Idea: 2 Years of College for all CAP Officers

[A.Member]

So you have some guy who can manage multi-million dollar companies with hundreds of employees but you tell him he can't manage a squadron with one plane, one van, $60K of comm gear and 50 members.

I'm sure you'd be one of the first to admit that the likelihood of encountering such a situation is remote at best.  Certainly much more the exception than the rule.  Just as with the "real" Air Force, if we wanted, a waiver could be justified for those rare cases.  I doubt it would be all that necessary however.

There are at least four such people in my squadron right now...

You know 4 people in your squadron that manage multi-million dollar corporations and hundreds of employees yet have not completed college?  That's quite an anomaly.  Most of the NCO's I know, particularly the senior ones, have 4-year degrees as well.  You're evidence to this.

[A.Member]

I project the minimum cost to CAP to implement a meaningful adult NCO program at $750,000 and probably more.  Of course, this is amortized over a period of time, but still, it would represent a significant cost to CAP.

That's quite a SWAG, if I've ever seen one.

[Monty]

Just to throw an alternative thought out there......

More or less (i.e., Cadet Squadron vs. Senior Squadron w/ airplane), a squadron commander is to CAP what a Scoutmaster is to the Boy Scouts.  The span of control is very similar and depending upon the unit in either organization, the amount of equipment the "boss" manages could be large or small.

(Now of course folks are going to try and say "yeah but....what about CAP officers do this whereas Scoutmasters do that."  It works the other way as well so let's do our best to forego that line of thought if possible, please...)

It'll be a cold day when the 4H, the BSA, the CAP, or the (pick your favorite community service volunteer org) requires a degree of any person chosen to lead....especially locally.  The requirements for all of these volunteer deals boil down to some very similar criteria and that's just how it has to be:

--some moral standard
--120/80 or thereabouts, ideally
--availability
--A, B, AB, or O with Rh factor to suit
--can he or she spell and perhaps even, use a stamp to mail things occasionally?

Everything else is gravy, like it or not (and in most cases, I don't like it.)

I admire the forethought and the vigor of those that want to make a CAP officer (or maybe NCOs too) virtually identically to his/her Geneva Conventions-abiding model from the Armed Forces.  I really do!  But when we remove the heartstrings, does anybody really think that AAs/ASs or higher will ever become a requirement for a volunteer in a volunteer gig to do something more than wash airplanes or march around parking lots?  I don't think so, personally.  Does anybody really think that some of the AWESOME plans I've seen here on CAPtalk will come to fruition?  I don't...

Unless your CAP turns on a smaller dime than my CAP, things hardly change until the well-intentioned "in-it-for-life" members change out through attrition or perhaps even, some late-90s-esque means of forced change....

[Guardrail]

I admire the forethought and the vigor of those that want to make a CAP officer (or maybe NCOs too) virtually identically to his/her Geneva Conventions-abiding model from the Armed Forces.  I really do!  But when we remove the heartstrings, does anybody really think that AAs/ASs or higher will ever become a requirement for a volunteer in a volunteer gig to do something more than wash airplanes or march around parking lots?

Well sir, SDF's are volunteer organizations (and military, no less) and (at least the NM SDF) requires all officers to have at least 2 years of college before commissioning.  They do a lot more than wash airplanes and march around parking lots.  A good example can be found at: http://www.calguard.ca.gov/casmr/airsupport1.htm

[Monty]

I admire the forethought and the vigor of those that want to make a CAP officer (or maybe NCOs too) virtually identically to his/her Geneva Conventions-abiding model from the Armed Forces.  I really do!  But when we remove the heartstrings, does anybody really think that AAs/ASs or higher will ever become a requirement for a volunteer in a volunteer gig to do something more than wash airplanes or march around parking lots?

Well sir, SDF's are volunteer organizations (and military, no less) and (at least the NM SDF) requires all officers to have at least 2 years of college before commissioning.  They do a lot more than wash airplanes and march around parking lots.  A good example can be found at: http://www.calguard.ca.gov/casmr/airsupport1.htm

Howdy friend.  It really isn't my intention to bear this cross.  I concede that there are a million "what ifs" (and I hope I mentioned such in my original post) but when all is said and done...  Well, like I say...so many admirable plans...not sure if they will really fix much of anything.  Might just rob Peter to pay Paul...

[Guardrail]

Howdy friend.  It really isn't my intention to bear this cross.  I concede that there are a million "what ifs" (and I hope I mentioned such in my original post) but when all is said and done...  Well, like I say...so many admirable plans...not sure if they will really fix much of anything.  Might just rob Peter to pay Paul...

Understood, sir.  I guess time will tell if any of the ideas on this site will come to fruition.  I hope at least the good ones do, though (and by that, I mean the ones that don't rob Peter to pay Paul).

[DNall]

I think an OTS course is what CAP requires. The miltary may accede officers because they have degrees, but they still require an in-residence attendance. There are things that must be learned that college won't teach you.

And learning/teaching skills you won't learn in OTS or any other training we could give you. That's not the point though.

I can say confidently that there are many people who are smarter, brighter, and function better in society than I do, but yet did not go to college.

Of course that's true, but how many complete morons incapable of functioning in society do you know who were able to get a degree? Sure I guess there may be a couple, and shame on those universities, but the point here is have one means of several to block such idiots from becoming officers despite what they can make themselves look like on paper.

The whole college/ university thing is over rated and designed to keep the underprivileged down and make it harder for them to find better paying jobs!

Now that just sounds communist.  

Not a CAP requirement - an officer requirement.

Exactly!

Yeah, but right now all seniors are officers.

These raised stadards would be the bearest bones lowest standards to enter National Guard state level OCS, which generally also requires prior-service or a special skill, that being the lowest level of requirements possible to become a real officer. And, we're shooting for a capability level that's 20% under that. Still, stepping to that point necessitates that future members who don't meet the reqs or who really just aren't officer material or don't want the responsibility as much as they want the title, they're going to end up somewhere... oh say like an enlisted corps that sticks closer to our current senior program for progression.

Sorry, to be blunt, but you gonna pony up the funding to do that? It would take money that we don't have. So it doesn't get solved "quite nicely".

It's easy enough to accomodate prior service NCOs. They are already trained as NCOs. Bringing in a new enlisted progression program will cost us in many ways. Ways that we don't have the resources to support.

Sure how much you need?   Seriously, it's no real cost. Ivolves keeping our current adult program & substituting the NCO PME for officer PME. I realize teh AF NCO PMEs (ALS, NCOA, SNCOA) that you can do from AFIADL are not perfect for our standards. AU has already offered any help we need to improve CAP PD. Long as it didn't involve excessive man days out of their budget. I think they can help us pick out the sections of their NCO PMEs that don't need to be there for us, and insert CAP specific material, then offer it thru AFIADL as online courses. The total cost for all three levels is quite low.

The bigger cost would be on the officer side to produce OTS & really we need a basic course to follow that turns the theory into practical skills (that's the one better done in-res).


... let me skip thru some of this stuff... The point is not to create an artificial roadblock. It's about finding a mechanism that keeps people who should not be officers from becoming one & having us all judged by the least among us. It's about getting high quality officers into leadership positions, giving our people the tools they need to lead, giving them a level of professional educaiton that will open the curtain & let them see why teh AF gets frustrated at times, give them the skills to jump into a multi-agency ICS staff & command others not just based on some technical knowledge, but the actual ability to officer your way thru that position commensurate with the grade you've been entrusted with. That's not a complete list, but you get the general idea. The college requirement, and again we're not tlaking about a degree here, does not along get you in to OTS, and is only one of several factors meant to keep incapable or underqualified people from becoming officers before they're ready.

NOTE: Virtually any AF NCO is going to meet the 60hr requirement based on CCAF or university recognition of their military technical training. It's almost unforeseeable that you could reach NCO level w/o meeting that requirement.

Please don't compare us to the Boy Scouts. I recognize there are some similarities. But there are also big differnces. Part of the officer concept being discussed here involves leadership beyon dthe small units we're used to. In fact one of the options is to scetralize more activities out of the Sq level... to call those small local units flights & tie 3-5 of them together with a shared staff & you expect to see probably no more than 6-10 officers in that 100-200 person organization.

By the way, I'll be first to admit that I want to raise these standards to levels I don't think I meet. I didn't think I was qualified to be anything like a 1Lt when I came over from the FO side, neither was I qual'd to be a Captain when I put that on, & I'm probably not up to snuff against a real military Major either. I think the margin is decreasing after 12 years. I don't think I should have been an officer at 21 before I got my degree. I kow I was terrible when I first walked in off the street at 18 & took charge of cadets that'd been there years. It took me a few years & a really outstanding Sq to make me worth a crap. A lot of people don't get the advantages I was priveledged to run into.

And one final thing... I'd draw your attention to CAPR265-1 Section B (7) Moral Leadership Officer Appointment a) (1) The applicant has 60 hours of study beyond the High School Diploma

Why is it okay for MLOs & not for everyone else? Why would you ask an MLO to meet that standard & not ask it of the DCC or Sq CC? What about an IC that has to do some serious upper level thought with lives on the line? No one's saying you need it for GTL, to be an ES officer, or Comm, an MP/MO... you can do 90% of CAP postions w/o having skill one as an officer, but there's a few where you want an officer tehre or an NCO with 10 years experience that's learned to lead in the CAP or military school of hard knocks.

[BillB]

Why do you need to redesign NCO stripes for an CAP NCO corp? CAP has always from 1942 and up used the regular USAAF and USAF stripes for NCOs. Even during the period when Squadron Commanders could appoint non-former military to NCO grades. Even the current NCO stripes are standard USAF stripes.

[DNall]

I think the AF might have a problem with big honkin stipes on the sleeve & just little metal cutouts on the collar when the person is/wasn't a real mil NCO.

Not real hard to take the regular AF stripes & embroider a red prop on top of the star, or take a look at the urban camo style stripes (that match nicely) if you want something distinctive on Blues/BDUs/BBDUs. Could also paint a red prop on the metal AF stripes if you don't think that'd look too much like a cadet. Or, we can embroider AF stripes on Gray CAP slides. Take your pick. It's all pretty simple. Don't think that was the discussion though.

[lordmonar]

I can say confidently that there are many people who are smarter, brighter, and function better in society than I do, but yet did not go to college.

Of course that's true, but how many complete morons incapable of functioning in society do you know who were able to get a degree? Sure I guess there may be a couple, and shame on those universities, but the point here is have one means of several to block such idiots from becoming officers despite what they can make themselves look like on paper.

But DNall....let's really look at the situation....how many completely incapable non college going officers do we really have...COMPARED TO full competant non-college going officers? 

You would exclude the larger of quite competent leaders in order to stamp out the small hand full of morons who have morons for commanders.

Do you see my point?  Who promoted these morons?  The problem is not that the quality of our initial material.  It is the quality of the training we give them once they are in.  It is in the quality of the mentorship and the accountability of the leadership already in the CAP.

This sort of fix to a minor (and I think the rot we are talking about is more the exception than the rule) is swatting flies with a shot gun.  Makes a lot of noise and blows a whole in the side of the wall...but it does not actually solve any problems.  Sure you block the flies with out degrees....but there are probably just as many morons with degrees out there...and we still have not fixed the problem of commanders promoting incompetant people.

[DNall]

Yes & no. I tell ya what I tend to see... guy completely incapable of wiping on butt, does all training required of him, participates regularly, helping out & such, but literally borderline legal retarded... then I see soft-hearted CAP officers in a pencil whipping culture being told grade is meaningless, with a lawyer nagging them about ADA for not having an elevator to a second floor cadet area, and asking themselves on what basis they can prevent this person from being promoted.

I got this exact situation going on right now. Guy should have never been permitted to join (before I re-joined the unit), but he came as a package deal. This  foster kind of family with several troubled adopted members kids. Not my best cadets by far, but they need the outreach pretty bad. So what am I supposed to do. I can keep ignoring this guy's request for promotion or further training for a while but not forever, but I can't in good concience run him off & lose those two cadets also. I could run the whole pack off if I wanted to, I mean one of your cadets misses a month cause he's in jail, yeah it's not that difficult.

I think you'd find the vast majority of Americans meet this 60hr standard. We previously linked census data, I think it was about 68-74% of US citizens had 2yrs college or equiv tech program (grad or not). Of the number that don't they are usually priced out of participation, so you're down to a VERY small number, and again waivers are available when they are appropriate & some kind of equivilancy can be shown. At some point though... I mean I'm already willing to take any prior-service, college drop outs, people w/ even lower quals if they're exceptionally qual'd (pref proven by serving a few years in CAP first)... where do you draw the line? I mean we're talking about 25% of new adult members selected to officer training - that being the target of 75-25 enlisted to officer force not counting everyone that gets grandfathered. I don't think it's as big a problem as you're making it out to be. I think you'll find that most people are going to look at what's required of them & choose to stay enlisted (where teh fun stuff is) rather than endure a dramatic amount of training to become primarily managers in support of enlisted operators out in the field. You just gotta have some standards man, and some of those have to be concrete objective things you can point to & say look see this guy is smart & qualified to spend the AF's money training him to serve in smarts requiring post or that in service of the AF, and that they can be counted on cause look at this & that over there.

We're going to be judged by the very worst of us, and that's as it should be - strong as your weakest link. I think education is certainly one factor we have to look real hard at among a spectrum of others in determining who we push up in these slots.

No degree is required, just 60hrs. A PhD doesn't get you an officer slot, it's just one factor among many looked at to decide which candidates are best prepared to face some pretty stiff educational challenges w/o wasting our time & money. That selection & every subsequent promotion goes thru an independent of command secret voting board of five people, w/ the state director (or non-CAP ret/res field grade appointee) defending AF standards. That's about the best I can come up with to legitimize this thing in both reality & the eyes of the AF, while getting real skills out in the pool that allow them to take on real ICS leadership positions beyond the limits of CAP with the ability to sieze control & really lead paid emergency responders. That's where we gotta get to.

I appreciate what you're saying I really do, but I know you can see where I'm coming from also. We haev to compromise to a decent middle ground stadnard that's both practical & high enough to gain those objectives. We've already walked this back form a degress to associates to 60hrs to including tech school & recognized military credit hours (even if the credit hasn't actually been awarded but would be if you paid the fees), and now I'm saying waivers for exceptional CAP enlisted to officer candidates after a couple thre years of service. I don't know how much more I can back down on this & still achieve objective force transformation. I aprpeciate your input though.

[JohnKachenmeister]

Lord M;

DNall is right.  If you think about it, we all have horror stories of lieutenants and captains who were borderline illiterate. The system does not purge them out as it should.  They can exist for years buried in a unit somewhere, embarrassing CAP both to the Air Force and to the community every time they put on a uniform or open their mouths.

I wish my CAP paycheck was based on how many times, when I was a city policeman, that some cop would come up to me and say:  "Do you know somebody named Lance Romance?  I was at his house on a call, and he claimed to be a captain in that CAP you belong to.  Dude was a real moron.  Must be real easy to be a captain there.  Aren't you a captain or something?"

Once I went to a house trailer on a domestic.  I didn't know the guy that lived there, since he was in a different unit.  But he was almost knee-walking, commode-hugging drunk.  His wife (?) claimed that he had not committed an act of violence, but that he kept talking about "Getting his guns to make things right."  I decided to seize all of his guns for safekeeping, but when I told him that, he whips out his CAP ID card and tells me I can't, since he is "On call for the Air Force 24 hours a day." 

We got to do something to improve our officer image.

[mikeylikey]

Once I went to a house trailer on a domestic.  I didn't know the guy that lived there, since he was in a different unit.  But he was almost knee-walking, commode-hugging drunk.  His wife (?) claimed that he had not committed an act of violence, but that he kept talking about "Getting his guns to make things right."  I decided to seize all of his guns for safekeeping, but when I told him that, he whips out his CAP ID card and tells me I can't, since he is "On call for the Air Force 24 hours a day." 

ha hahah ahah ahhahahahahah     Thats awesome!  I hope you shot him!!!!

[JohnKachenmeister]

Why do you need to redesign NCO stripes for an CAP NCO corp? CAP has always from 1942 and up used the regular USAAF and USAF stripes for NCOs. Even during the period when Squadron Commanders could appoint non-former military to NCO grades. Even the current NCO stripes are standard USAF stripes.

Actually, Bill, CAP NCO stripes were originally bright red.

[lordmonar]

My point is you are attacking the wrong problem.

The problem is not that the moron was able to join and start training to be an officer....but that some commander promoted him.

That is what needs to be fixed.  Don't cut off a large pool of capable officers because some commander's can't be trusted to make the right decision.

[Jim Quinn, Longview, TX]

Friends, I believe that there is no easy fix to this situation.  After 14 years in CAP in Texas and Arkansas, I have come to a few conclusions:

1.  We aren't the Air Force.  We aren't even the USAF Auxiliary unless it's convenient for the Air Force to call us their own; otherwise we're a civilian corporation, distanced from the military by the military and sometimes deservedly so.

2.  Wanna-be's are everywhere, in every organization.  If you want to be in the real Air Force, join the real Air Force.  I've discovered over the years that the Wanna-be's are a real PITA and don't hold a candle to the youngest members of the real Air Force in many ways.  The Wanna-be's are usually the ones that embarrass the rest of us.

3.  Life in general teaches us that to command respect, you must earn respect.  If you don't earn it, you most certainly can COMMAND respect however you won't necessarily GET respect.  I've seen a number of Senior Members ("Officers") who would make a good argument for retroactive abortion.  Example:  I was squadron commander at one time with the rank of Captain.  I refused to release an aircraft to a long-timer who had lied to me, lied to others, violated regs on a regular basis and was generally a sorry excuse for a CAP volunteer.  I did not trust this individual because he had proven to me on a number of occasions that he couldn't be trusted, and had done so with other members of our unit.  He called one day and said "CAPTAIN Quinn, this is LIEUTENANT COLONEL Soandso, and you WILL release that aircraft to me immediately!"  I responded that, no, I did NOT have to release the airplane; I was not going to release the airplane; and he could go anywhere he wanted to go within the CAP but as long as my name was on the signature block as custodian of the aircraft I would never release the airplane to him until someone threw me out, period.  So much for the rank thing.

4.  2b's don't mean squat to get rid of the kind of guy I just mentioned, because CAP doesn't have the collective gonads to rid the organization of those who truly need to be gone.  The lawyers seem to have neutered CAP.

5.  All you have to do to get your way in CAP, even if you're a great candidate to be 2b'ed, is to threaten to sue the Wing Commander, and the world is your oyster.

6.  Education and experience should be used to place new members into jobs/slots that make the most of their skills as long as the member is interested in performing those duties, NOT to build additional walls between CAP and new recruits.  Skills, experience, education, attitude and direction should dictate who leads squadrons, not the degree necessarily.  Henry Ford had no degree, but he did have a box with buttons on his desk and when he needed to have some smart answers to  questions and problems, he pushed a button on that box and summoned someone who had the degree and the smarts to solve his problems.  His lack of a degree did not necessarily mean he was stupid or undeserving of his position.  He was smart enough to own the company, and even more intelligent to realize that he didn't have all the correct answers but rather hired those folks with the educations who DID have the correct answers.  A top-notch commander in CAP should have the ability to rely on his people and their skills, realize his own limitations, encourage and support his unit members in their advancement, LEAD them into their endeavors and duties, and RECOGNIZE them for their efforts!  His duty as a leader is to train his (or her) replacements.

5.  With negative retention among our ranks, instead of asking how we can put up new fences and hurdles for new recruits, why don't we instead encourage members to live up to a higher standard and then make it easier for them to receive the proper training in order to reach that goal?  I'm not talking about "dumbing down" CAP in order to strengthen our numbers, but we must keep in mind that most of us are still employed, have families, responsibilities, etc. and must make time for CAP after all that.  We're volunteers!  Retired members sometimes have a little more time to invest in our program, but I believe the vast majority of us (including cadets) have many, many commitments now that do limit our ability to attend weeks of training such as that mentioned previously (OTC, etc.).  I personally do not have a college degree, yet am I not a valued member?  I've served as a squadron commander for several years; been on group staff; have been a SAR/DAR/CD  pilot since joining, served as Safety Officer, PAO, Comm Guy and done everything else I could to contribute to the success of this organization.  Does that mean that I'm not as qualified or as valued as someone else who does have a degree?  I think not.  By the same token, am I more important or more valuable than a new recruit with other skills?  I don't think so, except for the fact that I have more experience, more training and more insight into the organization, perhaps.  The key is that we should recognize and use the talents that are in this giant pool called a squadron.  Attitude, energy, time and the volunteer spirit count much more than letters after a name, in my opinion.  I don't care what level of education someone else in my unit has attained versus others' educational levels.  It's the proper use of their skills that they bring to the unit that's most important.  One of the things that I find incredible is the confusion and concern over our negative retention problem!  Those at command levels much higher than mine have asked WHY we have retention problems, and my answer is always "When was the last time you visited a squadron out in the field and actually listened to the members?  They'll TELL you! "   I think that we (CAP) forget that our ranks are composed of volunteers, and yet we continually cause commotion and make new hoops and write all kinds of new regs and do things that most people wouldn't stand for as employees, let alone volunteers!  Our members don't drop out because they stop volunteering.  They just go to other organizations where they feel more valued than abused, and usually the abuse comes from the aforementioned "Wanna-be's" in charge.

Give me a group of dedicated, motivated, responsible people (of any age!) and I can make an excellent squadron of them!  Don't tell me their educational level!  Tell me their skills and their goals and desires and their ability to learn.  Tell me of their desire to do the best job they can do.  I'll give guidance, direction and timeframes, and will encourage everyone to talk to me about anything.  I'm open to suggestion, criticism and success!  I'm looking for someone who can step into my place when I get hit by the proverbial truck on the way to the meeting....

When I stepped down as a squadron commander, I gave a twelve-word speech from the bottom of my heart, meant to compliment and thank every member of my unit.  I said, "You guys have made me look very good, and I thank you!"  That's what it's all about--building from below.

Okay--I've said enough.  Thanks for your ears.

[Hawk200]

Then we need to add the propeller/triangle in some fashion to the NCO insignia in a manner that will distinguish it from USAF and cadet NCO insignia.

That really isn't that hard. No need to add anything to it. Just change the color; the gray color of our current officer epaulets would probably be just fine. We may have "CAP" on our epaulets, but the rank insignia is still traditional military.

As far as the "CAP" goes, why do we need epaulets that are a different color and say CAP on them? Not like your ever going to wear them without your nametag, which gives the full explanation of who the wearer is with.

No reason to reinvent the wheel. Just repaint it.

[Hawk200]

I admire the forethought and the vigor of those that want to make a CAP officer (or maybe NCOs too) virtually identically to his/her Geneva Conventions-abiding model from the Armed Forces.  I really do! 

Personally, I don't think we need to meet the exact requirements for military officers, but we do some more initial training. A new person that doesn't know how to wear a unifrom properly the first time is just as ignorant of other things. The improper uniform is just an indicator of that.

We do have the issue that our military counterparts look at us as lieutenants, captains, and lieutenant colonels. We should at least have the leadership training to accomodate the tasks they expect of us.

[Guardrail]

From what I'm reading, it looks like any educational requirement for becoming an officer in CAP is bad, but what CAP really needs is an Officer Training School or some sort of officer training program for senior members.  I'm beginning to concur.

Does anyone know how Iowa Wing created their OTS?  Perhaps we could see how that could be reproduced as a nation-wide program.  There's one approach.

[lordmonar]

Personally, I don't think we need to meet the exact requirements for military officers, but we do some more initial training. A new person that doesn't know how to wear a uniform properly the first time is just as ignorant of other things. The improper uniform is just an indicator of that.

We do have the issue that our military counterparts look at us as lieutenants, captains, and lieutenant colonels. We should at least have the leadership training to accommodate the tasks they expect of us.

I agree with both of these points.....but the most important part is "We should at least have the leadership training to accommodate the tasks they expect of us."

We do not have to have the same qualifications as they do...because we are not doing their job...but our job.  I just want someone to tell me why I need to have a college degree to run a 30 person cadet squadron?

It's not rocket science.  Yes you need to be mature, you need to organized, you need to know about the CAP program, you need to be responsible for the tests and finances.  You may even need to be responsible for some property.  You don't NEED a college degree for any of that.

Sure...let's toughen up the training.  Let's hold commanders (and give them guidance) about who is and is not ready for promotion.  But lets just drop all this gatekeeper nonsense.

Only 13K of the 270K enlisted people in the USAF have a BA/BS according to AFMPC.  As a TSgt with no degree at all, I was personally responsible for over $3M of equipment and had 6 guys working directly for me.  As a MSgt with a AS working on my BA I was responsible for over $200M worth of equipment, had 11 guys working for and had an annual budge of between $30-60K, while at the same time I was controlling the installations of over $300M worth of equipment in a 5 year period!

My cadet squadron had a budge of something like $1K/year not counting special projects.

Now I got my degree...but it did not teach me anything about how to run a work-center or a cadet squadron.  It did not prepare me to accept the USAF training that I got or all the OJT where I really leaned how to do my job.

All a gatekeeper requirement does is lock out your pool of available leaders.  Yes some of those swimming in that pool are the morons and incompetents we don't want being our leaders.....but you are hurting CAP more by blocking all the rest than my allowing a few sub-par officers into the system.

AGAIN...the fix is to provide better training and better oversight to the promotion process.