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Apollo I Squadron Promotes Two Officers

Ron Miller Promotion
2 of 2
1st Lt Ron Miller (center) is flanked by Group III commander, Lt Col. Rob Couch (left) and Apollo I Squadron Commander, Capt. Joe Kekich (right) following his promotion to 1st Lt.

By 2nd Lt. Paul Doherty, CAP
Public Affairs Officer, Apollo I Squadron

5/1/2011–Ft. Meade, MD–Senior Members Jason Kerpleman and Ron Miller were recently promoted to Captain and First Lieutenant respectively, at Maryland Wing's Apollo I Squadron. 

Capt. Kerpleman is the squadron's Emergency Services Officer and was cited for outstanding service in facilitating the training of squadron members in Air and Ground operations and for successfully brokering an arrangement with the Tipton Airport Authority and Tipton Airport Pilots Association for a squadron facility at the airport.

Kerpleman has been a member of Civil Air Patrol (CAP) since 2000. He is the parent of Caroline, a talented artist and equestrienne. Capt. Kerpleman holds a Bachelors degree in Engineering from Tulane University and a Juris Doctor from University of Baltimore School of Law. He is a self employed attorney, and prior to obtaining his law degree, worked as a system design engineer on naval weapons systems and as an environmental engineer.

1st Lt. Miller is the squadron's Transportation Officer and wears additional hats as IT Officer for the squadron and for Maryland Wing.  He was cited for his outstanding performance in establishing a new squadron web site and for maintaining the Maryland Wing web pages. Additionally, in just the past three months, he has been part of team efforts in two Urban Direction Finding non-distress finds.

Miller is a relatively new member of CAP, having joined in 2009. He is married with three grown children and four grandchildren.  He obtained a Private Pilot certificate in 2008. 1st Lt. Miller is the owner of Columbia Internetworking, LLC specializing in local and wide area networking. He also volunteers as a lay teacher/addiction recovery counselor at Celebrate Recovery in Howard County.

The Apollo I Squadron meets 6 to 8 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month at Tipton Airport on the 2nd floor of Hanger 80, 7515 General Aviation Drive, Fort Meade, Maryland 20755. More information can obtained by sending an e-mail to Capt Joe Kekich, Apollo I Commander at apollocap@verizon.net or 2d Lt Paul Doherty, Public Affairs Officer at pfdoher@comcast.com.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with more than 61,000 members nationwide. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 113 lives in fiscal year 2010.

Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the more than 26,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 69 years. It is the largest sponsor annually of Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans. For more information on Civil Air Patrol, visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com or www.capvolunteernow.com.

More than 1,500 members of CAP serve in Maryland. Last fiscal year wing members flew 42 search and rescue missions and were credited with 31 finds. For more information, visit www.mdcap.org.