Multiple Community Service Awards

Started by SMWOG, February 05, 2017, 02:28:16 AM

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THRAWN

Quote from: Майор Хаткевич on February 06, 2017, 06:08:45 PM
Quote from: THRAWN on February 06, 2017, 06:07:01 PM
If this "award" is apparently so easy to get, why is the bar for it so low? Double the hours required.


I don't know, what's 60 hours worth to you? I'd rather spend it with family/on CAP projects, rather than other organizations to get credit in CAP. But to each his own.

Concur. It just seems that if this is a true award, it should have some more meaty requirements attached to it.
Strup-"Belligerent....at times...."
AFRCC SMC 10-97
NSS ISC 05-00
USAF SOS 2000
USAF ACSC 2011
US NWC 2016
USMC CSCDEP 2023

kwe1009

Quote from: THRAWN on February 06, 2017, 07:09:03 PM
Quote from: Майор Хаткевич on February 06, 2017, 06:08:45 PM
Quote from: THRAWN on February 06, 2017, 06:07:01 PM
If this "award" is apparently so easy to get, why is the bar for it so low? Double the hours required.


I don't know, what's 60 hours worth to you? I'd rather spend it with family/on CAP projects, rather than other organizations to get credit in CAP. But to each his own.

Concur. It just seems that if this is a true award, it should have some more meaty requirements attached to it.

That is more meat than what is attached to the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal.  The criteria for that is completely up to individual commanders unless a HHQ defines it.

Eclipse

Quote from: kwe1009 on February 06, 2017, 09:02:47 PMThat is more meat than what is attached to the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal.  The criteria for that is completely up to individual commanders unless a HHQ defines it.

Except the reasoning behind a military CSA, vs. CAP even having one, are different.

"That Others May Zoom"

kwe1009

Quote from: Eclipse on February 06, 2017, 09:28:07 PM
Quote from: kwe1009 on February 06, 2017, 09:02:47 PMThat is more meat than what is attached to the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal.  The criteria for that is completely up to individual commanders unless a HHQ defines it.

Except the reasoning behind a military CSA, vs. CAP even having one, are different.

My point was that you really can't complain about the low mark to earn the CSA when there is no real threshold for a military member to earn the MOVSM.  Both recognize volunteer service outside of their respective organization. 

CAP encouraging volunteer service outside of CAP never really made sense to me.  How many other volunteer organizations encourage their volunteers to also go spend their time helping other volunteer activities and then recognize them for that effort?  Most volunteer organizations that I have been around spend their time getting people to give more time/money to them, not other organizations.

THRAWN

Quote from: kwe1009 on February 06, 2017, 09:40:54 PM
Quote from: Eclipse on February 06, 2017, 09:28:07 PM
Quote from: kwe1009 on February 06, 2017, 09:02:47 PMThat is more meat than what is attached to the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal.  The criteria for that is completely up to individual commanders unless a HHQ defines it.

Except the reasoning behind a military CSA, vs. CAP even having one, are different.

My point was that you really can't complain about the low mark to earn the CSA when there is no real threshold for a military member to earn the MOVSM.  Both recognize volunteer service outside of their respective organization. 

CAP encouraging volunteer service outside of CAP never really made sense to me.  How many other volunteer organizations encourage their volunteers to also go spend their time helping other volunteer activities and then recognize them for that effort?  Most volunteer organizations that I have been around spend their time getting people to give more time/money to them, not other organizations.

Agreed. I love when the organization is wringing their collective hands over how hard it is to recruit, train and retain quality volunteers at the same time giving them an award for spending their time elsewhere. This is a participation trophy.
Strup-"Belligerent....at times...."
AFRCC SMC 10-97
NSS ISC 05-00
USAF SOS 2000
USAF ACSC 2011
US NWC 2016
USMC CSCDEP 2023

Eclipse

+1 to both.  Unit CC's job is maintaining his unit's readiness and manning, not encouraging
participation elsewhere.

If people are active elsewhere, great, those organizations can, and likely do recognize them.

Does the ARC give awards for CAP service?

"That Others May Zoom"

lordmonar

Quote from: Eclipse on February 06, 2017, 09:28:07 PM
Quote from: kwe1009 on February 06, 2017, 09:02:47 PMThat is more meat than what is attached to the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal.  The criteria for that is completely up to individual commanders unless a HHQ defines it.

Except the reasoning behind a military CSA, vs. CAP even having one, are different.
Nope.  They are both the same.   George Bush Sr. instituted the MOVSM as part of the Thousand Points of Light to encourage military people to volunteer outside of the military.   Exactly the same purpose as the CSA.

PATRICK M. HARRIS, SMSgt, CAP

lordmonar

Quote from: kwe1009 on February 06, 2017, 09:40:54 PM
CAP encouraging volunteer service outside of CAP never really made sense to me.  How many other volunteer organizations encourage their volunteers to also go spend their time helping other volunteer activities and then recognize them for that effort?  Most volunteer organizations that I have been around spend their time getting people to give more time/money to them, not other organizations.
The Boy Scouts do.  In fact the Boy Scouts make it a requirement for progression in the program.
PATRICK M. HARRIS, SMSgt, CAP

lordmonar

Quote from: Eclipse on February 06, 2017, 10:06:09 PM
+1 to both.  Unit CC's job is maintaining his unit's readiness and manning, not encouraging
participation elsewhere.

If people are active elsewhere, great, those organizations can, and likely do recognize them.

Does the ARC give awards for CAP service?
The Boy Scouts do.

Also.  Are you suggesting that the time it takes the PDO to process a CSA request is somehow jeopardizing a CC's ability to do his/her job?

PATRICK M. HARRIS, SMSgt, CAP

Eclipse

#29
Quote from: lordmonar on February 07, 2017, 02:39:32 AM
Nope.  They are both the same.   George Bush Sr. instituted the MOVSM as part of the Thousand Points of Light to encourage military people to volunteer outside of the military.   Exactly the same purpose as the CSA.

You missed the point this time, as you do every other time we've had this argument.

The military is not a "community service organization" in and of itself, it's an employer.  CAP is not an employer, it is a community service organization in and of itself.
That is not the same thing, nor is the motivation behind the awards the same.  The military is looking to build well-rounded people who do things outside their day jobs, and
also as PR.  If you're in CAP, you're already doing that, by definition.

Quote from: lordmonar on February 07, 2017, 02:39:32 AM
The Boy Scouts do.

Apples and hand grenades.   The BSA's role is literally community outreach - while not comparable
on anything but the most superficial level, when a Scout receives an award related to CS, its not a "CS Award"
per se, its one badge or another as part of their progression, since that's really all they do.  For example
Eagle require a service project" - the result is supposed to be a "service to the community", but it's not "community service"
in the way we are discussing (i.e. extracurricular to the primary mission).

Also, the BSA does not has a retention issue, nor do they have an adult program, nor is their mission the same.

I use the ARC example because on the mean, especially for adults, they are much more comparable - a partially Federally funded
organizaiton that has a real-world mission which is primarily executed by adults, and they don't encourage participation
in other organizations by handing out trophies for all the times you weren't in an ARC golf shirt and vest.

The CSA is and always has been, one of any number of areas where CAP is assuming an affectation of military life
without considering the the actual bottom line consequences of same - that it's either irrelevant to CAP and therefore
ribbon trolling, or actually a detriment because it takes people away from CAP service, which >AGAIN< is 100% community service
when viewed through the same lens.

We should give CAP members CAP awards for CAP service, and leave others to do the same with their organizations.

"That Others May Zoom"

Alaric

Quote from: THRAWN on February 06, 2017, 09:51:59 PM
Quote from: kwe1009 on February 06, 2017, 09:40:54 PM
Quote from: Eclipse on February 06, 2017, 09:28:07 PM
Quote from: kwe1009 on February 06, 2017, 09:02:47 PMThat is more meat than what is attached to the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal.  The criteria for that is completely up to individual commanders unless a HHQ defines it.

Except the reasoning behind a military CSA, vs. CAP even having one, are different.

My point was that you really can't complain about the low mark to earn the CSA when there is no real threshold for a military member to earn the MOVSM.  Both recognize volunteer service outside of their respective organization. 

CAP encouraging volunteer service outside of CAP never really made sense to me.  How many other volunteer organizations encourage their volunteers to also go spend their time helping other volunteer activities and then recognize them for that effort?  Most volunteer organizations that I have been around spend their time getting people to give more time/money to them, not other organizations.

Agreed. I love when the organization is wringing their collective hands over how hard it is to recruit, train and retain quality volunteers at the same time giving them an award for spending their time elsewhere. This is a participation trophy.

Many ribbons are participation trophies.  I have also never understood the "tragedy" we are experiencing with recruiting and retention.  We don't have a steady, active mission.  For many members the whole of their participation will be meetings, perhaps a monthly weekend event, and a conference every couple of years.  Even those who are active in ES are not consistently busy.  I've been on perhaps 6 actual mission in 6 years, the rest have been training.  Unlike for instance the CG Aux we are not called upon to support the Air Force on a day to day basis and therefore we don't occupy a lot of our peoples time.  People get bored training and never using the skills they learn; other organizations meet their needs better; or life just happens.  I'd rather have 25000 members who were interested and active then 50000 on the rolls with half of them either largely absent or wasting time arguing about uniforms  :) or whining how they never get to do anything because its too far away.

Eclipse

The problem is that at just about every level, CAP sells the "sizzle" and not the "steak", and then new members find out
that there is no steak and the sizzle was on loan from another wing.

Frankly, the apocalyptic world necessary to sustain the number of missions you'd need to satisfy a lot of people would,
in and of itself, negate the existence of organized government.  I don't think a lot of people really understand just how
lucky we are in this country that we don't have weekly Noah-level flooding, planes falling from the sky on a regular
basis, and mass casualties as a routine way of life.

Thank whatever deity you recognize RIGHT NOW this is not our reality.

The drudgery of training and maintaining a fighting or response force is what CAP is about day-to-day - recruiting,
initial quals, re-quals, reporting readiness, blah.  Blah.  Blah.  Everyone wants to have a sweet go-bag they can show their
friends on Twitbook, but far fewer want to accept that some professional responders train their whole lives and never get an
actual, and are quite happy about that, because actuals mean someone is in distress, or has had loss.

I call it the "EMS Paradox®".

Cadet life is similar - weeks of academics and "Marching up and down the Sqauy-A", followed by the occasional
award, accomplishment, or advancement (and maybe accidentally, a little fun).  Cadets love the bling and the fun,
less so the academics on top of the rest of their already crowded world.  For many, like me, the teamwork,
camaraderie, and brotherhood (including the ladies), of full-court press efforts of people working together towards a common goal
makes the down times worth it, but the key word there is "work", not a thing many people want to do these days on their off time -
too busy swiping left and / or saving the world by "liking" a cause while the Tivo fast-forwards a commercial.

FWIW, I have always insisted that my people be clear with potential cadets, adults, and parents about the reality of
CAP.  It's all there for the taking, but reaching it is work.   I've had more then a few people quit during my time, but
no one has left saying "You didn't tell us..." or "This isn't what we bargained for...".

That's the only way CAP is going to fix the churn, less sizzle and more steak - people want the steak, and they don't mind working for it.
Unfortunately, CAP is already so far down the road, that the fix, like most fire-fighting, is going to require some destruction and
further attrition before things are righted.

The sooner the better, and the longer it waits, the more things burn.

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"That Others May Zoom"