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Charleston reservist is top Air War College distance learning graduate

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Bobby Pilch
  • 315th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. --  Two years of correspondence courses and professional military education seminars has earned a Joint Base Charleston Reservist the Air War College Academic Excellence Award.

Lt. Col. Cade C. Gibson, 315th Maintenance Squadron commander, was honored for attaining the highest academic average among 2,256 distance learning program graduates.

The Air War College mission involves educating officers to serve as strategic national security leaders and provides students with the opportunity to further develop the knowledge, skills and attributes required to serve as senior leaders.

"I appreciate all the people who got me to that award," said Gibson. "I do not think I could have done it by myself. If I could go back to Cade Gibson 21 years old, and say, 'Hey dummy you can do much better if you actually studied and read the materials rather than just trying to cram it all in at the last minute.' I would tell my young self just that."

"It blows my mind that I had the best GPA," said Gibson.

"The last class I had to take was a team exercise, so I really owe a lot to the people who were in the seminar with me," said Gibson. "My classmates were a big reason that went really well. I had a great group of people."

Gibson is no stranger to hard work and persistence when it comes to education. He holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of South Carolina and a Juris Doctorate from Mercer University's Walter F. George School of Law.

As a leader, Gibson does not ask of others what he himself will not do. He believes an individual must "walk the walk" and "talk the talk" while preparing for the future.

"I have 200 people that work for me and if I am going to tell them 'Hey guys, you've got to do your PME, then I better do my PME," said Gibson. "It's not rocket science, if you want to get promoted, then you need to have the degrees. You need to position yourself to be ready for that next rank. "