McGUIRE AFB, NJ - For one week in July, fifteen CAP officers, all but three from Northeast Region, desended upon McGuire Air Force Base and completed the annual Region Staff College (RSC). It is designed to prepare selected mid-career CAP senior member for positions of leadership at squadron level and to be staff officers at group, wing and region levels.

Students were divided into two groups called 'seminars' and spent the week working together and in some cases against one another on projects. CAP officers and trained U.S. Air Force NCOs instructted on subjects such as human relations, team dynamics, leadership, written communications, management and organizational principals, among other topics.

Students and staff had time for some socialization; mid-week the school held a barbecue, and towards the end of the college, students, staff and honored guests (past RSC graduates, region personnel and Air Force instructors) got together for an official Dining-In complete with all the ceremony and, of course, the grog bowl, an Air Force and RSC tradition.

On Saturday NER Commander Col. Christopher Hayden joined the RSC staff and its commander, Lt. Col. Dennis Bannon, at the graduation ceremony. One student, Capt. Mark Kukucka from Maryland Wing, was named by fellow students as the Lamplighter recipient or the class's outstanding student.

In addition to Kuckucka, the students were: Maj. Robert Frost, Maj. Robert Flynn, Capt. Virginia Ryan, Capt. Ed Miraglia, Capt. Joyce Gaddis, Maj. James Ridley, Maj. Lou Fenech Jr., Capt. Ben Emerick, Capt. Ismael Lugo Jr., Maj. Richard Johns, Capt. Ed Jones, Maj. Maurice Connor, Maj. Wayne Merritt and Maj. James Dandeneau.