Cadet Weapons Qualifications Badge

[John Bryan]

^ I think attending a Service Academy should count as a reason to make the cadet a Senior Member.  The DOD counts Academy Cadets on the Active duty scrolls, thus they are Active Duty, and they get all the rights and benefits of being AD.  Heck they get real military ribbons while attending the Academies, while their counterparts in ROTC get pretend "Cadet Land" ribbons.  Anyway, I have never been very impressed with Academy graduates to begin with, they stay in the service for less time, and they have a certain arrogance about them.  PLUS ROTC and OCS/OTS make better officers (the well-rounded citizen-soldier/citizen-airman type that our military is based on).  The Academies are throwbacks to a different time in the United States, and I am all for shutting them down to save the tax-payers some $$ 

WOW I digressed too far.... 

ROTC=Reserve, Reserves=Reserve, National Guard=Reserve, Academy=Active Duty, and Active Duty= Active Duty. 

I am all for transitioning a Cadet to Senior if he or she is ordered from the reserves to Active Duty for a deployment as well.

I respectfully do not agree with you on this.  I would note that for retirement and other things of meaning (not that ribbons don't have meaning...thought I'd say that before I start a war of word  :angel:) their service starts after they graduate from the academy. Those 4 years don't count.  I see no need to force our CAP cadets into senior membership.....they will have enough time to wear gray and turn gray.

[Hawk200]

I would note that for retirement and other things of meaning (not that ribbons don't have meaning...thought I'd say that before I start a war of word  :angel:) their service starts after they graduate from the academy. Those 4 years don't count.  I see no need to force our CAP cadets into senior membership.....they will have enough time to wear gray and turn gray.

When it comes to those Academies, it's kind of a moot point anyway. Just about any (yes, I know, not necessarily every)  cadet making it through is senior member age by the time they graduate. From what I've seen, most of them take a few years before they come back to CAP, if at all.

Now back to the topic at hand. So far I have not been able to find a photo on the web of the Junior NRA Marksmanship badge. It is a specific badge, and actually has that specific inscription on it. If the badge does not say that, it isn't authorized for wear. The ones shown in the various links on this thread are not the proper one.

[DNall]

Just quickly on this side topic...

Service academy is active duty enlistment. It does count as your pay entry base date. It does count toward retirement in terms of total years, but that's quirky. If you're prior enlisted then you need 20yrs commissioned service to retire at your commissioned grade (otherwise it reverts to previous enlisted grade), and 30yrs commissioned for that rate. The prior enlisted years, including time at an academy or in OTS get added on after that.

A lot of cadet officers (at least around here) stay semi-active during college so they can test thru Spaatz. Guard/res deployment is not generally by choice. My cadet that's deployed turns 21 while he's gone, but that's not always the case. I recall seeing a story about a NYWG cadet (IIRC) that came back from deployment with combat ribbons & continued as a cadet. I don't think it'd be right to hold involuntary deployment against a cadet trying to take a Spaatz. If we're going to do that we might as well cut the program off at 18 & work harder to transition those folks to adult officers.

[MIKE]

Drift terminated.