Proposal 2: CAP Professional Development and Rank/Grade

[Major Carrales]

This is a commonly discussed topic here, but we have never combined a few issues into one workable plan.

Rank and Grade and professional development, how do we make it meaningful?

1) Let's make Professional Development get to to captain and...
2) Make Command/Staff get you the rest of the way.


Professional Development should be strict and likely needs to be redesigned.  A CAP Major should be trained to the level that such an officer could handle the responsibilities of a USAF Staff Officer.  The idea is, not to have CAP Officers replace or fill in for acice USAF, but rather to develop those skills to benefit CAP.

This will require reexamining how promotions work in CAP.  Several models exist presented by Kach and others.  Current officers will be grandfathered into their rank and continue up to their next level once they have met the criteria.

Rank should exist as followed:

The COMPANY GRADES:
1) Officer Candidate- The Basic rank we all start with and old until Level I is completed.  Level I is defined as what we currently do now with SLS added.

2) Second Lieutenant: Much as today, except one needs SLS and six months to obtain the RANK.  A 2d Lt is learning the TECHNICIAN's level in the SPEC TRAC.  Is an assistant or trainee officer.  Must Complete SLS and obtain a TECH rating.  Special Promotions to this rank as they exist currently.

3) First Lieutenant:  Assumes a Staff Possition in the unit.  Must take CAP Officer's Course and SENIOR RATING to advance beyond. Special Promotions to this rank as they exist currently.

4) Professional Development promotions up through Captain.  Staff Officers at the Squadron level who have a MASTER's RATING advance to Captain.  A Squadron Commander can be promoted to Captain from 2d or 1st Lieutenant if serves a full year as Squadron Commander and to Major if they serve a second year. Special Promotions to this rank as they exist currently in addition to all those promotions that would get one to Major or Lt Col would only advance to this point.

2) Squadron Commanders (and former) who have completed a Master's Rating and are a Captain are appointed to Major.  Additionally, CAP Captains that serve as a GROUP STAFF Officer for 1 Year promote to Major, 1st Lt in the same condition promote to Captain after 1 year and Major after two.  CAP Officer Cadidates and 2d Lt cannot serve at Group beyond the "assistant level."  Assistant Group Staff Officers have no promotion via time-in-service, but may advance at Group under the normal channels.

3) Group Commanders (and former) appointed to Lt Col.  Made up of Former former Squadron Commanders.  One Year as Group Commander and Region Staff College to advance.

4) Wing Commanders (and former) Colonels- Come from former Group and Squadron Commanders, must take SOS before promotions.   Wing Staff may be Majors or Lt Cols, Majors may promote to Lt Col after one full year as a Staff Officer.  Captains may only serve as assistants to Staff Officers and may promote to Major after a full year as an assistant. Lower Company Grade Officers are not to serve at Wing Until they reach teh rank of Captain. They will then  Must have Region Staff College.

5) Region Commanders (and former) Brig General- Made up of elevated Wing Commanders or special circumstance Group Commanders.  The latter advances only to Colonel until qualifications are met.

6) Vice Commander (and former) Brig General- Appointed by National Board from Wing and Region Commanders

7) National Commander (and former) Major Generals- Appointed by National Board from Wing and Region Commanders

This does not address Prior Service promotions...

So, here it goes...

Prior Service Company Grade Officers promote to their RANK.  Prior Service Field Grade Officers must assume command or fulfull a Wing advistory role for 1 year at their old rank to obtain their rank in CAP, at which time they can wear it indefinately.  General Officers must do the same.

The Wing Advisory Officer, being a former US Military Officer, serves in a real position at Wing that can even be geographically determined.  For example, if a CAP Colonel (former US Army Colonel) lives in South Texas, that person would serve as an advisor to that area.  The duties and responsibilities would have to be better defined.

Former NCOs would serve a similar role...like are more a sort of "protocol" function designed to provide military bearing to cadet programs.

That is the best I can do to solve these problems.  Help!!!

[arajca]

Are wing staff officers restricted to Major or can they make Lt Col after, say two years as wing staff officer. Time served as assistants or deputies does not count toward this service time.

[Major Carrales]

Are wing staff officers restricted to Major or can they make Lt Col after, say two years as wing staff officer. Time served as assistants or deputies does not count toward this service time.

I may have left that one out...let me go back and correct it.

[Major Carrales]

Some rationale for the above...

The idea is to make rank truer to position without going as far as the Coast Guard Auxiliary.   It keeps the Coruse 13 at Captain, but does not allow for promotion beyond Captain at the Squadron Level.  There are many that are content with doing CAP at the local level (Squadron/Group), in theory I am one of them.  These folks ususally don't much put that much stock in promoting much beyond Captain, but rather find solice in the  Cadet Program or being a local aviator.

It is also based on the idea of Staffing.  Squadron has a staff, Group Staff officers are ideally ranks att eh same level as Squadron Commanders...Wing staff with the same relative rank as Group Commanders and so on.

This ties rank to what leve one is at.  Will there be lots of Captains?  Sure, but that would be a personal choice. 

There are a few minor backdoors to promotions...such as a lower level person serving in a higher staff position for some time and promoting based on having filled that role.  Also, some lower lever officers can serve as assistants.  That would mean these assistants would have to have a defined role.

For example, the Wing Public Affairs Offier would have an assistant that..along with the Group PAOs would develop training and other activities under the guidance of the Wing level Officer.  These assistance could be geograhically based, thus, a lower level officer that attaches to a unit or groups of units that keep up with the needs of local units.

There is some prohibition to people "going right to Group or Wing" from Officer Candidate (SM).  This creates a "training requirement."  Even those that take the "backdoor" route have to train a year before one of these promotions.

Please add more commentary.

[Hawk200]

I like the idea of improving PD, but I'm leary of higher staff requirements to promote. Reason being, the "good ol' boy" network exists, and will never be gotten rid of. I think that would be my biggest issue with it.

There are a lot of politics involved at the wing level, and I personally have no talent for politics. Strangely, some of the people with the political talent to get the jobs are complete morons otherwise. They end up relieved for the simple fact that someone can only cover up so much for them.

Over the years, I've been starting to think that the CAP Officers Course should be necessary to make 2LT. We show them a video, give them a small test, wait six months, and then give them butterbars. What kind of accomplishment is that? We shouldn't be trying to be minting military officers, but CAP officers (or anyone called an "officer") should have a little more training than that.

I haven't seen the full Iowa Wing syllabus, but from what I've seen here, I think that's a start in the right direction. Make it enough of a challenge that they gain a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. If they quit in the middle, then you know that this wasn't for them.

[Major Carrales]

Over the years, I've been starting to think that the CAP Officers Course should be necessary to make 2LT. We show them a video, give them a small test, wait six months, and then give them butterbars. What kind of accomplishment is that? We shouldn't be trying to be minting military officers, but CAP officers (or anyone called an "officer") should have a little more training than that.

My Original idea was to start everyone at Airman Basic and promote up to Senior Airman.  During that time all the professional development would be accomplished and the COure 13 would be required to become an Officer.  Under that structure, local people woudl also do what they found best.  Someone would remain a Senior Airman for a long time (I've heard that Senior Airman is to the Enlisted Ranks what Captain is to Officers...this is a strange parallel in this original idea of mine and the one I propose  ) but would be happy because they were doing what they liked best.

Under that system, NCOs would provide some 80% of the training and military bearing, all CAP Officers would have been trained by one save those that would rate a position as a pilot or so.  That would create "elitism" among pilots.

That is what make me scrap the "airmen proposal."  Last thing we need are Airmen and NCOs that would be (dare I say it) CAP Hard and pilots/specialists who would not have that experience.

[Hawk200]

There is some prohibition to people "going right to Group or Wing" from Officer Candidate (SM).  This creates a "training requirement." 

I think this is a good idea. We have a unit commander course, why not Group Command/Staff, or a Wing Command/Staff course? Develop a course educating these people on what their effect on the rest of the wings personnel is.

We have a Squadron Leadership School, but what does it really teach anyone? I was a presenter when I went to SLS for the first time. I read a great deal and I knew most of the course content already. It was literally a check mark I needed. There should be new content.

Same for any other courses we have. Someone should be learning something new when they attend something new. The military has educational requirements for each rank, and it's not a bad idea. Not attempting to mirror the Air Force, just use some of their lessons learned.

[Hawk200]

Over the years, I've been starting to think that the CAP Officers Course should be necessary to make 2LT. We show them a video, give them a small test, wait six months, and then give them butterbars. What kind of accomplishment is that? We shouldn't be trying to be minting military officers, but CAP officers (or anyone called an "officer") should have a little more training than that.

My Original idea was to start everyone at Airman Basic and promote up to Senior Airman.  During that time all the professional development would be accomplished and the COure 13 would be required to become an Officer.  Under that structure, local people woudl also do what they found best.  Someone would remain a Senior Airman for a long time (I've heard that Senior Airman is to the Enlisted Ranks what Captain is to Officers...this is a strange parallel in this original idea of mine and the one I propose  ) but would be happy because they were doing what they liked best.

Under that system, NCOs would provide some 80% of the training and military bearing, all CAP Officers would have been trained by one save those that would rate a position as a pilot or so.  That would create "elitism" among pilots.

That is what make me scrap the "airmen proposal."  Last thing we need are Airmen and NCOs that would be (dare I say it) CAP Hard and pilots/specialists who would not have that experience.

I'm not a really big fan of the idea of CAP creating NCO's. That is a distinctive military rank bracket that I don't think that anyone can really duplicate outside of the military. We have enough diversity in training standards across the country within CAP, I would shudder to think of what the varying qualities of NCO's that a CAP program would produce.

There are certainly people that will be offended by that belief, but I would doubt they have military experience, or if they did they're not thinking about what it took for them to become one. Some military NCO's don't even seem to realize the extent fo their own training and leadership roles.

All in all, I doubt we are ever going to end up with positional grade in CAP. I doubt we will ever have lower enlisted ranks again. What we have is a current program that needs some work. Let's try to fix this wagon before buying a new one.

[SarDragon]

Regarding the relationship between the ratings and the ranks, some Masters ratings require service in positions at the Wing level. This might be relatively easy for small wings, but getting wing staff positions for 2Lts and 1Lts can be difficult in large wings.

[Major Carrales]

Regarding the relationship between the ratings and the ranks, some Masters ratings require service in positions at the Wing level. This might be relatively easy for small wings, but getting wing staff positions for 2Lts and 1Lts can be difficult in large wings.

Then those tracks would have to be adjusted.  If what you say is true, then that is currently a problem.

The idea is for one get their initial training at the squadron level...where the rubber meets the road before they move up that chain.

No, the only answer is to shift the training downward and make it more intense.  How can we expect someone to fill a role at Wing to become a MASTER of it.  Would it not be more logical to have someone become a master at the SQUADRON/GROUP before taking the Wing? 

There are reasonable ways to make that so that everyone could agree to. 

[SarDragon]

WIWOAD, we were always in training to be the next higher level. Once the requirements had been met, then we advanced. The CAP PD program is similar. Learn to do tasks at the next higher level, then get the brass ring.

[Major Carrales]

WIWOAD, we were always in training to be the next higher level. Once the requirements had been met, then we advanced. The CAP PD program is similar. Learn to do tasks at the next higher level, then get the brass ring.

I yield to your experience.  I would be honored if you adjusted my proposal to include these elements.

[lordmonar]

How about making everyone flight officers and only give rank to the leaders/staff officers?

No advance promotions for anything including AD rank.

FO1 for Level 1, FO2 for Level 2...FO5 for Level 5.

Nat CC Maj Gen
Nat CV BGen
National Staff Cols and Lt Cols
Regional CC BGen
Regional CV Col
Regional Staff Lt Cols and Majors
Wing CC Col
Wing CV Lt Col
Wing Staff Majors and Capts
Group CC Lt Col
Group CV Major
Group Staff Capt and Majors
Sqadron CC Major
Squadron CV Capt
Squadron Staff 1st and 2nd Lts.

You only wear the rank when you are performing the job and then you go back to being a FO.

[ZigZag911]

Sparky, what you said over here answers my question from the 'what would I do as Nat'l CC' thread.....I think you're on a good track here, I share a bit of Hawk's concern about GOBs holding folks back because of the group/wing staff requirements....although you can hold all the rank in the world, but i you are on the 'outs' with the 'in' crowd, you're going to ride the bench, so to speak.

I have some concerns that time in grade/time in staff jobs is too brief between promotions.....jumping from 1 Lt to Maj in 2 years, even for a squadron commander, just distrubs me!

LordM, your proposal seems like a modification of Coast guard Auxiliary method, is that what you were using as a framework? I think it would be tough to sell to the troops....not even sure I care for it myself! Changing from field grade to CWO4 or 5 just doesn't do it for me, sorry.

[Major Carrales]

I have some concerns that time in grade/time in staff jobs is too brief between promotions.....jumping from 1 Lt to Maj in 2 years, even for a squadron commander, just distrubs me!

I tend to agree, we can modify the time-in-grade to match any we would set as "fitting."

Feel free to suggest modifications.  The purpose of that is to prevent "sky rocketing."  There are lots of variables to take into account; from those that never intend to rise above their unit, to those that genuinely want to serve at a higher level.  It is thus hard to mold a structure that both serves and limits both of these groups.

[RiverAux]

I wouldn't have a major problem with this proposal however you need to account for Wings without groups. 

And frankly, I would still allow for a time-in-grade promotion from 1st Lt to Captain, but make the time requirement very long -- for example, 5-10 years. 
This would allow some room for the CAP officer to advance who is doing a lot of good work for the organization (probabl in ES), but not necessarily as a staff officer but keep them from going too high without really getting into the guts of the organization. 

[Trung Si Ma]

I tend to agree with the "everyone is a flight officer" concept and that grade, in CAP is positional.  But I believe that we need to tie that positional grade back to the PD efforts. 

All "stripes for skills" special promotions would be to FO ranks.  I'd start them as FO1 and waive all time in grade requirements as they meet the training requirements.

In my "perfect" world:

National CC - MG, CAP
National CV and Region CC - BG, CAP
Wing CC, CV, and Region CV - COL, CAP
Squadron CC, Group CC, Group CV - MAJ, CAP
Wing CS, Region CS, Squadron CV - CPT, CAP
NCO's as current except that I would allow lateral promotions to 1SGT for units with more than one NCO.
SM without grade are addressed as Airman.

Notice that there are no LtCol's - that grade is reserved for IC's functioning as IC's.  In other words, all IC's will need two sets of epaulets - one at their "real" grade and one for LtCol while specifically serving and performing as an IC.  I believe that this would make the structure more readily identifiable during large exercises and events.

LtCol may even be appropriate for project officers at large wing / region / national level activities (such as encampments or NCSA) during the activity only.

[ColonelJack]

Yow, Trung Si Ma!!!  That's what I call a radical realignment.

You sure you're not Bud Selig in disguise??

Obligatory comedic comment -- they can have my silver oak leaves when they pry them from my cold dead shoulders.

I'm not at all clear about why all this fuss is being made about grade in CAP.  It is doing the job it was intended to do -- show how far one has progressed in one's professional development.  With the exception of corporate officers (Wing, Region, and National CCs), it's not supposed to be a "command" thing.  It never was intended to be that.

Why all this "redesigning" anyway?  If we want our grade to mean what it does in the AF, we should just go join the -- oops, I ain't gonna say that again.

Jack

[Trung Si Ma]

Yow, Trung Si Ma!!!  That's what I call a radical realignment.

You sure you're not Bud Selig in disguise??

Obligatory comedic comment -- they can have my silver oak leaves when they pry them from my cold dead shoulders.

I'm not at all clear about why all this fuss is being made about grade in CAP.  It is doing the job it was intended to do -- show how far one has progressed in one's professional development.  With the exception of corporate officers (Wing, Region, and National CCs), it's not supposed to be a "command" thing.  It never was intended to be that.

Why all this "redesigning" anyway?  If we want our grade to mean what it does in the AF, we should just go join the -- oops, I ain't gonna say that again.

Jack

I thought that I'd stir some things up

What do I care - I'm already an NCO.

[Hawk200]

I think the Flight Officer for everyone is a bad idea. Raise the bar, don't lower it. Make the PD steps worth the achievement. Don't throw out what we have, improve it. Besides, no one is going to buy off on converting all seniors to FO grades anyway. National would have fits, and I guarantee that the higher ups with their colonel grades won't go for it.

Higher staff should definitely be held by higher grades, and there should be training to take those command positions. We have SLS, and CLC, but they're checkmark courses right now. You attend, you get a certificate, even if you slept in the course. No accomplishment, other than showing up.

For higher level courses, train people to handle higher command positions. Make them worth attending. How many people here have attended any kind of military school or college course where there wasn't a test? Did you get handed a certificate for just showing up? Learn from the lessons that the military has, more leadership training as you gain rank. There isn't any of that now.

You have to take a test for the CAP officer course, why should everything else be different?

There was a commercial in the '70's. "Long hours, low pay, difficult language. Join the Peace Corps" It worked beyond their own imaginings. People wanted a challenge. Why don't we challenge people too?