By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Colton Barricklow has known since he was little that he wanted to be part of the greater good and to help and protect others.
Thanks to a lineup of uncles and cousins who serve in the military, the Bowling Green High School sophomore is laser-focused on a similar career path.
For nearly four years, he has devoted time, energy and attitude to the Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program.
He learned about the Civil Air Patrol from a cousin who graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy and is currently a first lieutenant in the Air Force.
“He told me a lot of people go through Civil Air Patrol and come to the Air Force Academy,” Colton said. “When I looked into it, I knew it was the right path for me.”
“I attended a couple of meetings, and I got hooked on the aspect of flying and aerospace,” he said. “The aerospace aspect grabbed me, and it seemed like it was really an introduction into something greater.”
The Civil Air Patrol is a congressionally chartered, federally funded, 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation and serves as the civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, according to the organization’s website.
Colton has learned there is so much more. Through weekly meetings, Ohio Wing encampments and national cadet special activities, the cadets from 12 to 18 years old learn about aerospace, emergency services, physical fitness and leadership /promotions. Each month, the weekly meetings rotate among those four topics.
“It’s hard to explain in a conversation just how much I’ve learned—the people skills, the leadership skills, the knowledge about aerospace. It’s a vast amount of knowledge that has helped me push past a lot of my peers, giving me greater knowledge on a lot of things,” he said.
In the nearly four years since he joined the Toledo Air National Guard Base Cadet Squadron in Swanton, Colton has worked hard to move up in rank.
“When I started, I was scared to introduce myself to five or six people and now I’m commanding a flight of 30 cadets, branding cadets, and managing a whole department of logistics,” he explained.
Hard work pays off
He recently earned the cadet program’s Billy Mitchell Award, named for “the father of the independent Air Force.” Brigadier General Mitchell is known for “speaking truth to power” in his “all-out public campaign for air power” in the 1920s.
The Mitchell Award marks Colton’s excellence in leadership, aerospace, fitness and character, and completion of Phase II of the cadet program
The award, which is presented to only 15% of CAP cadets nationwide, requires passing intensive tests in aerospace, leadership, and physical fitness.
As a Mitchell Award recipient, Colton was also promoted to cadet second lieutenant, where he will lead and serve junior-ranking cadets, and continue to develop his aerospace and leadership skills.
For this year’s encampment, Colton was selected as the flight commander in charge of the advanced training squadron for leadership. He will be working in operations for a hands-on leadership experience instead of support, where he had previously been involved. “I’m really excited for it,” he said.
He wants to become a CAP squadron commander in charge of all of the cadets and oversee an entire encampment of 400 to 450 cadets. Colton may even try to earn an undergraduate pilot’s license through the organization, though he admitted it is a very competitive program.
He participated in the Mid-Atlantic Honor Guard Academy to learn ceremonial drills with rifles and flags and is now able to participate in parades and special ceremonies. “It’s really fun and amazing,” he said about the drill activities.
Volunteer service is one of CAP’s core values, Colton said. The lessons are included in leadership meetings and character development classes.
He will soon help plant trees for the Toledo Metro Parks through Youth Leadership Toledo, an organization for which he was nominated.
“In CAP, an Air Force auxiliary, we really reflect our core values and focus on excellence and integrity in all we do, including volunteer service,” he said. “Through volunteer service, not only do I learn to become a better person, a better leader, but I also believe it is a way to give back what I’ve been given.”
Ultimately, the goal is to join the military, starting at the Air Force Academy, West Point or a university’s Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) where he could earn a degree in physics or engineering.
In the meantime, he strives to live a life of integrity, “giving all I can in everything I do,” he said. “I want to be a good person, and when people look back on me, I want them to think, ‘He made the right decisions.’”
Colton credits his parents, Jonathan and Katie Barricklow, for raising him to care about others and be honest. He also knows the cadet program has provided additional guidance to help him make those right decisions.
He has gained communication skills that have helped him become more of a social person, making lifelong friends and connections that he otherwise would not have made.
“I also have a sense of purpose and a calling that drives me to achieve what I set out to do,” he said. “If you’re not given opportunities to make decisions, and mature as a person, you’ll never have the applied knowledge to do it. That is what the Civil Air Patrol has done for me.”
