OSHKOSH, Wis. — The commander of Civil Air Patrol-U.S. Air Force was recognized by his alma mater, Middle Tennessee State University, at a ceremony during the institution’s annual alumni barbecue at EAA AirVenture, the world’s largest aviation celebration.

Air Force Col. Aaron Reid, a 2002 graduate of MTSU’s Aerospace Department, was honored for his service as a combat pilot and commander of the unit tasked with ensuring CAP, the volunteer civilian auxiliary of the Air Force, is organized, trained and equipped to fulfill Air Force-assigned missions.

“Colonel Reid, like so many of our Aerospace graduates, is a role model to our students, showing how his successful career began with his degree from MTSU,” said Mark Byrnes, the university’s provost and chief academic officer, during a brief ceremony at the university’s EAA tent on July 24.

Also attending the MTSU event was CAP National Vice Commander Brig. Gen. Regena Aye; CAP Great Lakes Region Commander Col. Rose Hunt; and CAP Command Chief Todd Parsons.

Reid, a native of Hendersonville, Tennessee, was a cadet in CAP’s Sumner County Cadet Squadron before attending MTSU, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace maintenance in 2002.

A senior pilot with over 1,700 hours in the T-37, T-38, and F-15E, Reid flew combat missions in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“I’m a super-proud grad,” Reid said at the alumni gathering. “I think this may have all started because in 2006, I was flying in Iraq, and I had an MTSU flag over the dashboard of my F-15 and an Air Force photographer took a picture of it and it’s hanging in the (Business and Aerospace) building.”

MTSU and CAP have been partners in aerospace education since 2014 and the university has hosted the CAP Cadet Engineering Technology Academy, a national cadet special activity, since 2017.

— Andrew Oppmann (Andrew.Oppmann@mtsu.edu)