable,” said Captain Alex Baptiste, one of the Wing’s adult members. The level of analysis was on par with what we see in the professional world, he added.

The group was participating in a “Staff Ride,” a leadership development program that uses an historical event to drive conversations about modern command, decision-making, and leadership. While participants do discuss “what” happened they focused more on the “why” of what the people did.

The cadet encampment leadership staff met at Bridgewater State University on March 21 to practice their leadership and accountability skills for the upcoming Massachusetts Wing Encampment.

Take a situation not as it should be but as what it is. You can only change the future.

This is one of the many lessons cadets experienced from the 2026 ELDP (Encampment Leadership Development Program) during a recent wargaming activity at the Naval War College in Rhode Island.

This last weekend, members from around the Massachusetts Wing took part in the annual Gettysburg leadership staff ride. Cadets and adult members led discussions at different stops around the battlefield, exploring themes of trust, teamwork, leadership, and decision-making.