A local Civil Air Patrol cadet received a special award Tuesday.
Civil Air Patrol Cadet Leader Peyton Bogle, who is the current commander of the Mercer Composite Squadron, received the Amelia Earhart award Tuesday at the Mercer County Airport in Bluefield.
The award is presented to only 3% of the nearly 22,000 Civil Air Patrol cadets nationally each year.
U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., presented the award to Bogle at the airport.
The Amelia Earhart award is the third milestone of the Cadet Academy. The award marks the completion of Phase 111 and mastery of 11 or 16 cadet achievements. Cadets who merit their Amelia Earhart award are qualified to move onto the programs premier milestones: the general Ira C. Eaker and General Carl A Spaatz awards.
Bogle earned a number of achievements throughout his cadet career. Bogle first joined the Civil Air Patrol on April 29, 2021 and soon received his first promotion on May 25, 2021. He then achieved his first milestone by winning the Wright Brothers Award on October 22, 2022. He completed a second milestone of earning the Billy Mitchell Award on December 25, 2023. He also earned Ground Team qualifications and received tasks of Cadet Flight Commander and Cadet Emergency Services Officer.
His other various tasks resulted in him completing 11 achievements. Each achievement he worked for required testing to solidify his knowledge; He performed tests in leadership examination, aerospace examination, a psychical fitness test and was prompted to write five speeches and essays while also completing staff duty analysis performances.
“It takes a lot of hard work and dedication towards the program. I had to do five speeches, tests I can’t even count at this point. Every promotion has the same agenda but you have to have different topics on the speech. Everyone is a little different but the same.” Bogle said. “Whenever I first joined, I wasn’t looking forward to it at first. It was just kinda something to come to after school and have a little free time and have some fun with the other kids.”
Bogle said seeing his mentors, including Haley Tharp, climb through the ranks motivated him to also progress through cadet ranks.
“She was one of my closest mentors and friends so seeing her progress kind of motivated me to progress through the ranks,” he said.
Bogle thanked Capito for presenting his award.
“It definitely makes me feel important. I feel great about myself knowing that there is the recognition that comes with it. It’s just nice knowing we have people to support me along the way.” Bogle said. “I want to thank everyone who supported me. My family, they supported me through my first speech. I’m not a very great talker in front of crowds. I performed my first speech to my sister Gracie. She helped me through the first one so thanks to her for that, and everyone in my family has been supportive along the way.”
Bogle anticipates working towards becoming an aircraft mechanic during his time in the Air Force.
“Peyton has exhibited great leadership skills and academic skills. Only 3 percent of cadets are awarded this award so I was really happy to give it to him for his future,” Capito said. “When I see Peyton and his fellow squadron members, I think about the future of not just our military but our country. These are young people who take time to learn about the greatness of our country, the greatness of our military skill, how to use our best skills whether that be academic, whether it’s speech leadership communications, whatever that may be to get confidence in themselves to want to be future leaders. I can guarantee pretty much that every single one of those men and women that are here with us today is going to have a leadership position in the military, in business, in their community. It’s fun for me to see them because I see the future and the future’s bright.”