N.Y.'s Gabreski squadron captures group color guard title

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(Top row)
Long Island Wing cadets concentrate during the written exam.
(Second row)
Cadets prepare to start the mile run, the competition’s final event.
(Bottom row)
Cadet Kory Gatley, commander of the Col. Frances S. Gabreski Squadron Color Guard, accepts the first-place trophy for the Long Island Group Cadet Competition from Capt.
James Ridley Sr., public affairs officer for the group.

Capt. James Ridley Sr.
Public Affairs Officer
Long Island Group
New York Wing

NEW YORK – Col. Frances S. Gabreski Squadron cadets earned the title of Long Island Group Color Guard by besting teams from three other squadrons in the group competition Feb. 28 in Medford.

The Gabreski squadron team took first-place honors in all event categories except for second-place finishes in the quiz bowl and the written. Members of Suffolk County Cadet Squadron 10, the 2007 champion, defended their crown ably and placed a respectable second overall, but in the end could only congratulate their successors and wish them well at the New York Wing competition, set for April 11. 

Also competing were the Brian M. Mooney Cadet Squadron and Suffolk County Cadet Squadron 7.

Individual awards went to:

• Highest Written Exam -- Cadet John Millings of Suffolk County Squadron 10.
  
  
• Male Fleet Foot Award -- Cadet Ian Kuhn of the Col. Frances S. Gabreski Squadron.
  
  
• Female Fleet Foot Award -- Cadet Naomi Warshauer of the Col. Frances S. Gabreski Squadron.
  
  
• Overall Best Commander -- Cadet Kory Gatley of the Col. Frances S. Gabreski Squadron.
  

The judges for this year’s event, as well as the previous three competitions, were Air Force ROTC cadets from Manhattan College and Army ROTC Pershing Rifles cadets from Hofstra University.

“The ROTC programs at both schools have supported CAP for some time now, and we look forward to their support for many more years to come,” said Maj. Cheryl Dorfman, Gabreski squadron deputy commander and mentor for the unit’s team.

“I have two sons in the military, and I personally appreciate the time these cadets, who will soon be on active duty, take out of their schedules to do this for us,” Dorfman said.

The competition was held for the fourth year in a row at Patchogue Medford High School under the command of Maj. Lou Fenech, Gabreski commander, who served once again as the project officer for the event.

This year, as in 2008, the event featured four of the six cadet squadrons in the Long Island Group. “I said this last year and I will echo it again: We hope to get to the point where all six cadet squadrons participate,” Fenech said. 

The winner of the April wing competition will then head for Westover Air Reserve Base in Massachusetts on Memorial Day weekend to compete in the Northeast Region competition for the right to represent the region in the National Color Guard Competition, schedule for July 9-13 at Linfield College and Evergreen Air and Space Museum in McMinnville, Ore.