Cadet Age Limit

[Flying Pig]

There was a C/Col that was 13 yrs old.  Somewhat of a disservice I think.  Im not sure how long she was in before she became a C/Col, but I dont think racing through the tests was the intent of the program.   

[Майор Хаткевич]

There was a C/Col that was 13 yrs old.  Somewhat of a disservice I think.  Im not sure how long she was in before she became a C/Col, but I dont think racing through the tests was the intent of the program.   

It's a disservice at 15 as well IMHO.

We have age requirements for NCSAs, why not for progression? Mitchell no sooner than 15, Earhart at 16, Eaker at 17. Leaves a year for the Spaatz.

Otherwise, we have 15.16 year old Spaatz cadets as well. But they are the exception not the rule.

[lordmonar]

I agree...but on the other hand....since the system allows for it....someone anticipated that it could and maybe even should happen.

Bottom line is if a cadet has fulfilled the promotion requirements....then he/she should be promoted regardless of age.

Edit:

I also want to add...that the rules have changed from way back when to eliminate the possibilty for a 13 year old Spaatz.  Today we have a more or less hard age of 12....it takes a minimun of 3 years 4 months (assuming no JROTC time).  If a cadet joined on his 12th birthday and took and passed his Curry that night and then hit everything just right (at the 8 week mark) then he/she would be 15 years old and 4 months on the day he completes their Spaatz.

But let's call it.  That almost never happens.  Both by design and the aptitude of your average cadet.

Bottom line...is that the unit commander has the final say and each promotion has that leadership expectations.  If a cadet is not ready don't promote....if he is promote.

[Eclipse]

There was a C/Col that was 13 yrs old.  Somewhat of a disservice I think.  Im not sure how long she was in before she became a C/Col, but I dont think racing through the tests was the intent of the program.

That can never happen again with the required test spacing, and I would like to think that the required wait times were in part a response to that situation.

Does anyone know if she's even still active?  That was 2 or three years ago, so she'd be about 15 or 16 now.

Edit: OK, it was a he, not a she.  Apparently from Ohio. This thread http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=86.0 indicates the
article appeared in the March 05 Volunteer, so that cadet would be about 19 now.

[Майор Хаткевич]

Oh...THAT Cadet...

Funny thing, he went to the same NCSA as I did the year before. I'd say from what the cadets who went that year as well told the rest of us, he is a poster child for the rules we have now.

[jimmydeanno]

I joined CAP shortly after my 15th birthday.  I don't know if it was the right time for me or not.  I wasn't super into it at first and just muddled around for a few months.  That was the environment of the squadron and I didn't know any better.

However,  there were cadets older and younger than I and the maturity levels ranged across the board.  I wouldn't call any of us fragile.  I will say though, that the number of cadets joining at 16, 17 and 18 were practically none.  By that time, they had already found what sports they were going to play, had girlfriends, cars, etc - which can obviously limit the pool of potential candidates.

Over the past decade, I have come to find out that joining anything at around the age of 12 can be a very positive experience on a child (or in our case, Cadet).  It's around that age where they start going to schools with the "big kids" and can be exposed to things that their parents wouldn't be too happy about.  They become smart about things on the internet, have just enough freedom to get themselves into some serious trouble, etc.  It really is a growing period in their lives.

So you take a 12 year old and expose them to things like integrity, selflessness, community service, discipline, honor, etc and it's going to be a good thing.

What can happen though (I've had to fix it a few times), is that the older cadets become disconnected from the younger ones.  The older ones don't want to put the effort in to teach a bunch of immature 12 year olds - forgetting that they were that group a mere three years ago.  This can greatly affect the experience that the 12 year old gets, disenfranchising them from the program.

When it comes down to it, the greatest influence that will change a 12 year old's experience in our program is the senior leadership in their unit.  If the senior leadership views them as immature 12 year olds that shouldn't be in the program, it's going to affect their experience.  If the senior leadership is willing to put the effort in and conduct the program as designed, those immature 12 year olds will become mature 17 year old leaders with a bright future.

Also, as a young senior member, you can be an extremely valuable resource to your squadron's cadet program.  Seniors in our age range <35 are kind of rare.  This gives your unit the opportunity to have someone that can get out and do some really physically demanding stuff with the cadets.  It's not so much that you'd be conducting all the lessons, etc but the enabler.

[lordmonar]

Oh...THAT Cadet...

Funny thing, he went to the same NCSA as I did the year before. I'd say from what the cadets who went that year as well told the rest of us, he is a poster child for the rules we have now.

But that is kind of a good thing.

Even with the old rules that let a 10 year old in because he was in 6th grade....and was in one of those squadrons that promoted solely on the basis of test passage and no the whole person model.

It was just one person in the last 5 years.

On the other hand I have seen many 18-19-20 year old Eaker and Spaatz cadets who are not really all that great either.

Either way....delaying our access to potential cadets will only mean that we will never get access to a great majority of them.  Once they hit high school it is a loosing battle with dateing, cars, jobs, band, sports, college prep. 

Get them young and train them early.

[Eclipse]

Get them young and train them early.

+1 I'd be more in favor of bringing them in a little earlier (maybe 11?), and cutting things off hard at 18.  I think are biggest influence
is to cadets under 18, anyone older than that is reaching for some specific goal, but is likely already molded.

[Spike]

National Headquarters has a Nation Wide Recruiting Program to get Cadets into CAP though.  We should have to do nothing but sit back and let them beat down our doors.

Man, we have 70 or so teens join every year because they saw a CAP recruiting commercial on TV.  CAP is mentioned on radio and on fliers everywhere.  I can not believe how much advertising Maxwell does for us.

Why even worry about one Cadet when we all have 100 more to replace that one Cadet at any time?

/sarcasm off

[SarDragon]

I joined a week before I turned 15, not too long after I learned about CAP. Fro me it was a good age, due to maturity issues, but joining earlier might have helped in that area. Or not. I certainly would have had more time to advance farther, although the program was significantly different back then. This was pre-Sorenson.

[AirAux]

IIRC, there was a 13 year old female cadet in the Georgia wing that made C/Col.  Her family was very active and she moved to Texas I believe.  She was in the 10 year old/6th grade rule I believe.  You know it would be hard to raise the age of cadets if you want to have these very successful middle school squadrons out there.   

[Flying Pig]

There was a C/Col that was 13 yrs old.  Somewhat of a disservice I think.  Im not sure how long she was in before she became a C/Col, but I dont think racing through the tests was the intent of the program.

That can never happen again with the required test spacing, and I would like to think that the required wait times were in part a response to that situation.

Does anyone know if she's even still active?  That was 2 or three years ago, so she'd be about 15 or 16 now.

Edit: OK, it was a he, not a she.  Apparently from Ohio. This thread http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=86.0 indicates the
article appeared in the March 05 Volunteer, so that cadet would be about 19 now.

No, the cadet Im talking about was female.  She was on the volunteer as well.  Probably about 2 yrs ago.  She got her Spaatz at age 13.

[Майор Хаткевич]

The female cadet is mentioned on page 4 of the link eclipse posted.

[Eclipse]

The female cadet is mentioned on page 4 of the link eclipse posted.

OK, I really need to RTFM - the link above has nothing to do with this conversation, and I will go back and remember that the 13 yro Spaatzen was a female.

Anyone?

[SarDragon]

Her other accomplishments outside CAP were also impressive, according to the article. She likely had all the "right stuff" to legitimately earn her Spaatz.

[Eclipse]

Her other accomplishments outside CAP were also impressive, according to the article. She likely had all the "right stuff" to legitimately earn her Spaatz.

No question, but does anyone know if she remained active?

[addo1]

There was a C/Col that was 13 yrs old.  Somewhat of a disservice I think.  Im not sure how long she was in before she became a C/Col, but I dont think racing through the tests was the intent of the program.

That can never happen again with the required test spacing, and I would like to think that the required wait times were in part a response to that situation.

Does anyone know if she's even still active?  That was 2 or three years ago, so she'd be about 15 or 16 now.

Edit: OK, it was a he, not a she.  Apparently from Ohio. This thread http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=86.0 indicates the
article appeared in the March 05 Volunteer, so that cadet would be about 19 now.

No, the cadet Im talking about was female.  She was on the volunteer as well.  Probably about 2 yrs ago.  She got her Spaatz at age 13.

Yup... TXWG Encampment a few years ago if I remember correctly...

[a2capt]

My son will be joining this August when he turns 12.

Does the unit still have that "spare" nameplate? ;-)

[BlackKnight]

It's a disservice at 15 as well IMHO.

We have age requirements for NCSAs, why not for progression? Mitchell no sooner than 15, Earhart at 16, Eaker at 17. Leaves a year for the Spaatz.

My advice is don't try to fix what isn't broken. 

There are subtleties to cadet progression that we aren't taking into account. Only in rare cases is progression perfectly linear.  A middle-school cadet may rocket up to the Mitchell award in 2 years. But then they get into high school where they have much less available time for CAP. It may take them another 3-4 years to work their way up to the Eaker. Male cadet officers often stall out trying to pass the CPFT as the standards get tougher with age and grade.  Others have trouble writing a proper essay or SDA and they take awhile to master those skills.

We also know that in general, young females mature faster than males.  A 14 YO female will often master cadet officership more easily than her male counterpart, who is likely more comfortable being an action-oriented flight sergeant than a flight commander who is responsible for planning the quarterly training/activity agenda.

[nesagsar]

I wanted to join CAP since I was 6 years old. We had a hard time finding and contacting a unit until I was 13. I like to think that I would have made at least Eaker if I had been in a better unit. I think a cadet is not defined by his or her age, rank, grade, ES qualifications, encampments, etc... A whole person concept would be applied.