
These Air Force officers oversee all cadet activities, provide instruction and serve as role models as the cadets experience firsthand the processes of command and organization to accomplish the mission. Cadets live, eat and participate in military training with their squadrons, which are comprised of roughly even numbers of cadets from all four class years.Īir officers commanding supervise cadets and are located within each group and squadron. The 4,000-plus cadets who comprise the cadet wing are divided into four groups of 10 squadrons each. It is broken down into functional areas, some of which mirror components of an active-duty unit: honor: academics, athletics, safety, antiterrorism and force protection, standardization and evaluation, drill and ceremonies, support, information technology, training, public affairs, and character. The wing is led by the cadet wing commander who is the highest ranking, first-class cadet. Fourth-class cadets act as followers and function as cadet Airmen.
Within the cadet wing, first-class (senior) cadets hold the positions of cadet officers, second-class (junior) cadets act as the cadet non-commissioned officers and third-class (sophomore) cadets represent the cadet junior NCOs.

#1980 THUNDERBIRD EMBLEM HOW TO#
Cadets are responsible for running and operating the wing, which affords them the opportunity to learn how to use a chain of command, to function as part of various military formations and how military units organize to accomplish collective tasks. To prepare cadets for the life of an officer, the cadet wing simulates the organization of an operational Air Force wing.
