Dammel honored for excellence

If you need to speak to Stan Dammel these days, you may need to make an appointment. Life keeps him so busy that the odds of catching him on the spur of the moment are just about slim to none.

This has been a very busy year for Dammel, who describes himself as somewhat of an underachiever in his youth, saying, "I really only did what was necessary to get through, no more."

Time sure has a way of changing things. Along with working part-time to help out a friend, Dammel also manages the local airport, is building a block wall outside his home, has (what I would call) a small apple orchard and, when needed, is still piloting flights for Angel Flight, a non-profit organization that provides flights for non-emergency patients to appointments in distant locations.

A member of the Civil Air Patrol since 2006 and a teacher of aerospace education once a month in Ephrata, he was recently named the Training Officer of Easter Washington and also is the Safety Officer for his squadron, which increased his teaching schedule for aerospace education to eight times a month in various locations, along with teaching safety classes.

In March, Dammel won the award for the 2016 Washington Wing, Cat II, Aerospace Education Officer of The Year. He also won the 2016 Washington Wing Cat II Aerospace Education Brewer Award for Excellence Above and Beyond in Aerospace Education.

To receive the Brewer award, a letter of recognition is submitted to Wing Headquarters at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and an award recipient is chosen from among all the letters submitted. The recipients' information is then sent on to the next level which is regional. The name of the recipient of the regional award is then submitted to the next level which is national.

In May, Dammel traveled to Las Vegas, Nev. to attend leadership training at Nellis Air Force Base. Nellis is home to the Air Force Thunderbirds precision-flying team and the Red Flag aerial combat training program (the Air Force equivalent of the U.S. Navy's Top Gun program). He also received the 2016 Pacific Region, Brewer Cat II, Civil Air Patrol Senior Member Award, for Excellence Above and Beyond in Aerospace Education.

In June, Dammel received the Paul E. Garber Award for Outstanding Performance in the Civil Air Patrol and was also promoted to lieutenant colonel.

Who knows what Dammel has up his sleeve next? The underachiever of his youth is long gone, just a distant memory.

The Civil Air Patrol is an auxiliary to the Air Force which promotes aerospace education, cadet training, search and rescue operations, STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) and Cyberpatriot, the National Youth Cyber Education Program (see http://www.cyberpatriot.org for more information).