Class B minimum requirements

[Gunner C]

I was going to join a volunteer fire department, but didn't want to be called a firefighter wannabe.  Thanks for saving me from that fate.

[ColonelJack]

I personally don't really care IF someone is an AF "wanna bee" or not  -- doesn't affect me working with them in CAP at all. 

Face it, pal ... you stuck your foot in your mouth on this one.   

Those of us who choose -- choose -- to wear the AF uniform are by no means "wanna-be"s.  I was AD AF ... so were many of us.  But those who weren't aren't necessarily "wanna-be"s.  The few -- very few, I might add -- that really are such make it bad for the rest of us, I grant you. 

Your blanket statement casts a wide net, but catches few of your prey.

Jack

[JohnKachenmeister]

I'm not a wanna-be, but you could call me a usta-bee!

[Hawk200]

I'm not a wanna-be, but you could call me a usta-bee!

Is that anything like a "has been" ? 

[AlphaSigOU]

Is that anything like a "has been" ? 

No, that's an 'expert': Where ex- is a has-been, spurt is a drip under pressure! 

[citizensoldier]

I'm not a wanna-be, but you could call me a usta-bee!

Is that anything like a "has been" ? 

Hey, I feel like that statement sometimes.........

[Gunner C]

I'm not a wanna-be, but you could call me a usta-bee!

Better than a never-wuz.

[majdomke]

If you are a Senior Member Without Grade (SMWOG), you wear silver metal CAP "cutouts" on the collar of your shirt, and you do not wear any epaulet sleeves - just leave your shoulders empty.

Further, if you are an SMWOG, the flight cap you wear is the enlisted type with the blue braid, not the silver.

Hey Eclipse... where did you get this? I have a new SM and that was my understanding too. I pulled out the 39-1 to show him and couldn't find it anywhere. Appreciate it... perhaps I was looking at the wrong version of the 39-1, what a surprise.

Also, Class A and B and then Utility is what they were called in the 80's when I was a cadet and then real AF. Old habits die hard but I really don't see an issue when people use it. As long as we know the official names for them, these have always been nicknames.

[Eclipse]

If you are a Senior Member Without Grade (SMWOG), you wear silver metal CAP "cutouts" on the collar of your shirt, and you do not wear any epaulet sleeves - just leave your shoulders empty.

Further, if you are an SMWOG, the flight cap you wear is the enlisted type with the blue braid, not the silver.

Hey Eclipse... where did you get this?

2. Flight Cap: Senior members wear small double clutch back senior member cap device. Cadet NCOs
and airmen wear the cadet enlisted double clutch back cap device. Cadet officers wear miniature or
regular size metal grade insignia on the flight cap. Cap will not be crushed. Senior member officer
flight cap has silver and blue braid. All others wear flight cap with solid blue braid.

More clear...

Worn slightly to the wearer's right with
vertical crease of the cap in line with the
center of the forehead, in a straight line with
the nose. The cap extends approximately 1
inch from the eyebrows in the front. If not
worn, tuck under the belt on either side,
between first and second belt loops; cap will
not fold over belt. Cap has dark-blue colored
edge braid for cadets, senior member NCOs,
Airmen and senior members without grade;
silver and blue in a diamond pattern edge
braid for all senior member officers; and
silver-colored edge braid for general officers.
All shades and materials of cap are authorized
with any uniform combination. Top of cap
will not be crushed or made to form a peak in
the rear. Senior members wear metal satin
finish flight cap insignia. Cadet officers wear
metal grade insignia. Cadet NCOs and
Airmen wear metal flight cap insignia.

[Airrace]

You can find it in 39-1 Lapel Insignia: Highly polished U.S. insignia worn by senior member officers; highly polished CAP insignia worn by senior member NCOs and Airmen and senior members without grade.

[majdomke]

 :clap: Thank you for the assist...

[Airrace]

Glad to be of help!

[SarDragon]

Also, Class A and B and then Utility is what they were called in the 80's when I was a cadet and then real AF. Old habits die hard but I really don't see an issue when people use it. As long as we know the official names for them, these have always been nicknames.

That terminology was just as wrong in the '80s as it is today.

We have long posts on getting the color right for the blues, and shorter posts on which hat is right for the non-officer folks, so why can't we use and teach the correct names for our uniform combinations? It would sure simplify things for our new members.

[Spike]

Is there a regulation that says "do not use any other names for a uniform combination"??

I know Air Force units (an an entire Air Reserve Base) that use A,B,C and D terminology.

It is only simplifying the situation by using that terminology. 

I don't know why people are so hung up on this thing.  There are more important things to be focusing on in CAP.  (By the Way, CAP is not the military....local unit commanders can make up any words they wish to describe uniforms, as well as prescribe exactly what is to be worn)

[Eclipse]

Because if its not "right" it's "wrong".  period.

Should it be the focus of your CAP career? No.

Should incorrect terminology be corrected when it comes up.  Yes.

[BillB]

Oddly enough I was just at the gainesville (FL) Regional Airpoprt where a bunch of T-6's and T-1's had just landed. They were suck becuase of weather further west on the Florida Panhandel Mobile Bay area. They were talking about clothing, and ine Major said he brought class A uniform, but the other 12 pilots said they brought only class B and flight suits. So it looks like USAF is still calling the uniforms A, B, C, and D.

[Short Field]

LOL - CAP correcting the USAF on what to call USAF uniforms because "its not right".   Call the CAP uniforms anything you want but don't correct me for wearing my Class Bs to work in the late 70's.

[SarDragon]

This problem is part of a larger mentality that we are trying to reinforce. We have several groups of rules that we enforce because they are important to the organization. Our members are taught that adherence is important to maintain consistency in our operations.

Then we randomly, and seemingly capriciously, decide that we can refer to our uniforms by special, nonstandard nicknames because "that's what they've always been called". What an endorsement for consistency.

It also shouldn't matter what the AF uses. We're our organization, with our own uniform regulation. I seriously doubt that these designations actually appeared in the AF uniform regulation back then, but I'm willing to be proven otherwise.

Let's look at an example. Joey Bagodonuts joins CAP in Hispeed Composite Squadron, and learns all the proper terminology. Then he transfers to Outintheboonies Cadet Squadron, and is told that the UOD for the next meeting is Class Bs. He is understandably, and unfairly, clueless, because his old unit didn't teach it that way. He has nowhere to look it up, because these definitions are only verbal, and likely inconsistent between units.

That's why I, and others, have such heartburn over this. These convenient nicknames haven't been in any CAPM 39-1 I've ever seen, and I have copies going back to 1968.

I'm not sure I can explain it any better.

[Hawk200]

I know Air Force units (an an entire Air Reserve Base) that use A,B,C and D terminology.

I've heard of Class A and B. "Class C" is listed in 670-1, but I've never heard the term used in the Army. There is no "Class D" spelled out. So, where exactly is the Air Force Reserve reference to "Class D"? What exactly is a "Class D" uniform?

It is only simplifying the situation by using that terminology. 

Not really. Especially when using undefined "terminology".

....local unit commanders can make up any words they wish to describe uniforms

No, they can't. That's how you end up with an organization that has communication problems. It's the same concept as different people speaking different languages.

[Hawk200]

That's why I, and others, have such heartburn over this. These convenient nicknames haven't been in any CAPM 39-1 I've ever seen, and I have copies going back to 1968.

They're not listed in the April 1949 Civil Air Patrol Manual, or the February 1944 Civil Air Patrol Handbook either.

Beginning to wonder if Civil Air Patrol has ever used uniform "class" terminology, or if it's just been a case of pretending the whole time.