Friday, July 8, 2005 | 5:05 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION
July 9-10, 2005
For information about joining the Clark County Civil Air Patrol cadet program, call Lt. Col. Lorrie McCarty at (702) 459-5385. To join the Civil Air Patrol, call (702) 642-6288.
Tiffani and Tatianna Hein- reich are 17-year-old twins whose tastes often are more opposite than alike.
Tiffani loves to fly and has dreams of being an Air Force pilot. Tatianna hates flying and does not want to join the military. Instead, she wants to be a chef and own her restaurant or write poetry, short stories and novels.
Tiffani, who says she can't cook and does not have a knack for creative writing, attends Clark High and is an A student. Tatianna goes to Advanced Technologies Academy where she maintains a solid B average.
One thing they do have in common is that they are among 240 Las Vegas Valley youths, ages 12 to 18, who participate in the Civil Air Patrol cadet program.
And both are officers -- Tiffani, the potential future warrior, a major; Tatianna, the would-be chef/writer, a first lieutenant.
"It teaches us a lot about leadership," said Tiffani, who recently returned from Civil Air Patrol Cadet Officers School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. -- one of just 104 cadets nationwide chosen for that elite training program.
Tatianna, who says she is content to be outranked by her slightly older sister -- she admits Tiffani trains harder -- said she talks about the cadet program "all the time" to her friends at school.
"When I tell other kids about it, they are impressed," Tatianna said. "I even got one friend to join. Now she is the same rank as me."
The Civil Air Patrol, the nonprofit civilian auxiliary of the Air Force that primarily is known for search and rescue operations for downed aircraft, has had a cadet program in Southern Nevada for more than half a century.
Among the thousands who have gone through the local cadet program is 30-year-old Air Force Capt. Nicole Malachowski, a Western High graduate who has been named the first female pilot in the history of the Nellis Air Force Base Thunderbirds demonstration team.
The Heinreich sisters also hope to build on their cadet experience.
Tiffani is excellent at marching and has won several competitions for a drilling exercise that requires quick reactions to rapid commands.
Tatianna was part of a cadet crew that searched the Nevada desert for debris from the space shuttle Columbia after it exploded in February 2003.
Both are members of the cadet competitive drill team and honor guard and both are recipients of the Billy Mitchell Award for attaining officer rank.
Tiffani also earned the Amelia Earhart Award for attaining the rank of captain, was the 2004 Cadet Officer of the Year and is commander of the Clark County cadet unit. Tatianna attended National Search and Rescue School.
On July 18 Tiffani plans to be in Oshkosh, Wis., for the National Blue Beret Air Show, where she will participate in emergency locator transmission search exercises.
Even the sky is no limit for cadets, said Lt. Col. Lorrie McCarty, an Air Force veteran and director of the Clark County Civil Air Patrol cadet program.
"The members of the cadet program are our future," McCarty said. "They are tomorrow's generals and our future astronauts who will walk on Mars."
The Clark County cadet unit -- one of three in the valley, with Henderson and Nellis Air Force Base being the other two -- had one cadet accepted to the Air Force Academy this year and another to the Coast Guard Academy, McCarty said.
"We realize that not every one of our cadets will go into the military, but the cadet program gives them the tools to be leaders in life, such as running a restaurant or other type of business," said Lt. Col. Charles McCarty, Lorrie's husband, who also is an Air Force veteran and Civil Air Patrol pilot.
The Heinreich sisters were introduced to the Civil Air Patrol cadet program at age 12 by their brother Joshua, then a cadet and now an Army Ranger sergeant stationed at Fort Benning, Ga.
Although Joshua Heinreich, 23, has participated in five combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, he has nothing on his baby sisters when it comes to being a Civil Air Patrol cadet. He never attained officer rank in that youth program.
And don't tell the Heinreich girls they can't equal their brother's feats in the adult world.
"I think women can do everything a man can do and, in some cases, more," Tatianna said. "I think women should fight (in wars) if they want to.
"People point to (Pfc.) Jessica Lynch (the first prisoner of war rescued from Iraqi forces) to show what can happen to a woman in combat. I say look at the strength she had to survive."
Tiffani said that she would have no trouble bombing the enemy, "but I'd rather be a fighter pilot and shoot the enemy out of the skies."
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