FO discrimination

[DNall]

Apples and oranges....first drinking is not a normal duty function of anyone in the USAF or CAP.

As an aviation officer.... Well the definition of "duty"...   

If the USAF has a rule that you had to be 21 to drive...and then put you incharge a detail that required you to certify and supervise drivers....that would be very stupid.

Now...we don't have a lot of FO's in command positions.....but there is no rule stopping an FO being appointed a Squadron Commander.....where that exact situation can occur.

I don't really care one way or the other...but I do think we need to make all our regulations and policies consistant.

If you can drive a van with passangers under 21.....you should not be able to command, fly a C-182 with pax, be a GTL and a whole host of other jobs that are just as responsible and have the same potential for accidents/damage/cost.

We don't often put FOs in charge of units, but we do very often place them in charge of other people's kids with limited to no supervision, including overnight. That's a case I would have to argue is fraught with much more potential liability/risk to CAP than any authority wielded by a Sq/CC.

I respect the insurance issue. Which makes flying aircraft very disjointed. I guess the insurance for pilots doesn't have age breaks. So, do we further restrict those younger members to be consistent, or let them fly... obviously fly.

As far as the FO program existing... I asked about this when I was once a young innocent Flight Officer.  I was told the reason for having it is that generally you must be 21+ to become a commissioned officer in the RM. CAP maintains the FO program in this day and age to adhere to that adage.

That is absolutely incorrect, and in fact has never been a rule in the history of this country. There is no age requirement for commissioning.

( I know about the half dozen "military Jo-Co's" that pop out 20 y/o reservists, with an associates; but they are 1) reservists and 2) they have stipulations requiring a bachelors before they advance/promote/go active)

The ROTC/Jr col's you mention are a VERY small factor. However, the majority of officers in the NG commission via OCS, which requires 90hrs at commissioning, not a completed degree. Again, with the rise of dual-credit home-school kids, we are seeing many more people meet this standard at 18/19 than in past generations.

You get a federal commission on day one, you can & do serve on active duty, and you don't need a completed degree till Capt, which can be 5-7 years.

Now... absorb this virtual smack upside the head... Them being guard/reserve doesn't have anything to do with age/education. More than half of all combat arms units in the Army are in the guard (that's infantry, armor, air defense, aviation, etc). Guard officers have as much or more combat experience as active duty counterparts & deploy just as often. These young officers, including many under 21, are very actively deciding life & death in combat zones.

The ONLY reason guard/reserve officers are commissioned w/o a completed degree and active duty officers generally are not is the part-timers have the opportunity to complete the degree where active officers generally do not. That said, active duty enlisted can attend OCS & commission w/o completed degrees as well, though they have to also be accepted into the degree completion program.

And while we're talking about this... You can enter the Army (including active duty) as a WO pilot at 18 w/ no college & operate 20-40million dollar state of the art aircraft in combat and in charge of dozens of enlisted troops. In fact, you can build hours and very potentially be in charge in the air/combat of commissioned officers who may well have degrees.

[Johnny Yuma]

I was a FO my first time in CAP. The complaints about it are valid.

My situation was such that I left CAP. Even though I didn't work directly with cadets they believed that since I wasn't a "real" officer I was a joke. The Senior members, of whom I deputy commander of Seniors in a Composite squadron, treated the cadets better than the 3 FO's on staff.

It became a nightmare situation when a number of cadets lodged false CPPT complaints against me and another SM they didn't like in an effort to purge us from the unit and CAP. Among the ringleaders was my own brother, a "career" cadet NCO who had no desire to achieve anything past C/MSGT.

When the dust settled, I was cleared. However the mistreatment remained and the unit CC was unwilling to take any action to resolve the issues. Between this and seeing the unit CC spend money the unit didn't have  I quit.

I've railed before on the need for a earlier cutoff of the cadet program and how making every cadet a Senior member at age 18 solves more problems than it creates. I can also live with giving 18-21 yo members officer rank, provided a more intense program were created. Let's say both Senior levels 1-2-3 were merged with the academic/PT requirements of the Aerhart, Eaker and Spaatz in order to make 2LT and 1LT. That would make them almost equally qualified to make Captain at 21 just like any Spaatz cadet turning 21.

I won't get into the CPPT issues this solves. I think CAP, Inc. is living on borrowed time in a number of more liberal states (and some conservative ones, too) telling anyone over 18 who they can or can't date. They 2B an 18+ yo Senior and/or a Cadet somewhere like California, Connecticut  or Vermont  over dating and I believe the courts there could hand the plaintiff a huge chunk of our membership dues. 
     

[CaptCFI]

By forcing CAP to change the status of Cadets 18-20, we do a great disservice to our program.  The program was designed from inception to allow these future leaders to continue their CAP Career.  Do we really need to stop these future leaders from representing the USA on IACE, recieving scholarships, acting as encampment cadet commanders, ES leaders, and representing cadets at their respective region and National Levels?  The moral of the story is that we need to respect our members as individuals.  For example, if you have a cadet who is a CFI, like I was back in the day-- they need to be treated as a CFI, but also acknowledged as a cadet.  Please realize many of our Phase 3 & Phase 4 cadets have been in as long as Captain's and Major's in CAP in some cases.  The CAP Program was designed for a reason and needs to be left as such.

[Capt Ford]

From my point of view, I am an 18 year old senior member that had to switch over from the cadet side do to I was unable to attend any of my squadrons meetings because of night classes I am taking. I will be a Flight Officer in about a month and I personally don't see the point in it, but my Squadron Commander pointed out that I can work my way up to Senior Flight officer easily by the time I turn 21, and then transfer over to 1st Lt, or if I have the time in grade and Level II done, to captain, which sounds like a sweet deal.

Anyways, if your 18 your an adult, so it shouldn't matter what your grade is, as long as you act like an adult and take responsability for your actions, most likely they will treat you as one, heck that's how I made ES officer in my Squadron