Need advice from senior member

[wingofeagle]

I have been a cadet for almost a year.  My rank is SrA. and #3 in rank among my peers.  I love the friends I've made in CAP and I want to attain the Spaatz award.  I have a problem though.

My commander from the begining has been feeding me misinformation. Including recruiting me with the promise that if I don't hurry up and join, I won't be able to go on the helicopter rides that we will soon be having.  That never happened, but I don't regret joining. 
The ES officer promises activities month after month, then they never happen. 
My rank isn't higher because my commander doesn't do the paperwork right and then I have to remind her to look into things.  I thank God for my mom who helps me google the information I need to know and find the regulations to help me learn because there is so much misinformation that my commander tells me that I won't go into here. 
Our meetings are disorganized without adults knowing what to do our everyone wanting the stage, making our meetings run late which aggrivates my ride.
Our drill is simply "march, march, march" and when I try to test I don't know what the heck I'm suppose to do. 

My mom suggested I take my concerns directly to my commander and ask what she can do to help, especially to prepare me for drill tests and to get me some O-flight opportunities.  She praised me and said I would be nominated cadet of the year (I don't qualify, duh) and then did nothing. 

She is a great recruiter, not taking no for an answer, and we have new recruits every meeting but our numbers don't grow because she can't administer the program well enough to retain anyone.  I feel sorry for her. 

There is another squadron in our city and I desperatly want to join them because they are very active, have many high ranking members, participate activily with local charities and are known statewide. I have terrible "grass is greener" disease and I don't know what to do.  I feel terribly disloyal but can't stand to go to another poorly run meeting with no future in sight. I'm thinking after encampment, I'm outta there. 

But then what?  I can't tell anyone (except here, anonymously) my concerns without losing my integrity.  What do I tell the other squadron commander as to why I want to join them?  Although, our squadron has a reputation, so I might not have to say anything.  sigh....

[Skydude61]

 (Not Speaking as a senior member, I am a cadet)

My best suggestion to you is to address senior members directly within your squadron other than the Commander. they can offer a lot of insight, and can help you with these issues.

[Spaceman3750]

I want to attain the Spaatz award.

First off, good for you! Don't let any local hang-ups get in the way of that.

My commander from the begining has been feeding me misinformation.

I doubt she's been feeding you misinformation as much as she has been giving you information she believes to be true at the time. "feeding misinformation" tends to imply intentionally giving you bad information, and I doubt that's the case.

... I won't be able to go on the helicopter rides that we will soon be having.  That never happened ...

Things fall through. Units get activated, birds break down.

The ES officer promises activities month after month, then they never happen.

If the ES officer is inexperienced or there isn't strong ES interest in the squadron, it can be very hard to get things started. I don't agree with him promising you things that aren't coming through, but I would cut him some slack. Local and wing ops tempos can get in the way of things too. It's hard to schedule things on the same weekend bigger things are going on, or things that tie up your key resources. That happens a lot to me with scheduling. I just had to cancel a SAREX that was scheduled for tomorrow. It really sucks, I hated doing it - I even had the wing vice commander lined up to be our incident commander! But the logistics didn't come through and with my wing having been tied up in Ardent Sentry all week it made it difficult to put together the machines and manpower to make it happen. I know members of my squadron and others were disappointed, but I decided I would rather put on a fully-cooked SAREX that will run great than a half-baked one that sucks.

I thank God for my mom who helps me google the information I need to know and find the regulations to help me learn because there is so much misinformation that my commander tells me that I won't go into here.

You should understand now that every CAP reg can be interpreted 18 different ways. I like that you're going out and reading the regs yourself instead of relying on rumors and theories but be careful, because no two people read our regs the same way.

My mom suggested I take my concerns directly to my commander and ask what she can do to help, especially to prepare me for drill tests and to get me some O-flight opportunities.

You need to use your chain of command to your advantage. Furthermore, o-flight opportunities might not be readily available in your area for whatever reason, and you need to understand that there's a lot more that goes into o-flights than pulling the plane out of the hanger and hopping in.

All of that said, you need to make sure to use your chain of command to voice your issues maturely, respectfully, but frankly (you won't lose your integrity). If you don't the squadron staff may be unhappy that you didn't tell them something was wrong.

You sound very bright and it looks like you have the drive to make a future in CAP. See if you can get the issues resolved in your squadron before jumping ship. Just remember that nobody in your squadron is a mind reader.

[jks19714]

I'm a (new) senior member serving in a cadet squadron and I've see several cadets from other squadrons transfer and others just "drill" with us.  There doesn't seem to be any stigma attached to it as far as I can see.  We're happy to have new (or slightly used  ) members.

Sometimes things don't click, for whatever reason, and another squadron might be the answer. 

I don't recommend bad mouthing your old unit, but if I were you, I would ask the other squadron commander if I could attend a meeting or two in their squadron.  If it works for you, I would say transfer.  But always keep in mind that you never know who you will run into later in life and you shouldn't burn any bridges with your old unit.

Best of luck.

john

[wingofeagle]

There is no "chain of command". Just senior members who may or may not show up and our senior squadron commander. I don't have a "buffer" between me and her. 
I have actively participated in everything and the O flights are because we have no senior member getting them lined up.  I was a guest at a glider O-flight that another squadron was having.

She won't inform us of activities or care about our involvement outside of the meetings (FTX, Sarex, etc.) because she works and camping is an absolute no no for her so she doesn't seem to think it's important for us.  She actually tried to talk me out of going on an FTX because "it's dirty and cold". 

[RADIOMAN015]

Since there is another squadron in your area, I'd suggest you just transfer.  It isn't responsibility as a young cadet to fix the broken organization in your current squadron

That is what is good about the program IF you are in a unit that you feel isn't meeting your personal goals, transfer to another unit, which even by your own admissions seems to be quite active and has it together.

RM

[sneakers]

Since there is another squadron in your area, I'd suggest you just transfer.  It isn't responsibility as a young cadet to fix the broken organization in your current squadron

That is what is good about the program IF you are in a unit that you feel isn't meeting your personal goals, transfer to another unit, which even by your own admissions seems to be quite active and has it together.

RM

Agreed. There's probably nothing you can do to correct whatever is going wrong with your unit. Transfer squadrons, promote, learn all you can, and eventually when problems like that arise, you may (hopefully  ) be able to influence events.

[Ron1319]

Agreed, switch units.  It's not your fault and you don't have the experience to fix it.