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Senior Promotion Barriers

Started by Flymetothemoon, April 01, 2017, 06:32:48 AM

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Eclipse

Quote from: SarDragon on April 18, 2017, 10:11:31 PM
The Navy spent 4 weeks training me to be an instructor. It was the hardest course I took while in the Navy. We had a couple of quizzes a week, and about 40% of our course work was practical - standing in front of "students" and presenting courseware. Another 15% or so was building courseware (group-paced classroom type). We spent almost as much time after hours doing homework as we spent in the classroom.

The thing CAP offers (I decline to call it a course) is a farce, and at best gives someone a false sense of security on their ability to teach a CAP course. It gets no positive recommendation from me.

Agreed - I had to do a similar-length of college-credit course to be a Motorcycle Safety Instructor, plus mandated refreshers and multiple 20-hour updates.

Teaching adults continuing education is not an inherent skill, with a big part of it grasping the material yourself, before you start trying to
teach someone else, not to mention that just because "you can do a thing, doesn't mean you can teach a thing".

"That Others May Zoom"

walter1975

I would add that it requires continuous study on the instructor's part, continuous practice in the classroom to hone the craft, and an appetite for learning from your students.  You have to work at being current in the material and you have to work at being better in every delivery.     
SM Walter G. Green III, CAP
Finance Officer
Group 4, Virginia Wing

SarDragon

Quote from: walter1975 on April 19, 2017, 01:23:18 PM
I would add that it requires continuous study on the instructor's part, continuous practice in the classroom to hone the craft, and an appetite for learning from your students.  You have to work at being current in the material and you have to work at being better in every delivery.     

Amen!
Dave Bowles
Maj, CAP
AT1, USN Retired
50 Year Member
Mitchell Award (unnumbered)
C/WO, CAP, Ret

Flymetothemoon

These courses are a significantly different from the CAP PD courses.  The AF courses are close to a graduate degree in amount of time and work invested.  The CAP PD is little more than show up, smooze, go home.

deepblue1947

Quote from: Eclipse on April 04, 2017, 03:42:23 PM
In light of the fact that grade confers no authority, responsibility, or personal monetary reward, the entirety of the CAP grade schema has
become very self-defeating, especially for those who are stuck on the bubble and now have to get things done by next year, with many of
those members, especially for the field grades, being literally the last bastions of experienced members CAP absolutely cannot afford to lose
given its current retention vector.

One thing a lot of people don't realize, or choose to ignore until they are in the thick of it, is that you can take the time, make the effort,
and spend the money, and still not get promoted..."because".  This situation can be one of the most demoralizing, counter-incentives
to continued membership of any in the CAP toolbox, and it happens all the time.

A member who quits because they feel slighted or unappreciated when the Major or Lt Col door closes takes 10 years or more to re-grow, assuming
they are ever replaced.

10 years. 

Members, as of writing this, are human, and given to the frailties of vanity, ego, even jealousy.  That's a given, and that knowledge is actually
one of the drivers behind >why< there is a CAP grade schema in the first place. Namely Napoleon's famous quote:
"A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon." Recognition of accomplishment is all CAP can offer of a tangible nature,
and despite the rhetoric to the contrary (which has ignored the reality for decades, if not longer), CAP grade >is< reward for work done, >not<
expectation of more responsibility, because there is no "expectation of more responsibility", in fact, the regulations actually prohibit
that very idea.

As we've seen time and again, both here and in person, people may "serve quietly", but they want and need recognition
in equal measures to those they view as peers, and even more importantly, those they feel don't contribute as much.
Unrecognized for too long, those people then quit quietly.

The organization as a whole would be much better off to leave grade for adult members by the curb and focus
on Professional Development as a value in and of itself, or at the least, make grade as a given based on PD and time.

Few are the members who pursue PD for its own sake, owing at least as much to the inconsistent nature of the
training itself and those presenting it.  For every TLC that ignites squadrons, there are ten which are barely tolerable,
presented by members who skimmed the material over coffee and have never worked with cadets.

For every RSC with a strong rep, there's at least one which is (or was) more of a band-camp for the staff and an SLS/CLC
rehash, versus any real preparation for staffing a wing or region.

On the whole, Members pursue PD to get promoted, and far too many at the last minute.  Absent promotions, most wouldn't bother.

Were grade left at the curb, and real requirements put into place regarding training and proficiency, CAP would be much better
off in the long run.

What it has today is another mess - a large number of members who will continue to serve but always feel they got "cheated"
out of their last promotion, mostly piling up at Captain, coupled with a much smaller number of FGOs who may or may not
have any more knowledge or ability, but were able to take the time for, not to mention could afford the cost of, the RSC and NSC.

As we discussed when the new requirements were announced, Level 4 and 5, not to mention Major and Lt Col, are now as much about
writing a check as any value the member brings to the organizaiton.

You see it already in the language here, and it comes up more and more in person as August 2018 gets nearer...

"Guess I'm stuck at Captain."

"I'll be a lifer Major."

...as if a door is closing unfairly (which it is), not to mention the fact that any new member doing the math
has to realize that the odds of exceeding Captain for anyone joining after Aug 2012, are much smaller then they were before, if they
exist at all, yet NHQ has done nothing to characterize the new climate or even really address it.

One has to wonder why, when pondering retention issues, this doesn't even appear to be on the list, despite the fact that
Unit CCs in the trenches have to deal with it on a regular basis.

Very well stated and valid points Eclipse.  I wholeheartedly concur.

Mg