Mitchell Ceremony Protocol question

[YesMam]

Mitchell ceremony....cadet is inviting friend who is retired Air Force Colonel (big influence on their leadership education), but Col is not a CAP member.   What do you put on the invite as far as uniform is concerned?  For CAP members the answer is of course, blues.....but do retired military wear THEIR uniform?   Or suit and tie?   So would the wording on the invite be:

DRESS: 
CAP members:  Blues
Military members:  Blues
Civilians:  Semi-Formal

[PHall]

Per AFI 36-2903 (The AF Uniform Reg), the Colonel can wear his Air Force uniform, if he wishes, or he can wear a suit and tie.
It's his option.

[lordmonar]

+ 1

Say Dress:  Service Dress/civilian equivalent.

Most Retired military will know what that means and will wear something appropriate.

[Eclipse]

+1, bearing in mind not all CAP members can wear blues.

Is this at a regular meeting or something more formal.  I've presented Mitchells at everything from Banquets, to encampments, to regular meetings, and at regular meetings
you can expect a lot of parents in jeans and golf shirts, etc.

[lordmonar]

Also note......blues is open for interpretation.  Do you mean Service Dress Uniforms, short Sleeve with tie/with out tie, long sleeve?

On the CAP side of things......"or appropriate corporate uniform" is kind of a given....but yes that may need to be spelled out too. 

[jimmydeanno]

Mitchell ceremony....cadet is inviting friend who is retired Air Force Colonel (big influence on their leadership education), but Col is not a CAP member.   What do you put on the invite as far as uniform is concerned?  For CAP members the answer is of course, blues.....but do retired military wear THEIR uniform?   Or suit and tie?   So would the wording on the invite be:

DRESS: 
CAP members:  Blues
Military members:  Blues
Civilians:  Semi-Formal

Is said Colonel the one presenting the Mitchell?  He's allowed to wear his uniform, if he likes.  Just don't have him show up in full service dress while the cadet getting the award is wearing blues no tie. 

I had a 3-star present a few Mitchells, and we dictated the uniform.  We communicated it through his CAG along with a briefing about CAP, bios for the cadet, the squadron commander, and other notable people who would be at the ceremony.  Of course, not every ceremony needs to be that level, but just communicate with the guy about your wishes and desires for the ceremony and come up with an agreement. 

[YesMam]

Thanks everyone...let me give a few more details to hopefully pin down the protocol.

The ceremony will be at the Squadron, but we are going all out.  The only event for the evening is promotions....we have multiple Mitchells (including my two daughters), a couple of Wright Brothers and then miscellaneous "regular" promotions.   Dress for the cadets will be blues, males with ties, females with tie tab (skirt optional).   And yes, some of the senior members, myself included, do not meet the weight/grooming to be able to wear blues, we'll be in Corporate. 


The Ret. Col is not presenting the Mitchell.  He was the director of a program (non-CAP) that my girls attended that greatly helped their leadership education, and he has kept in touch with us so they want him in attendance.   

The ceremony script is a tweaked version of the Texas script that I got from a kind soul here on CAP Talk.   The relevant tweak is that the Mitchell grads will not only receive their first salute from a fellow cadet, but they will then go into the audience and render a salute to a chosen (non-cadet) Officer.   I can't recall the exact language of the tweak, but it was about also being a follower etc. 


I really appreciate everyone helping with this....