Delta Company is made up of our 7-9th graders and their company leadership. Delta is the reigning Honor Company in our Corps. Captain McCaskey is one of the Delta Company TAC Officers and he attributes their successes to their outstanding Cadet leadership and great Cadets. “Our Cadet leadership taught them well and then the Cadets held themselves to a high standard.”
For 15 years CPT McCaskey was in the United States Army and is currently in the Army Reserves. After leaving the Army he missed the feeling where his job was making a difference in the world. As a Muay Thai instructor he had developed a passion for working with teenagers and started researching military boarding schools. Hargrave immediately stood out and he was impressed with the mission and how the Academy is not just focused on academics but on who our Cadets will become. He was especially impressed with our faith based approach. “Faith is essential as a guide for life”
As a TAC Officer, he is a mentor for almost 50 students. He helps them to solve their problems on campus and sometimes at home. He shares his life experiences and works to better prepare Cadets for life than he was at their age. (ed note: During the interview two Cadets came to see CPT McCaskey with problems: one was that someone had borrowed their headphones and the headphones were now locked in an unoccupied room, the other was a Cadet who was convinced he had a tapeworm, all this while they were preparing for a uniform inspection).
Though he is a career military man, CPT McCaskey does not push Cadets towards military service. “We talk a lot about life goals and set benchmarks for these goals. I try to help them to see options.”
As a TAC Officer his favorite part of Hargrave is having a personal impact on the growth of a Cadet. “Lots of small victories as they internalize things and learn what character really is. Boys have to learn to be men. They have to learn to step up and use their passions for good. Many times they learn through mistakes.”
He wishes that everyone knows that our mission is not just words that we say, but something we make personal for every Cadet.
