The Doldrums: Those low points of your CAP Career

[lordmonar]

The Doldrums: Those low points of your CAP Career

At various times, and in most CAP officer's CAP Career, there comes those low points.  Either a disillusionment or otherwise trying circumstances that make you question your membership in CAP.

The question:

How do you "pull yourself through" these times to continue in CAP?

Never had a point in my CAP membership where I have questioned my membership or continuned membership.......so I can't answer your question.

My advice to people who are questioning their membership......if you are not having fun......change what you are doing.

[a2capt]

For me, I must say, despite the dealings of the GOBN's, the cliques, the pathetic politics, and all that bonds the universe together, some of my best friends in recent years are in CAP, and I have to say, for me it's been an escape. We stick it out together, keep each other covered, and we get thanks from the cadets.

That makes it worth every single second of it.

[Storm Chaser]

Unfortunately many commanders don't understand this very salient point.  They don't mind assigning these types of ancillary tasks to members but then don't put in any effort to ensure that the member's wants are being taken care of.  Yes these tasks must be done but no one joins CAP to do them.

Agree. I've had commanders like that. What I've done for myself is to comprise; "I'll take care of this job if you let me work on this other one." I've done the same for others in my squadron. People who are happy and satisfied with the organization tend to be more productive.

[CAPtain Obvious]

I'm seeing a little more of the "should I stay or go" posts than I would have expected to find here. I suppose that's a good indicator of the true pulse of CAP. Maybe not. I suppose perusing the different sections of the forum over time will paint a bigger picture.

I see a lot of comments that allude to or directly place responsibility on upper leadership in both cadet and senior sides of the house. While CAP and the Air Force offer quite a bit in the way of academic training on leadership, the fact that leadership issues seem to be an undercurrent speaks to the problem that the lessons are not finding their mark in a lot of cases.

I would suggest that leadership/ followership training alone is not going to close the gap between what looks good in a powerpoint presentation, and the reality flesh and blood members are experiencing. For those that are inclined to do a touch more and haven't already looked it up, training in Group Dynamics may open your eyes to what is actually happening beneath the surface. Once you get the tools to understand what group dynamics are, "bad leadership" actually is seen in a whole new light and may not be so bad after all. Understanding roles (not the official grades and staff positions) that others and you fill will help immensely to shed those low points and help you take responsibility for your own feelings and your own role.

Community colleges offer these types of classes and different seminars that last 1 or 2 days take place all the time all across the country. It's worth the effort. It carries over into all activities that involve groups, but especially so in the semi-formal and structured groups like CAP.

[MajorM]

Somehow I don't think CAP-Talk is a good pulse of anything quite frankly.  It serves a purpose, but to say the minority represented here are representing the entire membership gives this board a bit more gravitas than it deserves in my opinion.

[Eclipse]

Somehow I don't think CAP-Talk is a good pulse of anything quite frankly.  It serves a purpose, but to say the minority represented here are representing the entire membership gives this board a bit more gravitas than it deserves in my opinion.

I would agree at least in as much as the average member is far less aware of issues outside their home unit and significantly less informed in regards to the
regulations and proper procedures, especially those regs that don't pertain to them directly.

Issues and minutia are discussed here that many members never even consider, often to their detriment or the detriment of those around them.

[Walkman]

Unfortunately many commanders don't understand this very salient point.  They don't mind assigning these types of ancillary tasks to members but then don't put in any effort to ensure that the member's wants are being taken care of.  Yes these tasks must be done but no one joins CAP to do them. 

Piggy-backing on your point - many times a potential recruit comes in and finds that their profession aligns with one of the open staff positions. What many people don't realize right away is that doing what they do for pay all day and then doing it for free in CAP at night can become a drag.

Connected to that is someone new taking a look at the sheet of specialty tracks and going "Hmmm, logistics. No clue what that entails, but it sounds interesting..." (no offense to logistics people). Then after doing the job for a little bit they find out they just don't care for it.

A leadership lesson to come out of this is for the CC (or assigned mentor) to give the recruit some exposure to as much of the aspects of CAP as possible before assigning their first DA. Let them hang with the other staff for a little while they do their thing. I remember my first day at one job where I spent most of the day meeting other key people in the company. We would talk about what they did, where they fit in the grand scheme of things, where we might work together, etc. This could be a very good exercise for a new person figuring out if they's like to be the Historian or not.

Back to the general doldrums, at one point I was going through a pretty bad rough patch in work/family/etc. I told the CC I needed to take a little time off and get things squared away. He was cool with that and I came back a little while later. Sometimes we can get ourselves stretched too thin with too much weight on our shoulders. What's nice about CAP is that aside from letting membership lapse, we're volunteers. Taking a leave of absence for a little while from CAP is much easier than doing the same from most jobs. Caveats to being the CC, etc...

[Private Investigator]

Somehow I don't think CAP-Talk is a good pulse of anything quite frankly.  It serves a purpose, but to say the minority represented here are representing the entire membership gives this board a bit more gravitas than it deserves in my opinion.

It depends on how much CAP experience you have. Some people think CAP is Petticoat Junction Composite Squadron and their Squadron Commander is the final answer. If you are a member of a good Unit, good for you. Some Units are really bad and 50% do not care. Since CAP has the knowledgebase and other tools now everyone should be in a good spot and be informed. You will not believe what it was like 30 years ago. 

[Jaison009]

According to the Recruiting and Retention block of Officer Basic Course, "As of March 2009, CAP membership was around 56,000. Of these, approximately 22,000 are cadets. Retention rates are mediocre for adults and even less for Cadets. An estimated 20-30% of senior members do not renew after their first year. For cadets, 50-55% of them do not return after the first year". Considering that data is three years old, I think that number has probably went lower. I think that is a true indicator of the challenges the organization has to address. As a former cadet I struggled hard with the decision to come back and what it would be like on the "dark side". In fact my wife gives me crap about us looking like "wannabes", not understanding the value of the organization, limited return on investment, and the amount of money it often costs (that is a discussion for later). The lack of time (that I still do not have...I am one that dives in and gives it 200%) was a reason I waited nearly 10 years to come back. I am hoping I made the right decision and can give back as much as I have received.

I'm seeing a little more of the "should I stay or go" posts than I would have expected to find here. I suppose that's a good indicator of the true pulse of CAP. Maybe not. I suppose perusing the different sections of the forum over time will paint a bigger picture.

I see a lot of comments that allude to or directly place responsibility on upper leadership in both cadet and senior sides of the house. While CAP and the Air Force offer quite a bit in the way of academic training on leadership, the fact that leadership issues seem to be an undercurrent speaks to the problem that the lessons are not finding their mark in a lot of cases.

I would suggest that leadership/ followership training alone is not going to close the gap between what looks good in a powerpoint presentation, and the reality flesh and blood members are experiencing. For those that are inclined to do a touch more and haven't already looked it up, training in Group Dynamics may open your eyes to what is actually happening beneath the surface. Once you get the tools to understand what group dynamics are, "bad leadership" actually is seen in a whole new light and may not be so bad after all. Understanding roles (not the official grades and staff positions) that others and you fill will help immensely to shed those low points and help you take responsibility for your own feelings and your own role.

Community colleges offer these types of classes and different seminars that last 1 or 2 days take place all the time all across the country. It's worth the effort. It carries over into all activities that involve groups, but especially so in the semi-formal and structured groups like CAP.

[Jaison009]

I agree 100%

Unfortunately many commanders don't understand this very salient point.  They don't mind assigning these types of ancillary tasks to members but then don't put in any effort to ensure that the member's wants are being taken care of.  Yes these tasks must be done but no one joins CAP to do them. 

Piggy-backing on your point - many times a potential recruit comes in and finds that their profession aligns with one of the open staff positions. What many people don't realize right away is that doing what they do for pay all day and then doing it for free in CAP at night can become a drag.

Connected to that is someone new taking a look at the sheet of specialty tracks and going "Hmmm, logistics. No clue what that entails, but it sounds interesting..." (no offense to logistics people). Then after doing the job for a little bit they find out they just don't care for it.

A leadership lesson to come out of this is for the CC (or assigned mentor) to give the recruit some exposure to as much of the aspects of CAP as possible before assigning their first DA. Let them hang with the other staff for a little while they do their thing. I remember my first day at one job where I spent most of the day meeting other key people in the company. We would talk about what they did, where they fit in the grand scheme of things, where we might work together, etc. This could be a very good exercise for a new person figuring out if they's like to be the Historian or not.

Back to the general doldrums, at one point I was going through a pretty bad rough patch in work/family/etc. I told the CC I needed to take a little time off and get things squared away. He was cool with that and I came back a little while later. Sometimes we can get ourselves stretched too thin with too much weight on our shoulders. What's nice about CAP is that aside from letting membership lapse, we're volunteers. Taking a leave of absence for a little while from CAP is much easier than doing the same from most jobs. Caveats to being the CC, etc...

[Private Investigator]

According to the Recruiting and Retention block of Officer Basic Course, "As of March 2009, CAP membership was around 56,000. Of these, approximately 22,000 are cadets. Retention rates are mediocre for adults and even less for Cadets. An estimated 20-30% of senior members do not renew after their first year. For cadets, 50-55% of them do not return after the first year". Considering that data is three years old, I think that number has probably went lower. I think that is a true indicator of the challenges the organization has to address.

As a former cadet I struggled hard with the decision to come back and what it would be like on the "dark side". In fact my wife gives me crap about us looking like "wannabes", not understanding the value of the organization, limited return on investment, and the amount of money it often costs (that is a discussion for later). The lack of time (that I still do not have...I am one that dives in and gives it 200%) was a reason I waited nearly 10 years to come back. I am hoping I made the right decision and can give back as much as I have received.

Retention can be looked at many different ways. When a senior joins do you expect them to stay for 30 yeras? 20 years? When I was a Squadron Commander I had lots of people renew and then not renew for a third year. So that is where I saw the biggest drop. I would call and ask what is up. Lots of reasons to leave. In other Squadrons I see it is mostly ineffective Commanders to blame. For Cadets the numbers I see is more like 75% to 80%.

My brother a former CAP pilot and GT guy who once racked up 600+ miles driving on a mission. His wife gave him crap too so he left and sold his Cessna. She divorced him anyways.     

[Spaceman3750]

I too find myself in the doldrums. I'm here, and somewhat effective, but like others, the friendships I have formed are what keep me in. If I were in any other unit, I probably would have moved on to other things by now.

I will come around. Every once in awhile I get to do something cool, which sparks my interest for a period.

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

I'm to the stage where I'm going to pretty much disappear from my unit and see if anyone takes the time to call to see whether or not I'm still alive or not.

[Private Investigator]

You have any buddies in your Squadron? When I moved I had to transfer to a new Squadron. It is disappointing because everyone there has an ego which is funny since they have not done anything to get an ego in CAP.

[DerNarr]

Was für Quatsch ist das!

Ja, genau!


Honestly, most of my experience in was in "the doldrums."  I was at a few disadvantages, the biggest of which was that I hardly had time to really dedicate to the organization.  I would go off to school during the academic year, and there wasn't a local squadron for me to visit.  By the time I came home for the summers, I was so out of the loop that it made things really frustrating and hard to catch up. Winter and spring breaks weren't much better.  It took me two years to make second lieutenant, if that gives you any idea of how that was.

And then there were some more "natural" problems.  My squadron wasn't ever really organized, and we were oh-so proud of the cadets, and training wasn't really advertised, and a little bit of squadron politics, and so on and so on.  I wasn't involved with the cadet side of things, so it never held any appeal to me.

I've been out for a couple of years now, but I plan on rejoining this summer.  I think a little bit of time away has definitely made me miss it, and I'm ready to go back in much more proactively--especially now that I'm no longer going off to school!

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

You have any buddies in your Squadron? When I moved I had to transfer to a new Squadron. It is disappointing because everyone there has an ego which is funny since they have not done anything to get an ego in CAP.

No, not really.  My first squadron, the one I served for six years, I was really connected on a personal level with almost everyone in it, which is very rare for me.

I've been in two units since I rejoined a few years ago.  My first one was great until the commander quit.  I had a good professional relationship with that commander, who was very understanding.  I haven't had that since, and I transferred units a little over a year ago.

My current unit has a few members who have been in since Shep was a pup (as my dad used to say) and a few (relatively) younger members that are in like Flint with them...I am not one of those.

I think most of our cadets like me, or at least they are respectful, and I cannot ask for more than that from a cadet, given the professional distance that should be maintained.

I think a lot of it is my own fault.  I am just naturally extremely reserved in person, and have been told that can come across as being "cold," which I don't intend, but it happens anyway.  Really, I've never been "Mr Excitement" and am not very gregarious.

I will bend over backward to help someone but that often isn't evident in someone as circumspect as I.

Have you ever taken a Myers-Briggs personality test?  I rated as an ISFJ.

[Dracosbane]

Here's the story about a member who served as a cadet in the 90s, but left the program because he thought he had better things to do.  After a few years, he realized that he realized that he missed the program, but wasn't in a place to re-join. 

Eventually things changed and he began considering a return.  One day, the man found himself greeting an old friend, mentor, and team mate who was still plugging away in the program.  The mentor asked if the man had considered returning to the program, because the unit needed more senior members.  It just so happened that this chance meeting was on the day of the unit meeting, and the man decided this was the time to return. 

That night, the man showed up and found another former team mate as the CC, and surprised the mentor and the CC with his request to return.  Over the next few weeks, the paperwork was filed, the man was a member again, and began working through the program.

Fast forward to about a year later.  The CC was through with his term, and the new CC selection process began.  Only one member of the unit at that time was prepared and willing to become CC, and with the approval of the WG CC, that member became commander. 

The culture shifted dramatically during this time.  The member, now dealing with a CC who was inexperienced in the program, began to clash with the CC.  Throughout the next several months, the member became concerned that he was making a mistake, and considered leaving.  However the love of the program, and the desire to help the cadets (and seniors) receive the proper training, kept the member from leaving.

Throughout the next two years, the member powered through the program and did what he could to be a positive guide for the CC, even if that meant butting heads.  Over time, the CC came to realize that the program wasn't going to mold to his desires, but that he had to bend and mold to the program and work within it.

Near the end of his term, the CC pulled the member aside and thanked him for being the person he was.  He told the member that he had been wrong about him all this time.  The CC admitted that the first impression he had of the member when he rejoined was that the member was inexperienced, ignorant, and someone who just walked in off the street who happened to know some people in the unit.  It wasn't until some time into his term that the CC finally realized that the member was knowledgeable, intelligent, experienced, and more than capable.  The CC had thought all the stories, experience, and knowledge of the program were untrue, or embellished or something.  Eventually the CC "got it" and understood that the first impression was a snap judgement and way off base.  He admitted that it took him too long to see the truth, and that he appreciated the member for all he'd done in the previous three years.

The member was shocked at this humility and change of attitude.  Throughout this entire time, the member really struggled with his will to participate in the face of such an erroneous attitude.  The CC hadn't intentionally focused such a poor attitude at the member, it just came from a mistaken understanding of the member's credentials.

The member also had to remind himself that something would change.  Either the CC would change his mind about the member, or the CC would end his term and a new CC would take over.  The unfortunate thing was that both of these happened at the same time. 

However, while it had been a rough two plus years for the member, now the member felt much better about his decision to stay and work through it. 

And, while the former CC has taken a supporting role in the unit, the member has progressed in the program and has worked with the next CC, and after a recent change of command, the new CC with better results and less of a clash.  They, too, have realized that the member is a valuable asset and in it for the long haul.

Moral of the story is that while things might look bad now, everything moves in waves.  Highs come with lows, and you might just need to work through the lows to return to that upswing.

This story may or may not be fictional.  Any similarity to any current or former CAP members is not intentional.  Your mileage may vary.  No shirt, no shoes, no service.

[a2capt]

Moral of the story is that while things might look bad now, everything moves in waves.  Highs come with lows, and you might just need to work through the lows to return to that upswing.

This. Yes.
You never know how fast that change will come, either. It may just surprise you over night. Both ways.

[BillB]

Over the past ten years or so, there have bee three "unofficial" reunions of cadets from the 40's to 80's. Those attending ranged from a former National Commander, to cadets that never turned senior. Of about 60 that attended, the majority were no longer in CAP. In talking to them, the reason they weren't intrested ranged frm the politics at Wing, Group Squadron level, the GOBN, to lack of activities other than spoon-fed training that is useless in any duty they were interested in. One woman told me she attnded a training session only because she had to drive three other Seniors to the meeting and decided to sit in even if she wasn't member. She said she knew more about the training subject than the instructor, and she had been out of CAP for almost ten years.
Can you imagine what might be the results if National send out postcards to the last known addres of former members asking why they dropped out of the program and would they be interested in rejoining? Put that Vanguard money to good use

[a2capt]

Can you imagine what might be the results if National send out postcards to the last known addres of former members asking why they dropped out of the program and would they be interested in rejoining? Put that Vanguard money to good use

We might save the USPS!