Lifesaving Certificate Recognizes Ohio Cadet's Actions After Boating Mishap

By Ryan McNeilly, Captain
12 January 2021

Col. David Jennison, Ohio Wing commander, has awarded Cadet Chief Master Sgt. Nicole Dimos the Certificate of Recognition for Lifesaving for her actions in assisting in the rescue of two children after a personal watercraft accident on Lake Erie.

While boating May 30 with her father, Dimos observed the children's watercraft roll over in rough seas. “Dad, we’ve got to do something! They’re just kids!” she told her father.

Dimos, acting quickly, pulled the children from the hypothermic conditions of the lake and reunited them with their parents, also boating at the time.

"I think Cadet Dimos' accomplishment is a remarkable reminder that this organization truly creates a generation of people who go beyond the 'normalities' of the average teenager," said Capt. Ryan McNeilly, the Ohio Wing's director of cadet programs,

"Cadets in Civil Air Patrol are not just taught to think about the selflessness of serving their peers and their community; they act swiftly and without consideration as to why they should or should not perform that role or what they might gain from it.

"This is what this program is all about," McNeilly said. 

A member of the Medina County Skyhawks Composite Squadron, Dimos is a graduate of CAP’s Hawk Mountain Ranger School. She credits her first aid training to Hawk Mountain’s elite search and rescue training program.