What is the most common rank in the CAP?

[Major Carrales]

I was looking at the OPS Quals Achievement Reports in my "Commander's Corner" and...for some reason pondered a question...just a flight of fancy.


What is the most common rank in the CAP?

Based on the number I have seen, one might think Lt Col.  However, logic and practice dictate something different...

Should it be 1st Lt, since this is the first major hurdle that requires a COP and Level II?  Also, most pilots coming to our unit have qualified for that rank based on their credentials, then have to sort of backfill.

Is it Capt?  Since most people who get COP and promote to that level have some TIG to burn off?  Also, most instructor pilots I've seen come in at that rank.

Major?  TIG is quite long and some of the items for Lt Col take resources beyond mere TIG?

Of 2d Lt...maybe in years of good recruiting?

What say you?  Just some speculation.

Aside from ""CADET,"  this is a CAP Officer question...

[ZigZag911]

Purely a guess, I'm going to suggest Captain; there are many routes to get there besides duty performance, and it seems to be the grade at which many folks with professional appointments or mission related skills start and finish!

Also, a fair number of officers make captain by serving as Squadron CCs.

[JC004]

Maybe Captain?  Depends on the unit on the micro level.  Sometimes I browse through the units on e-Services.  There are units with Lt Cols by the dozen almost.  There are units with one Lt Col and bunches 'o 1st Lts.  Units that are high in pilots have lots of captains.  We've got units which are high on Capts/Majors because they have a number of nurses, doctors, etc. 

There are so many ways to get Captain that on the macro level, we probably have more of them than anything (but only a guess).  Doctors, teachers, CFIs, clergy...

[RiverAux]

Any Wing staff member here can pull down the capwatch database and figure it out for their wing.  I did it for a discussion over at the portal a while back and the proportion of higher officers wasn't anywhere near as high as you would expect based on all the complaints about everyone being a Lt. Col.

[Major Carrales]

Purely a guess, I'm going to suggest Captain; there are many routes to get there besides duty performance, and it seems to be the grade at which many folks with professional appointments or mission related skills start and finish!

Also, a fair number of officers make captain by serving as Squadron CCs.

I hadn't thought about the Squadron Command element.  In our unti we only have two captains.  One recently (today) was promoted for duty performance, the other was promoted similarly a long time ago.

[Major Carrales]

Any Wing staff member here can pull down the capwatch database and figure it out for their wing.  I did it for a discussion over at the portal a while back and the proportion of higher officers wasn't anywhere near as high as you would expect based on all the complaints about everyone being a Lt. Col.

Yes, this was somewhat driven by the comment I hear that there are so many Lt Cols.

Once, someone tolded me there was a finite number of officers of given ranks System wide.

[SarDragon]

Any Wing staff member here can pull down the capwatch database and figure it out for their wing.  I did it for a discussion over at the portal a while back and the proportion of higher officers wasn't anywhere near as high as you would expect based on all the complaints about everyone being a Lt. Col.

Yes, this was somewhat driven by the comment I hear that there are so many Lt Cols.

Once, someone tolded me there was a finite number of officers of given ranks System wide.

In my long association with CAP, I've never seen anything like that. Since there is no "Up or Out" promotion system, billet quotas are unnecessary.

In CAWG, the distribution in Aug 2006 was as follows:

SM - 181
2Lt - 309
1Lt - 330
Capt - 292
Maj - 242
Lt Col - 185
Col - 1; all the rest of the CAWG Col's are retired or on Region staff

[DNall]

I'd guess Capt also. We're talking globally here, not local snap shots, which are meaningless.

the proportion of higher officers wasn't anywhere near as high as you would expect based on all the complaints about everyone being a Lt. Col.

That's not really the point. You wouldn't want an equal distribution in each grade. You'd want 70-80% at Capt or less & really only the cream of the crop with 20 years in rising to LtCol & beyond. It does look wierd when you see one unit with 12 LtCols that are seemingly just hanging out & really that's about all they had to do to reach that point in grade. That's another topic though, not going there... my guess is Capt.

[JC004]

In CAWG, the distribution in Aug 2006 was as follows:

SM - 181
2Lt - 309
1Lt - 330
Capt - 292
Maj - 242
Lt Col - 185
Col - 1; all the rest of the CAWG Col's are retired or on Region staff

So not Captains in CAWG, as much as it feels that way.  A surprising balance between 2d Lt through Major.  Maybe we think Captains because a higher percentage of them are active?  Looking through unit lists, I can say most of the inactive seniors are 2d Lt or 1st Lt (at least in the units I was looking at).

[DNall]

Maybe we think Captains because a higher percentage of them are active?  Looking through unit lists, I can say most of the inactive seniors are 2d Lt or 1st Lt (at least in the units I was looking at).

That'd be a curious statistic to shake out. I'd like to see statistics on a lot of things regarding active/inactive.

[JC004]

Maybe we think Captains because a higher percentage of them are active?  Looking through unit lists, I can say most of the inactive seniors are 2d Lt or 1st Lt (at least in the units I was looking at).

That'd be a curious statistic to shake out. I'd like to see statistics on a lot of things regarding active/inactive.

I tried to get at least an informal survey of numbers on inactive/active when I was Group PAO.  No such luck.  Either the numbers changed OFTEN or there'd be different stories from different people in the unit. (usually cadets had a different version)  I'd love to be able to tell who's active, who's not, and what the numbers look like at different units.  Part of the problem is that those numbers reflect on the commander, and the cc may not like that. 

My favorite numbers excuse was: "there aren't a lot of cadets at the time because it's summer and they're all away."  In the fall/winter, it became "well all the cadets are busy with school..."  Guess what...they're either in school or out - there's no in between.   

Also, in PAWG, the amount of money a unit gets annually from the appropriation is based on membership.  Some units try very hard, I understand, to keep the numbers for that reason.

I think we need to have this information for recruiting/retention purposes as well as ES purposes.

[pixelwonk]

I looked to the Wing as the barometer.

WIWG has:
150 1st Lts
140 Capts
110 SMs (Gotta be some FO grades in there)
107 2d Lts
104 Majors  (Not including 73 Legislative Majors)
92 Lt Cols
4 Cols
1 SMSgt

[SarDragon]

If I get a spare femtosecond or two, I can go through some other wing data that I have to see what other distros are. Some of the data are a couple of years old, but will still provide useful knowledge.

[pixelwonk]

I got my current data from CAPWATCH.  Same with you?

[SKYKING607]

Am a career Captain by choice.

Looked at the requirements for Major and above and elected not to partake!  Too much out-of-pocket funds that can be used in the family.  (Especially with fuel prices approaching $ 3.80 p/gallon here in Orange County (California)).

Not in it for the "rank."

[SarDragon]

I got my current data from CAPWATCH.  Same with you?

I don't have permissions for that any more for other wings. I use WMU data.

[JC004]

Am a career Captain by choice.

Looked at the requirements for Major and above and elected not to partake!  Too much out-of-pocket funds that can be used in the family.  (Especially with fuel prices approaching $ 3.80 p/gallon here in Orange County (California)).

Not in it for the "rank."

Wait...you're saying a pretty ribbon and a useless shiny thing won't infinitely improve your life?!   

[RiverAux]

You would expect there to be a higher percentage of "inactive" members among the SM and 2Lt rank as many new members who join and then decide it isn't really for them will be in those ranks. 

[Camas]

Based on some comments I'd agree that we might have more captains throughout our program than anything else.  Here in ORWG we're in excess of 70 SM's and over 80 members who hold 1st Lt and Captain each.  We have over 65 Majors and over 50 Lieutenant Colonels.  And, to top it off we have seven colonels and one chief master sergeant.

We're probably like a lot of wings.  Some squadrons have members holding grades no higher than captain yet we have a couple of them with a fistful of fieldgrades, Level V's; that kind of thing.

[davedove]

Just from what I've seen, I would say there are a large number of 1st Lieutenants and Captains.  1st Lt mainly because of the AFIADL 13.  This seems to be a major stumbling block in many advancements.  I know a number who could be immediately promoted to Captain as soon as they passed this course.

Also a lot of Captains, mainly because of special promotions for pilots and professional appointments.