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Howland youth sworn in as Air Force pilot
The Vindicator ( Youngstown)
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Cameron Shull
The Vindicator ( Youngstown)
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Cameron receives congratulations from by Air Force Reserve Col. Stephen J. “Fritz” Linsenmeyer, commander of the 910th and the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna. The Pilot for a Day program provides a day of activities at the 910th to children who live with a chronic or life-threatening disease or illness.
The Vindicator ( Youngstown)
Photo
Cameron Shull, 8, a third-grader, was sworn in as an honorary Air Force Reserve 2nd Lieutenant and fitted with a replica of an air crew flight suit as part of the 910th Airlift Wing’s Pilot for a Day program. Cameron is being treated for cerebral palsy at Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley.
The Vindicator ( Youngstown)
Photo
Cameron Shull, sworn in Wednesday as an honorary Air Force Reserve 2nd Lieutenant as part of the 910th Airlift Wing’s Pilot for a Day program, is shown at the 910th headquarters building at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna with his parents, Michael Merten and Kim Shull. Cameron has cerebral palsy.
Howland youth sworn in as honorary Air Force Reserve 2nd lieutenant
VIENNA
A ride in a Marine Corps Humvee was just the start of a special day for 8-year-old Cameron Shull who was sworn in as an honorary Air Force Reserve 2nd lieutenant as part of the 910th Airlift Wing’s Pilot for a Day program.
The Howland Mines School third-grader also really liked trying to soak his parents Wednesday with a base fire truck hose, said his mother, Kim Shull, of Howland, a nurse assistant at Gillette Nursing Home in Warren. His father is Michael Merten of Warren who works at Samco.
Cameron was also accompanied by his grandparents, Jeanette and Roger Shull of Howland.
The purpose of the Pilot for a Day program is to reach out to the community by providing a day of activities at the 910th to children who have a chronic or life-threatening disease or illness, base officials said.
Cameron, diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was 9 months old, receives treatment at Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley in Boardman and therapy at Easter Seals in Youngstown.
Cameron was sworn in by Col. Stephen J. “Fritz” Linsenmeyer, commander of the 910th and the Youngstown Air Reserve Station. He was fitted with a genuine air-crew flight suit and lieutenant’s bars were pinned on his collar by his parents.
Other experiences included a visit to the 910th life-support shop, firing the fire arms training simulator, taking a ride on the base firetruck — one of the biggest super-soakers around — and being taxied down the main runway in the cockpit of a $33 million, C-130 Hercules cargo plane with his name placed above the entry door.
The Marines who drove and accompanied Cameron and his father in the Humvee, Cpls. Jesse Sherman and Randy Kibler, said the honorary Pilot for a Day kept saying “this is a lot better now.” His father said Cameron, who is normally shy, ended up giggling and laughing during the ride, especially when the Humvee speeded up a little.
The Youngstown Air Reserve Station Community Council is the financial co-sponsor of the Pilot for a Day program. A council representative, Fred Kubli, gave Cameron a model of a C-130 plane with Cameron’s name on it.
“The whole day made Cameron feel really good. It was an experience of a lifetime for him,” Merten said.