Meet the Commandant of Cadets

Civil Air Patrol’s cadet encampments function as week-long laboratories where attendees investigate aerospace-related careers while participating in challenging, hands-on activities emphasizing leadership and character development. Cadets are motivated to push their limits, allowing them to learn from each other while discovering what they can achieve. As part of the staff, the commandant of cadets helps develop each cadet into a leader. The commandant serves as a principal mentor, overseeing the encampment curriculum while supervising the training, leadership, and discipline of the cadet corps.

Meet the commandant of cadets for the 2024 National Capital Wing Cadet Encampment, Lt. Col. CJ Wilkinson. He has been part of Civil Air Patrol for 25 years, previously serving as cadet commander for the 2002 Nevada Wing Cadet Encampment. In addition to staffing CAP’s Civic Leadership Academy, Wilkinson has been an instructor for the Cadet Officer School since 2009. Wilkinson is also an active-duty major for the Air Force, serving on the Joint Staff Directorate for Intelligence for the Defense Intelligence Agency. Off-duty, Wilkinson has visited various battlefields, monuments, and museums — taking his English Bulldog with him everywhere he goes.

Wilkinson’s advice for incoming students: “Be resilient! Every year, thousands of cadets successfully complete the challenges of encampment. You will be successful too. Cherish and enjoy the fun times you are living right now. You’ll wish you can be back with the friends you’ve made right here, right now.”

Lt. Col. CJ Wilkinson attends “Tanks in Mons,” an event commemorating the Allied powers’ liberation of Belgium after World War II, donning an original Army Air Forces uniform.	Lt. Col. CJ Wilkinson visits the Cenotaph during the 2019 Remembrance Day Commemoration in London.