Who has used the Great Start Program?

[Eaker Guy]

Hey all from CAPTALK land! Been a while since I've started my own thread. Well, here it goes.

I am looking to improve my unit's recruiting and retention program. I'm going to ask the staff to work with me in preparing a staff study report on our unit's recruiting & retention system. Basically, the new cadet walks in our door and "figures it out" on his/her own. It's not where I want to be at.

I'm sure one of the proposed solutions will be the Great Start Program. So my question is this: "Who's used it and how has it worked for you?"

Any and all replies are appreciated.

C/Maj Kiss, CAP

[SarDragon]

PM sent.

[Eaker Guy]

Hey all!

I've looked on CAPTALK and on the internet for current information on the Great Start Program. A lot of it seems outdated. Does anyone have current info on Great Start?

[TheSkyHornet]

Hey all from CAPTALK land! Been a while since I've started my own thread. Well, here it goes.

I am looking to improve my unit's recruiting and retention program. I'm going to ask the staff to work with me in preparing a staff study report on our unit's recruiting & retention system. Basically, the new cadet walks in our door and "figures it out" on his/her own. It's not where I want to be at.

I'm sure one of the proposed solutions will be the Great Start Program. So my question is this: "Who's used it and how has it worked for you?"

Any and all replies are appreciated.

C/Maj Kiss, CAP

I wholeheartedly agree with you there. "Figure it out" is the worst possible learning mechanism, and only applicable if there's nobody else to help teach you to do something, which is nonsense in CAP. So automatic kudos to posting here for suggestions.  :clap:

Have you considered assigning someone with the responsibility of performing the meet/greet with new faces? We have a cadet who is responsible for going up to any person that walks in our door that we don't recognize and welcoming them to our meeting, yadda yadda... He's also responsible for helping to train the new cadets for drill so we don't throw someone right into a formation and expect them to immediately "figure it out." Working out very well.

[Eaker Guy]

Hey all from CAPTALK land! Been a while since I've started my own thread. Well, here it goes.

I am looking to improve my unit's recruiting and retention program. I'm going to ask the staff to work with me in preparing a staff study report on our unit's recruiting & retention system. Basically, the new cadet walks in our door and "figures it out" on his/her own. It's not where I want to be at.

I'm sure one of the proposed solutions will be the Great Start Program. So my question is this: "Who's used it and how has it worked for you?"

Any and all replies are appreciated.

C/Maj Kiss, CAP

I wholeheartedly agree with you there. "Figure it out" is the worst possible learning mechanism, and only applicable if there's nobody else to help teach you to do something, which is nonsense in CAP. So automatic kudos to posting here for suggestions.  :clap:

Have you considered assigning someone with the responsibility of performing the meet/greet with new faces? We have a cadet who is responsible for going up to any person that walks in our door that we don't recognize and welcoming them to our meeting, yadda yadda... He's also responsible for helping to train the new cadets for drill so we don't throw someone right into a formation and expect them to immediately "figure it out." Working out very well.

Thanks for the response(and the kudos!) I like kudos!

We may/may not be assigning a first sergeant, so there are two ways I could go with that. I would have the first sergeant is in charge of the meet & greet. That's option number one. However, we may hold off appointing a first sergeant, which would lead to option number two.

Option number two is appointing a orientation sergeant/officer now. Would solve the immediate problem. However, if we do indeed appoint a first sergeant, the duties would overlap, which would be very, very bad. We may not appoint a first sergeant, and option number two would be good.

I'm currently working on some sort of schedule or outline that states what absolutely needs to be taught to new cadet, and what is optional to teach to new cadets.

Glad it's been working out for you. I may include this idea in the staff study. I'll at least bring it up with the staff.

Thanks again,

C/Maj Kiss, CAP

[Spam]

The fact that you are doing a staff study and are looking at this systematically, and asking for feedback, is to your credit. Well done, I'd say.

Garibaldi (MAJ Estes) and I are driving our unit to incorporate Great Start elements into our existing, successful Phase 1 orientation program, which we'd discussed on another thread (the GTM3 curriculum one, from my honorable nerd brother from Florida Wing whom I am growing to love so much). I am looking at a complete back to basics revision from the 52-16 requirements for each Phase, and am incorporating the GS elements into our Phase 1 Basic Flight 60 day curriculum, along with some of the GTM3 prep and fam safety related modules, and the remaining orientation elements.

Having recently been a Director of Cadet Programs, my informal research into Great Start indicated that is wasn't being widely formally used, in an instructional sense, other than as a deliverable directly to new cadets and parents from NHQ/Cadet Programs. I think that's due to the manpower personnel and training limitations of most of our volunteer units, who weren't generally equipped with a "basic training" curriculum, as far as they were aware. Most of the units in my Wing seemed to throw their people into the regular Flight with little discrimination. Some few units in NW Georgia until recently would combine for a "BCT weekend" (Basic Cadet Training), but we keep seeing cadets from the smaller, rural units and the urban units showing up at encampment without having mandatory memorization and skills down, without basic knowledge of drill, etc.

So, my challenge (at a local unit level only since Wing is no longer my business) is to incorporate the best elements of Great Start into our 30 year old Basic Flight curriculum (with slides, with an instructors guide written at a junior HS level for our C/NCO cadre, and with an exit exam to complement the existing Lead Lab 1 Curry test and to measure performance), to ensure that we retain our historical focus on at least the safety related ES SQTR elements (e.g. heat and cold injury awareness, etc. that are useful at airshows and events even if the cadet eschews the optional ES element), and wrap them into a cohesive package as part of our normal eight week rotational training cycle. Note: in my last command tour, I de-linked this exit test from award of the Curry ribbon, in case some of you might suspect that we are making it far tougher than the National requirement.

We will be posting the revised Great Start inclusive curriculum presently, but here's our current material, if you care to look:
http://www.ga045.org/
http://www.ga045.org/content/SSCS_Resources1.html - see "Basic Flight Knowledge". It is out of date, but we're hammering on it again.

My motto these days is, "We Expect More", in keeping with our "Excellence in All We Do" core value.

V/R,
Spam

[Eaker Guy]

The fact that you are doing a staff study and are looking at this systematically, and asking for feedback, is to your credit. Well done, I'd say.

Garibaldi (MAJ Estes) and I are driving our unit to incorporate Great Start elements into our existing, successful Phase 1 orientation program, which we'd discussed on another thread (the GTM3 curriculum one, from my honorable nerd brother from Florida Wing whom I am growing to love so much). I am looking at a complete back to basics revision from the 52-16 requirements for each Phase, and am incorporating the GS elements into our Phase 1 Basic Flight 60 day curriculum, along with some of the GTM3 prep and fam safety related modules, and the remaining orientation elements.

Having recently been a Director of Cadet Programs, my informal research into Great Start indicated that is wasn't being widely formally used, in an instructional sense, other than as a deliverable directly to new cadets and parents from NHQ/Cadet Programs. I think that's due to the manpower personnel and training limitations of most of our volunteer units, who weren't generally equipped with a "basic training" curriculum, as far as they were aware. Most of the units in my Wing seemed to throw their people into the regular Flight with little discrimination. Some few units in NW Georgia until recently would combine for a "BCT weekend" (Basic Cadet Training), but we keep seeing cadets from the smaller, rural units and the urban units showing up at encampment without having mandatory memorization and skills down, without basic knowledge of drill, etc.

So, my challenge (at a local unit level only since Wing is no longer my business) is to incorporate the best elements of Great Start into our 30 year old Basic Flight curriculum (with slides, with an instructors guide written at a junior HS level for our C/NCO cadre, and with an exit exam to complement the existing Lead Lab 1 Curry test and to measure performance), to ensure that we retain our historical focus on at least the safety related ES SQTR elements (e.g. heat and cold injury awareness, etc. that are useful at airshows and events even if the cadet eschews the optional ES element), and wrap them into a cohesive package as part of our normal eight week rotational training cycle. Note: in my last command tour, I de-linked this exit test from award of the Curry ribbon, in case some of you might suspect that we are making it far tougher than the National requirement.

We will be posting the revised Great Start inclusive curriculum presently, but here's our current material, if you care to look:
http://www.ga045.org/
http://www.ga045.org/content/SSCS_Resources1.html - see "Basic Flight Knowledge". It is out of date, but we're hammering on it again.

My motto these days is, "We Expect More", in keeping with our "Excellence in All We Do" core value.

V/R,
Spam

Thanks for your response Spam,

As for the staff study, I did one when I was a C/CMSgt.... and it was really bad. So I'm looking to not only improve our orientation system, but prove something to myself as well. Thank you for the compliment.

As for what you said about staff, I'm pretty sure we have enough senior and cadets to staff a Great Start program(whichever type it may be) I currently have two C/1st Lt's(with one going for C/Capt), two C/2d Lt's, two C/MSgt's(both of them going for C/SMSgt), a C/SSgt, and a C/SrA(going for C/SSgt). Since I don't have experience with Great Start, I don't know if this is enough to staff a Great Start.

As for the materials posted, they look fantastic! I don't suppose you mind if I take them and customize(and update) them to my squadron, do you? Also, I think it's a great idea to not give a cadet a squadron patch until they've graduated from the BCT flight. We just hand them to every member that walks in the door.

Great motto Spam! We should expect more, and it's a principle that I need to ingrain into our cadets' mentality. They've become a little to complacent as of late. :clap: :clap: :clap:

Thanks again,

C/Maj Kiss, CAP

[LTC Don]

A program like Great Start is as much about culture change as anything else.  Take a look at Great Start as a whole, with a focused eye on what the expected outcome is (cadets actually finishing the Cadet Program in a meaningful way). Recognizing you don't have the staff to realistically fully execute GS, break it down to those pieces you can currently execute in a quality manner.  As you begin to realize the fruits of you and your staff's labors, add in the pieces you couldn't bring in before and soon, you'll have the whole program up and running.  What does 'soon' mean?  GS is not a 90-day wonder.  To develop it, could take up to three years until you have that 'culture change' mentioned earlier and the system will run on it's own.