Cadet Turning Senior

[Psicorp]

Greetings,

My squadron had something new happen to us last night.  An 18 year old cadet airman decided to turn to "the Dark Side".     He wants to stay involved with Cadet Programs, but he did not hold a leadership position while a cadet. 

With all the benefits and opportunities for cadets, I had to hold my tongue a bit and simply ask, "are you sure this is what you want?". 

When I turned 21 and did that transition from cadet to senior member, my CC (in Florida Wing) told me that it was frowned upon for a recently transitioned cadet to be involved with the Cadet Program for at least six months. 

Is this standard operating proceedure or just a quirky opinion of my former CC?

[Pylon]

Greetings,

My squadron had something new happen to us last night.  An 18 year old cadet airman decided to turn to "the Dark Side".     He wants to stay involved with Cadet Programs, but he did not hold a leadership position while a cadet. 

With all the benefits and opportunities for cadets, I had to hold my tongue a bit and simply ask, "are you sure this is what you want?". 

When I turned 21 and did that transition from cadet to senior member, my CC (in Florida Wing) told me that it was frowned upon for a recently transitioned cadet to be involved with the Cadet Program for at least six months. 

Is this standard operating proceedure or just a quirky opinion of my former CC?

There are a number of opinions on this issue and you won't find one right answer.  Before I give you my thoughts on the matter, my recommendation is that you should do whatever you and your commander feel is appropriate after having met with this new, young senior member. 

Many people suggest that cadets who become senior members, whether they are 18 or 21 or somewhere in between when they change over, should take some time away from the cadet programs area.  Proponents of this suggestion make several points for this.

1)  It gives the newly-minted senior member experience in all of the other areas of CAP.  As a cadet, they probably didn't have much exposure to "job" training and experience in areas like finance, public affairs, safety, maintenance, operations, logistics, personnel records, test administration, senior member professional development and more.  As a new senior member, if they stay focused only on cadet programs, they may not become a well-rounded SM.

2)  It gives other cadets and the new SM both an opportunity to settle into the new "relationship."  The new SM will have to realize the differences that come with being a SM, as far as interactions with cadets and other seniors goes, and as far as personal friendships go.   It also gives the rest of the unit time to adjust to thinking of this person now as a SM, not just a high-ranking cadet.  As much as people will say they can snap into a new way of doing things, it takes time.    Having done the cadet-to-senior transition myself, I know that it just takes time being a SM to understand your new role, and for others to understand your new role as well.

3)  It prevents other cadets who may not necessarily be direct-in-line for a leadership position from thinking that, if they're 18 or going to turn 18 soon, instead of promoting and progressing through the cadet program, all they have to do is turn Flight Officer to jump to the top of the chain.  This, of course, isn't true - however a cadet, especially one who didn't hold high leadership positions and finish their cadet progression through to the end, who becomes a SM and starts working on the cadet program will give that impression to other cadets.

4)  It allows the commander and other senior members time to properly evaluate this new SM and find out where their skills and strengths are to better assign them to an appropriate job within the squadron.  Especially since this new SM has not previously held any positions of leadership in the unit, you'll want to monitor them while they are an assistant to a staff officer before deciding where they best fit in.   This gives the command staff time to get to know this person, as a SM.  Even if your squadron is killing to fill a vacant Activities Officer slot, you don't want to put this new, willing SM in the position to find out in 3-months that their organizational skills just aren't there and activities fall apart.

Now, for the flip side of the coin.

I transistioned from being a cadet to a senior member and immediately began working in cadet programs.  In fact, within a couple months of becoming a senior member, I became the Group Cadet Programs Officer, a position which I held for several years. 

However, I did not limit myself to cadet programs in my senior-memberdom.  I learned all I could about senior programs, I attended SLS, CLC, UCC, and other professional development opportunities.  I also began purusing some emergency services ratings and learned about a number of different areas.

The most important factor, I believe, however, in my ability to transition into cadet programs immediately was the length of time I was not directly involved in the squadron or group.  After high school, I left the immediate area to go to college and was only at the squadron during summers in a non-leadership role.  In addition, I "turned senior" while I was abroad in France.  I had been out of the country for a bit, and wasn't returning for a few additional months as well.  This "distance" from the unit, and the time since when I had not been involved directly in local CAP affairs gave me that period of time for others to settle into my new role as a SM that your newly-minited Cadet-yesterday senior member may not have.

Again, it depends on the individual situation.  There have been cadets who have made great senior members in cadet programs and transitioned immediately into that functional area.  But there are definitely situations in which 6-months or more working in other areas will greatly benefit both the senior member and the rest of the unit.

Good luck! 

[ande.boyer]

I agree that it really depends on the circumstances.

18 year old C/Amn turning senior so s/he can boss around the C/CC = bad bad bad

20 year old C/LtCol who's been in for 6-7 years turning senior to take an administrative leadership role in his/her squadron's cadet program = probably OK.

I fell into the later categry (though I didn't go gray till the day I turned 21 kicking and screaming) and found it kinda sucked.  But I was in a new squadron, all the cadets were 13-15 years old and, all the seniors were 35-50  years old.  So, I took a few  years, did the college thing, and am now back and having a blast again. 

It's not always easy to convince someone of this, but it really is best to take a break from CP after you turn senior.  There's lots of other cool stuff to do and neat people to meet on the senior side of things.

-ande

[Psicorp]

That's virtually identical to what I did, although I ended up changing squadrons right before I turned 21 (to a squadron that was closer to where I was going to university) and since I wasn't involved with the cadet program there (other than for a few months as the "Cadet Staff Advisor") it was an easy transition.   Had I stayed with my original squadron, chances are I would have been made ES Officer then probably CC six months later.   That might have been a bit wierd, then again, maybe not.

My only real concern with this particular new senior (he's not an Officer yet) is getting him to be as up to snuff as he should have been.   I was just curious if there was some unwritten policy/standard on what to do with former cadets at the point of transition.  Until him, I was the only person in my current squadron to ever make that transition so I think I'm being looked to as being the one to work with him.  I have my own theory about why he made the decision, but I'll keep those to myself.

Thanks for the replies, we'll see what happens.

[Slim]

Couple of things you or your commander need to do.

First off, your commander and deputy (I can't recall if you're a cadet or composite squadron) need to sit down with him and find out what his interests are.  Also, what kind of cadet was he?  Was he a decent cadet who joined late, and is now off to or at college?  Or was he a problem cadet who gave the staff problems?

I'm willing to bet he was a problem cadet, and sees turning senior as a way to jump ahead of the cadet staff.  And now, he wants to work in cadet programs to further his agenda against them.  If this is the case, you need to keep him as far away from cadets and cadet programs as possible.

Now, if he's in the minority and is turning because he doesn't see himself going anywhere in the cadet program, he's a potentially good resource.  I still would not suggest giving him any kind of position or authority over his former cadets, but he has the potential of being a good resource down the road.

I'd suggest putting him to work in admin, logistics, PA, or something similar for a while.  The senior program is very different, and he'll need the time to adjust to his new roles and responsibilities.  Keeping him away from cadets will also give them time to adjust to it.  Give him a year or so to adapt and, if he's doing well, then you can think about working him back into CP.

I'm assuming this person has already turned senior, so there's no going back at this point.  If he fits into that problem category, you should also keep your group commander involved.  Chances are, if your unit won't give him what he wants, he'll go somewhere else.  Keeping group in the loop will help prevent that.  You and the group should not be shy about letting any other units know what the issues are with this person.  You shouldn't get rid of a problem by passing it on to someone else.

I'm not against cadets turning senior early; in fact, I turned as an 18 year old C/TSgt myself.  My case was a combination of burn-out and a desire to do something with ES besides ground team.  So, I turned on my 18th birthday, and transfered out of the squadron a week later.  I then spent a few years working at wing HQ (logistics and comm), my only involvement with CP was teaching a couple of ES classes at a local squadron (not my old one) and staffing summer encampment.  After about two and a half years, I went back to a different squadron and got back into CP at that time.

[davedove]

I think one thing to consider is how the other cadets would view the individual.  They would have to get used to him being a senior member and not a cadet, so some separation may be a good idea.

This wouldn't really be a problem if the individual was moving to another squadron, as it would be a whole new batch of cadets who never new him as a cadet. 

This is similar to an enlisted person getting commissioned in the military.  The military tries not to send that person back to his former unit.

[DNall]

I tend to agree with the break from cadets. What I've seen typically is, "you need to earn a tech in another area first & then we can move you back over there." With this kid, there's no bonus to him waiting for Wright Bros, cause he'd be at FO in that timeframe anyway. I would try to convince him to do it though so you can use that time to cycle him around some leadership opportunities before he comes out. I'd also mention a last shot at special activities this summer that he can never come back to - at least an encampment from the cadet side if he hasn't done that yet. If he insists though, I'd definitely move him out of CP for a while. The Army policy on field commissions was always to move the person to another unit that'd never known them as an NCO. Why do you think that is?

If you're talking about that C/LtCol who is C/CC & looking to cross over before they have to. I'd sure try to get them to at least take a shot at Spaatz first. They also tend to need a break from cadets to get perspective, but if you have to have them in CP, there's less need to put them in an administrative role. If you put them as leadership officer, nothing is really changing but some paperwork. If you can't get them that break up front though, I'd make sure to work it in later, before 21 if possible. You're really doing a disservice to the individual & everyone else if you don't.