Coming: The New & Improved CadetStuff.org

As many of you may know, Cadetstuff.org has been awfully static of late.   11 years is a lot of time, and we've been around for all of it, but things got old, things got busy, and the site just sort of.. stopped.   

We've recently shaken things up a bit, and Tom Rehman of Ohio Wing, former NCAC Chair and now big shot squadron commander in the Cleveland area, has taken on the reigns as Managing Editor and is leading our effort to re-make CadetStuff.org as the  place to come for Cadet Program-oriented materials, articles, discussion and information. In short, CadetStuff will once again become the information resource for "all things cadet."

We're shooting for a 1 May launch date of the new site, to include new content and select topical items carried over from the old site.  It is a lot of work, creating  a new publishing platform and moving to a new paradigm. But we're going to do it, and bring CadetStuff in to, well, the second decade of the 21st Century!

To that end, we're soliciting articles from members of the Cadet Programs community at large as part of the relaunch of CadetStuff.org. 
If you'd like to write something for CadetStuff, be it an article on the best way to shine your boots, how to line up your collar insignia in three easy steps, or even just "10 Tips for Getting Selected for Encampment Staff".

To start, we're preferring shorter articles, 500-750 words (they can go longer), and while we'll certainly take articles from anybody in the Cadet Programs space, we're always on the lookout for articles written by cadets. We encourage you to share your writings about things you've learned, things you've done, or things you think others in Cadet Programs will find interesting.  Never written for publication before?  Hey, no problem!  Our team of crack editors will help you out.

(Mind you: Getting content for the site became really the most difficult and time consuming aspect of running CadetStuff.  Articles don't grow on trees, as much as we wish they did, and while yeah, occasionally one would fall out of the sky and land in our laps, it wasn't that frequent!    So please, help us out: if you've got even the barest inclination to write, we'll be interested to hear from you.)

Drop us a line at submissions@cadetstuff.org with articles, story ideas, photos, cadet related humor, whatever strikes your fancy. We might not use everything we get, but at this point, we're not as picky as you'd think. 

Feel free to share this with your friends, fellow CP officers, fellow cadets and anybody who might have a vested interest in running a quality Cadet Program, not just folks here on CAP-Talk:  CadetStuff will be a go-to source for the best gouge, but it will only get that way with your help (contrary to widely held opinion, we do not have teams of writers chained up in my garage, typing frantically on Macintoshes and fed with a slingshot.   I'm still not sure where that rumor came from!)

Thanks!

Darin Ninness
Editor-in-Chief, CadetStuff.org

Good to hear! I used to LOVE reading the articles when I was a cadet, and was sad to see the articles and the forums slowly start drying up.

Good to hear! I used to LOVE reading the articles when I was a cadet, and was sad to see the articles and the forums slowly start drying up.

Well, like I said: articles don't grow on trees.  CadetStuff was intended to help folks around the country share knowledge and info.  Got something that works great in Pocatello? Hey, share it. Maybe the folks in Ishpeming or Tampa can use it, too. 

99% of the genesis of CadetStuff in 2000 was "Hey, I'm sick of hearing some cadet give a 'Forward by a column left!' command... Can we put that on this here newfangled interwebby thing something that says 'Hey, don't do that!'??"  And it was people from around the country who wrote articles for us.

CadetStuff launches in 2 weeks.  We presently don't have enough content to launch. We *need* more articles.  Not in two weeks. This week.

As NIN said, if anybody here has any desire at all to share things they've learned in CAP -- even if you think it's too simple to be worthy of an article (it's probably not -- you can run your ideas by NIN or just crack out of rough outline or draft of what you had in mind and see what the CadetStuff editorial team can suggest.   Plus, think of all the people that will want your autograph when you get published big-time on CS with your very own author bio.

I'm working with the CadetStuff team to help out with the new site build, and I can't speak highly enough of this site.  For those of you who don't remember, way before CAPTalk or its predecessor CAPBoard were even thoughts, CadetStuff was the go-to resource online for cadets and cadet programs oriented adult members.  A very worthy project to spend a few of your spare minutes on.

So, I'm part of the previously mentioned "team of crack editors," and I'd love to answer any questions you might have about content selection, editorial standards, and other stuff related to getting started.

For starters, here's a list of the kind of content we're seeking:

• leadership topics (How do you maintain discipline?)
• management topics (How do you run an effective staff meeting?)
• how-to guides (How can a cadet get a private pilots license?)
• trip reports (What's SUPT-FC like? How can I prepare for Hawk/PJOC/CCOC?)
• ethics articles (What's the coolest ML/CD discussion you've ever seen?)
• science & technology (What's an AE or military science current event that every cadet should know about?)
• physical fitness (What's the best advice you've received for getting in shape?)

Please not that this is not an all-inclusive list. We're open to suggestions. If you have a great idea for an article but aren't sure if it'd be a good fit for the CadetStuff target audience, feel free to bounce it off me or someone else on the CadetStuff Staff before writing the article.

As for writing standards, as a general rule, the guidance on effective communications from Ch. 8 of Learn to Lead Vol. 2 is a great place to start.

Beyond that, if you have any specific questions, feel free to shoot me a PM or hit us up by email.

Happy writings!
-jmb-

Oh, one more thing: We're also looking for CadetStuff Field Reporters.

These folks will essentially live blog their experiences at NCSAs and other activities. If you're interested in letting the CadetStuff community join you from afar as you're having a blast at the coolest activity you've ever been to, we'd love to publish a few shorter posts from you while you're in the zone!

Thanks,
-jmb-

Just a quick update.

Thanks so far to all who have stepped up and volunteered to help write an article or three (oh, did I say "three"? I meant "four".. you did volunteer to write more than one, right? Just kidding!).

I'm sure there are still more articles out there just dying to be written, however.  So if you have even an inkling to become the next great Cadet Programs Hemmingway, let us know, we can help!

We're still rapidly preparing for the launch of what we are calling internally "CadetStuff 2.0", which is the biggest change to CadetStuff since its launch in 2001.

Initially, the site will be a little sparse, since we're not directly porting over all the old content. There was a lot of embedded HTML, weird Javascript calls, junk like that and doing a direct port would have required massive content clean up, and none of us had the time or the energy for that.

So in the interest of keeping things moving, we're going to roll out the *New & Improved* CadetStuff with a new set of "launch" articles and as the weeks and months progress, you will see a much of the relevant content from the old site wind up on the new site, along with new articles, new features, social media integration, and a whole host of other stuff.

At the same time, we're revamping the CadetStuff forums, to include a new forum package that includes the ability for article comments to be included in forum discussions and vice-versa.  (yes, sadly, that means that you'll have to create a new forum ID, but it also allows us to get away from the baggage of the old forums)

Remember, if you're interested in writing for CadetStuff, drop a line to 'submissions@cadetstuff.org' and one of our crack squad (ok, its really more like a fire team) of editors will get in touch with you.

ETA: Cadet Programs Officers: One of the things we're trying to do with the new and & improved CadetStuff is to begin building a "community of practice" for Cadet Program Officers from all cadet programs.  It will serve as a great opportunity to promote and share best practices, ideas, documents and things like that.   Lets face it: none of us as smart as "all" of us, right?  So when we get things rolling on the new site, please come on over, register for the forums and lets share our information so that our most experienced members can help the least-experienced members.

We're online. Check it.

http://www.cadetstuff.org/

Do the old accounts work, or do we need to apply for a new one?

New accounts.

Looks... Fresh. I'm wondering how well the software functions but it seems to be snappy so far.

We're getting positive feedback so far, so that's good to hear.

I started a thread where prospective authors can explore ideas for contributions and get help. Feel free to check it out if you're interested in being published.

http://www.cadetstuff.org/discuss/discussion/5/article-ideas-and-to-do-list#Item_1

New content is already being pushed out on the improved CadetStuff "2.0" (see the latest articles on the homepage).  But their editorial team is still looking for more article submissions, especially cadet-written content.   I know we have a handful of cadets here with both experience and obviously decent writing skills.  You should consider picking some learning experiences you'd had or things you wish you had known as a younger cadet and put those ideas to paper.  Don't worry if your article isn't perfect -- CadetStuff has a crack editing team that can help you perfect your rough draft into content gold.  Consider it.

so cadet stuff is dead again...

I signed up back when, and it seemed like everytime I tried, it was something else broke, offline, etc. CadetStuffed.org

Someone needs to take over CS. Again.

Write some content and submit it.

Someone needs to take over CS. Again.

Ya know... it would be kinda neat to run a forum again .. though, those guys seem to have it now..

11 years? I knew about the site, but not about 11 years of inactivity! It's about time the site got an update!

11 years? I knew about the site, but not about 11 years of inactivity! It's about time the site got an update!

Volunteering for the job?

11 years? I knew about the site, but not about 11 years of inactivity! It's about time the site got an update!

Volunteering for the job?

I would.

 On the topic of CadetStuff... Did anyone happen to save a copy of their study guides for milestone exams? I can't find them on the new site, and remembered them being incredibly helpful on my WB.

Testing for my Mitchell when I get back in-state, and need all the help I can get.

http://archive.cadetstuff.org

Although I'm not at all sure if the guides cover the current textbook set.

11 years? I knew about the site, but not about 11 years of inactivity! It's about time the site got an update!

Volunteering for the job?

Ha ha, I don't know how to script but if I did maybe. 

Believe it or not, there is little/no scripting involved.

The absolute hardest part of doing CadetStuff over the last 12 years has been, hands down, CONTENT.   It doesn't grow on trees and you have to literally go out and beat it out of people.

Seriously.

We don't have a staff of writers sitting around in a bullpen bouncing ideas off one another with frisbees and kooshballs for idle distraction.

Believe it or not, there is little/no scripting involved.

The absolute hardest part of doing CadetStuff over the last 12 years has been, hands down, CONTENT.   It doesn't grow on trees and you have to literally go out and beat it out of people.

Seriously.

We don't have a staff of writers sitting around in a bullpen bouncing ideas off one another with frisbees and kooshballs for idle distraction.

One of these days I'll write something about ES for you guys.

One of these days I'll write something about ES for you guys.

If I had a buck for every time someone told me that.... 

One of these days I'll write something about ES for you guys.

If I had a buck for every time someone told me that.... 

You'd have at least $1.

If I had a buck for every time someone told me that.... 

You'd have at least $1.

I think I'd have $75 or $100 by now. Seriously.

If I had a buck for every time someone told me that.... 

You'd have at least $1.

I think I'd have $75 or $100 by now. Seriously.

Article on qualification steps (lots of people seem to have trouble with this) written, sitting in GDocs. Will proof Thursday and send in.

Will this reset the counter?

Article on qualification steps (lots of people seem to have trouble with this) written, sitting in GDocs. Will proof Thursday and send in.

Will this reset the counter?

Keep in mind, CadetStuff is more angled toward cadet-specific topics and not necessarily CAP-specific topics (although there is a lot of CAP tone or slant to the articles) like ES.  I mean, beggars can't be choosers really, but we really should have gotten SARStuff off the ground. 

http://www.cadetstuff.org/contribute/

I tried to send an article submission just after I graduated PJOC, but for some reason it never went through the system or something to that effect. I just got back from APJOC, maybe I'll write a piece about it.

I tried to send an article submission just after I graduated PJOC, but for some reason it never went through the system or something to that effect. I just got back from APJOC, maybe I'll write a piece about it.

email to submissions@cadetstuff.org or editor@cadetstuff.org

I'm sure we'd still take it.

Awesome thanks.  I have been in CAP for about a year.  Cant wait to join up.  Ill spread the word.