Fall-Winter - Minnesota Wing

Services, it got me hooked, and now I’m the
Cadet ES Officer of my squadron.”
First Lieutenant Nate Stoeckel of Mankato
Squadron agreed. “I had a blast, and would
highly recommend GTA to any member of
CAP who plans on being an active participant.
The staff was great, and Camp Ripley is a great
training facility. I do plan on trying to get more
people to go from Mankato next year. It’s an
easy way to get one level of training out of
the way in one weekend. The level of training
was also good because it required you to think,
but it wasn’t such that it was set up for failure.
It opened my eyes to a few new things that I
hadn’t thought of before. Hearing the real life
experiences from the staff and how they dealt
with them was most beneficial.”
“We’re ready to go on a search and rescue
mission, anywhere, anytime,” said Wilberg.
Lt. Col. Chet Wilberg, Minnesota Wing’s Director of ES, and
GTA Commander, congratulates C/SrA Gunnar Bontjes
of Anoka Squadron upon successfully completing GTM3
training during the 2009 Minnesota Wing Ground Team
Academy. Photo courtesy of Capt. Richard Sprouse,
Minnesota Group 2 PAO
(L-R) 1st Lt. Steve A. Csizmadia and C/Amn Steven L.
Csizmadia, both of Mankato Squadron, were among a
number of family member teams that attended the 2009
Minnesota Wing Ground Team Academy. Photo courtesy of
Capt. Richard Sprouse, Minnesota Group 2 PAO
“It’s kind of like a life insurance policy. We pay the
premium with training events like Ground Team
Academy. We get our dividend on that premium
every time we’re called out on a mission.”
Certificates and badges presented to those who successfully
completed the 2009 Minnesota Ground Team Academy.
Photo courtesy of Capt. Richard Sprouse, Minnesota Group
2 PAO
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