NHQ looking for the next National Command Chief of CAP

Started by Falling Hare, February 09, 2018, 06:55:17 PM

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Falling Hare

Guys,

If you haven't heard, the selection process is now on for the next National Command Chief of CAP. A volunteer for this position must currently be serving in the grade of CAP Chief Master Sergeant.

The call for nominations will be open until 5 March 2018.  So I don't garble anything, here is the full announcement:

ANNOUNCEMENT CONCERNING THE
NATIONAL COMMAND CHIEF SELECTION PROCESS

1. Call for Nominations. The selection process for the next National Command Chief of CAP is hereby announced. The successful applicant will be appointed by Major General Mark Smith, CAP/CC, at the conclusion of the selection process.

2. Overview of the Process. Qualified members will self-nominate by emailing an application packet, including all of the required information, to Ms. Susie Parker, CAP's Director of Personnel and Member Actions, at National Headquarters to arrive no later than 5:00 p.m. central time 5 March 2018. The National staff will perform the initial screening of applicants, and present Major General Smith with the results. One or more candidates will be selected for a final interview by Major General Smith.

3. Qualifications. Volunteers who serve in the grade of CAP Chief Master Sergeant may apply for the position. In addition, CAP volunteers who serve as an officer, but held the rank of Chief Master Sergeant in the Air Force, or the equivalent rank in another service, may apply. The applicant must be a current CAP member in good standing, and have completed at least Level IV of the CAP Professional Development Program. A desired qualification is service as a command NCO at the wing or region level. Major General Smith may waive any qualifications provided the candidate can demonstrate comparable skills and experience. Accordingly, candidates requiring a waiver are encouraged to apply.

4. Evaluation. The application package (resume and supporting information) will be used to determine initial eligibility and qualifications for the position. Errors or omissions in the application package may affect an applicant's ranking in the process. Final candidates may be required to interview with Major General Smith and provide additional information or materials for the final selection process. To facilitate the evaluation, please provide answers to the following questions:
1) Why do you think you are the best choice to serve as CAP's National Command Chief?
2) What would your top three priorities be as the National Command Chief?
3) What challenges face successful implementation of the CAP NCO program, and how can these challenges be overcome?

5. How to Apply. To apply for this position, applicants must provide a complete application package. Electronic submissions are preferred, but application materials may be in paper format. Application packages must include:
a. Cover Letter
b. Resume: Should include both CAP and other professional experience
c. Answers to Command Chief Applicant questions posed in paragraph 4 above
d. Waiver Request and Justification (if applicable)
Do NOT submit additional materials such as photographs, videos, letters of recommendation or documents not listed above. Additional materials will not be considered and may result in the application package being rejected.
Send complete packages to:
E-mail:
SPARKER@capnhq.gov
Mail:
Ms. Susie Parker, CAP's Director of Personnel and Member Actions
CAP National Headquarters
105 S. Hansell Street, Bldg 714
Maxwell AFB, Alabama 36112-5937

To receive full consideration, packages must be received no later than 5:00 PM CDT on 5 March 2018. NHQ staff will acknowledge receipt of application packages via email.
Note: Applicants are strongly advised to use e-mail. If not, use a commercial courier service such as Fed Ex or UPS rather than US Mail. Commercial courier services deliver directly to NHQ and provide "proof of delivery" services. By contrast, US Mail (including certified or priority mail) delivered to Maxwell AFB is processed through an Air Force distribution system which may result in delays as long as two weeks. No proof of delivery to NHQ is available for US Mail.

6. Questions concerning the process should be directed to Ms. Parker.

National Command Chief.
The Command Chief is the senior NCO Corps leader of Civil Air Patrol. The Command Chief provides leadership to the NCO members and advises the National Commander and staff on mission effectiveness, professional development, training and utilization of the command's NCOs and takes action to address shortfalls or challenges. The Command Chief is expected to travel an average of once per month. The Command Chief will:
Participate in the decision making process, as appropriate, on technical, operational and organizational issues.
Review Air Force, CAP-USAF, and CAP Wing Instructions and policies, provide input and recommend changes for those instructions and policies affecting CAP members
Advise the National Commander for dress and personal appearance items affecting CAP members and specifically NCOs.
Serves as a representative of the National Commander.
Participates on the CAP Senior Advisory Group as a non-voting member.
Serves as the chair to the CAP NCO Corps Committee.
Serves as a member of the CAP National Uniform Committee.
Serves on award and recognition selection committees.
Encourage recognition of deserving CAP NCO members during annual functions.
Encourage the recruitment of enlisted service members currently serving or retired from military service for CAP membership.

kcebnaes

Quote from: Falling Hare on February 09, 2018, 06:55:17 PM
In addition, CAP volunteers who serve as an officer, but held the rank of Chief Master Sergeant in the Air Force, or the equivalent rank in another service, may apply. The applicant must be a current CAP member in good standing, and have completed at least Level IV of the CAP Professional Development Program.

To sort clear up some possible confusion, it looks like as long as you were an E-9 in any branch, AND have completed at least Level IV, you can apply too!
Sean Beck, Maj, CAP
Great Lakes Region sUAS Officer
Various Other Things™

Gunsotsu

Because CAP needs a good Command Chief for all those enlisted members and the copious NCOs.

:o

MSG Mac

Quote from: Gunsotsu on February 10, 2018, 04:21:25 AM
Because CAP needs a good Command Chief for all those enlisted members and the copious NCOs.

:o

They would have many more NCOs, if there was an NCO Program. I've attended several of the NCO briefings at National Conferences going back 5 years, and every time we were told "WE expect the new CAPR 20-1 to be released momentarily to define NCO roles and then we can start building the NCO organization. After 5 years we have changes to CAPM 39-1 which only shows the NCO grade insignia, , and CAPR 35-5 which shows promotion eligibility that is no different then that shown for Officers. Going from Lt Col to SMSgt, in my case would entail, just in uniform costs about $300. Why do that when we have no discernable difference between those grades and I would be terminal in grade. I already have that as a Lt Col.
Michael P. McEleney
Lt Col CAP
MSG USA (Retired)
50 Year Member

PHall

The NCO "Program" is a solution looking for a problem.  ::)

Ned


Jester

Heeeere we go again.

If you meet the requirements and want to, apply. If neither, don't.


grunt82abn

Quote from: Jester on February 11, 2018, 03:15:29 AM
Heeeere we go again.

If you meet the requirements and want to, apply. If neither, don't.
Thank you Jester!!! Well said!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sean Riley, TSGT
US Army 1987 to 1994, WIARNG 1994 to 2008
DoD Firefighter Paramedic 2000 to Present

NCRblues

Quote from: Ned on February 11, 2018, 02:56:26 AM
Kinda bad like the "officer Program"?

Ned,

I believe the membership has a legitimate gripe about this one.

We are part of an organization that is bleeding membership, having trouble identifying and carrying out new missions and is almost constantly bogged down at each and every level over "politics."

Many of us "rank and file" members are waiting to hear real and tangible answers from NHQ on the issues listed above, as well as myriad of others and so far we see or hear nothing but change in regulation numbers, and this search for a "Command Chief."

Time and time again we are told to make our ideas known and that many committees and the leadership are working hard to correct the current course, but again, we see no tangible results or ideas.

CAP should be better served by finding solid answers to the ever pressing issues, rather than trying to find a "Command Chief" who's position and scope of influence are, at best, vague and misunderstood at the local level.   

If CAP had such an influx of recruits and missions that our struggle was fielding all the personnel we had, I could understand this endeavor.  But, the opposite is true, and I see my local Wing and Region struggling to keep members and fielding very few missions. 
In god we trust, all others we run through NCIC

NIN

Quote from: NCRblues on February 17, 2018, 01:00:52 AM
We are part of an organization that is bleeding membership, having trouble identifying and carrying out new missions and is almost constantly bogged down at each and every level over "politics."
emphasis mine

Cite?

2015 Membership: 55,972
2016 Membership: 56,016
2017 Membership: 58,411

Civil Air Patrol membership has increased nearly 3,000 members between 2015 and 2017.  Bleeding?

Darin Ninness, Col, CAP
I have no responsibilities whatsoever
I like to have Difficult Adult Conversations™
The contents of this post are Copyright © 2007-2024 by NIN. All rights are reserved. Specific permission is given to quote this post here on CAP-Talk only.

MSG Mac

Quote from: NIN on February 17, 2018, 04:44:23 PM
Quote from: NCRblues on February 17, 2018, 01:00:52 AM
We are part of an organization that is bleeding membership, having trouble identifying and carrying out new missions and is almost constantly bogged down at each and every level over "politics."
emphasis mine

Cite?

2015 Membership: 55,972
2016 Membership: 56,016
2017 Membership: 58,411

Civil Air Patrol membership has increased nearly 3,000 members between 2015 and 2017.  Bleeding?

Nin

What is the turnover rate of first and second year members? That is the true indication of bleeding membership.
Michael P. McEleney
Lt Col CAP
MSG USA (Retired)
50 Year Member

Ned

Quote from: NCRblues on February 17, 2018, 01:00:52 AM
Quote from: Ned on February 11, 2018, 02:56:26 AM
Kinda bad like the "officer Program"?

Ned,

I believe the membership has a legitimate gripe about this one.

Interesting.  The first definition that comes up for "gripe" is to "grumble about something, especially something trivial."

But let's take a look.

QuoteWe are part of an organization that is bleeding membership,

I hope it goes without saying that everyone is entitle to their opinions, and can freely express them here on CAPTalk, if done in a respectful manner.  But no one is entitled to their own facts.  And the fact is that membership is up significantly over the last couple of years.  But I can only agree we should have more members, especially cadets who comprise the largest mission in CAP.

Quotehaving trouble identifying and carrying out new missions

Maybe it's just a matter of semantics, but I'm pretty sure it is the US Congress that sets our missions, not us.  And by law (and the applicable AFIs and the Statement of Work) it is ES, AE, and CP.

Maybe you were just looking just through the narrow prism of ES, and noting that ELT search hours are down compared to historical averages.  True enough, thanks largely to SARSAT the cell phone technology.  The best analogy I've found is the volunteer fire department members becoming unhappy because there are fewer fires to fight because of smoke detectors and improved building codes.  Normally we think of fewer fires (and fewer ELTs) as a Good Thing.  Hardly worth griping about.

And the other good news is that our DR role has expanded significantly, including multi-state reasponses to major incidents.  I've personally sat with the AFNORTH Commander and discussed how he relies on CAP flight operations supporting his command.  He showed me several days of Air Tasking Orders for NORTHCOM that showed that CAP represented the majority of sorties flown that day.

The Cadet Program has become far more robust, with increased Air Force investment sending hundreds of additional cadets to encampment, and recently appropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars specifically for cadet flight training.  Much of that will use our airframes.

AE has fielded more STEM kits than ever before.  There are new school programs emphasizing STEM with CAP branding all over the country.

Perspectives vary, of course, but from where I sit things are looking pretty good, on the road to getting better.

Quoteand is almost constantly bogged down at each and every level over "politics."

Well, there you have me.  If you look for Evil Politics you will find them in every organization on Earth with more than two people.  Indeed, that is the only possible explanation as to why I am not the Chief Justice.

But seriously, CAP has taken huge steps over just the last few years to improve transparency and reduce Evil Politics.  I devoted a significant amount of my life to CAP Governance change, and it looks like the BoG's changes have measurable reduced the angst and Drama surrounding senior leader selections.  Just look at some of the histrionic threads here on CT and compare that to the relatively smooth selection process for the last two national commanders.

If you have ideas on how to further improve our process and transparency, the leadership is more than willing to listen and implement changes that improve our organization.  Best done through the CoC, but we can certainly talk about stuff in another thread.  That's what we do here.

Now having said all that, I have no idea why you thing this is in anyway related to the subject of this thread, selection of the next CAP Command Chief.  Sure, reasonable minds might differ about what positions should exist on the national staff.  Some people question whether we "need" a Chief of Chaplains or a National Medical Officer.  I get that.

But normally, we support commanders being able to select that staff that he/she believes are necessary for their command.  You obviously disagree with General Smith about what he needs to make the organization successful.  And that's fine. 

But "griping" about it here is unlike to change his mind.  You might want to speak with him directly and express your gripes.  He just doesn't happen to read this forum.

Ned Lee
Former Senior CAP Leader

NIN

Quote from: MSG Mac on February 17, 2018, 06:44:11 PM
What is the turnover rate of first and second year members? That is the true indication of bleeding membership.

First year cadets: between 65 & 75% turnover.
Subsequent year cadets, closer to 40%

Senior members (we presently don't tease it out by first year/subsequent years): around 25%.

Senior member turn over has remained pretty steady between 21 & 25% for a long time. It actually varies only a small amount.

Darin Ninness, Col, CAP
I have no responsibilities whatsoever
I like to have Difficult Adult Conversations™
The contents of this post are Copyright © 2007-2024 by NIN. All rights are reserved. Specific permission is given to quote this post here on CAP-Talk only.

MSG Mac

Quote from: NIN on February 17, 2018, 08:24:04 PM
Quote from: MSG Mac on February 17, 2018, 06:44:11 PM
What is the turnover rate of first and second year members? That is the true indication of bleeding membership.

First year cadets: between 65 & 75% turnover.
Subsequent year cadets, closer to 40%

Senior member turn over has remained pretty steady between 21 & 25% for a long time. It actually varies only a small amount.

65% First year cadet loss is bloody! We at the local, Wing, and National level must cut those numbers drastically.
Michael P. McEleney
Lt Col CAP
MSG USA (Retired)
50 Year Member

OldGuy

Quote from: NIN on February 17, 2018, 04:44:23 PM
Quote from: NCRblues on February 17, 2018, 01:00:52 AM
We are part of an organization that is bleeding membership, having trouble identifying and carrying out new missions and is almost constantly bogged down at each and every level over "politics."
emphasis mine

Cite?

2015 Membership: 55,972
2016 Membership: 56,016
2017 Membership: 58,411

Civil Air Patrol membership has increased nearly 3,000 members between 2015 and 2017.  Bleeding?
That is roughly a three year growth rate of 6% - or an annualized growth of 2%. Had we cut the loss rates in half, imagine what that would look like! We may not be "bleeding" but we are certainly not growing in any kind of robust sense of the word. And that is a shame. The Cadet Program is one of the finest leadership programs in existence. Our nation needs this. Urgently.

Ned

Quote from: MSG Mac on February 18, 2018, 04:14:05 AM
65% First year cadet loss is bloody! We at the local, Wing, and National level must cut those numbers drastically.

I know it "sounds bad,". But that is pretty consistent with our cadet retention rates for several decades.  You may notice that BSA will not publish or release their retention rates, but in private conversations with senior Scout leaders, their experience appears to be very similar to ours.

And very similar across other youth groups we have spoken with.  It may well just be a "teenager thing" as young people experiment with different interests and experiences.  Hard to say.

But it appears that our cadet retention rates are pretty much the same as they have always been.  Can we do better?  I believe so and have worked hard to keep our focus on providing doctrine, tools, and resources to focus on and enhance local Squadron meetings.  Which is where we have over 90% of our cadet contact.

What specific ideas do you have to increase first year cadet retention?

(This probably deserves its own thread, however.)

Ned Lee
National Cadet Orogram Manager


OldGuy

See https://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/resources-and-training/tpp-and-paf-resources/recruitment-retention-and-engagement/index.html

https://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/sites/default/files/retention_webinar_slides.pdf

N.B. Many SM dislike Social Media. It is a major blind spot. Further, SM policing by upper echelon folks makes the use of same difficult as the "perfect" becomes the enemy of the "good" and shuts down many aspiring efforts at such communication.

This does deserve a stand alone thread.


Fester

Quote from: Ned on February 18, 2018, 06:17:21 AM
Quote from: MSG Mac on February 18, 2018, 04:14:05 AM
65% First year cadet loss is bloody! We at the local, Wing, and National level must cut those numbers drastically.

I know it "sounds bad,". But that is pretty consistent with our cadet retention rates for several decades.  You may notice that BSA will not publish or release their retention rates, but in private conversations with senior Scout leaders, their experience appears to be very similar to ours.

And very similar across other youth groups we have spoken with.  It may well just be a "teenager thing" as young people experiment with different interests and experiences.  Hard to say.

But it appears that our cadet retention rates are pretty much the same as they have always been.  Can we do better?  I believe so and have worked hard to keep our focus on providing doctrine, tools, and resources to focus on and enhance local Squadron meetings.  Which is where we have over 90% of our cadet contact.

What specific ideas do you have to increase first year cadet retention?

(This probably deserves its own thread, however.)

Ned Lee
National Cadet Orogram Manager

I'm curious where the loss rates come from.  They seem very high.  But I trust them seeing as they come from NIN and seem to be collaborated by Ned.

My question is, why are we losing so many?  Ned has some ideas that seem valid, but do we have any concrete data?  Do we do any outreach after losing a cadet to find out why they left?  It seems like, with the availability of electronic communications these days, that could be an easy task.  Furthermore, wouldn't that first person data make coming up with a strategy to solve the problem so much easier? And more effective?
1stLt, CAP
Squadron CC
Group CPO
Eaker - 1996

FW

The retention rates seem accurate.  How this relates to the selection process for National Command Chief escapes me though.  That said, I'd love to know what this individual is responsible for.  We've had one for the last 10 or so years.  Has there been any "value added"?   

CAP_truth

NHQ needs to define what the duties are. I know of an excellent candidate for the position. We need a complete non officer training program within CAP and an increase of the requirements for officers. Every time we lower are standards membership goes down. Bring back the GAM category for non officer membership with lower dues. Then if someone wishes to become an officer they can upgrade their membership. My opinion.   
Cadet CoP
Wilson