Squadron Leadership School Key Points

[BFreemanMA]

First of all, the intent of this thread isn't to boast, but I just completed Squadron Leadership School out in Camp Niantic, CT. I took a lot away from the program and it was especially powerful to see how other students in an entirely different wing from mine conduct business. A very important course to my CAP understanding.

That being said, I am curious to learn what other people got out of the course if they have taken it in recent memory. The ideas gained from other squadrons across my region were invaluable and I hope to use my knowledge to better my office and squadron. Let this thread be a compendium of the "essential answers" any of you have gained from this course. I am looking to learn more from people who have taken SLS further from my location.

[Walkman]

I did SLS a little over a year ago. I had a very good experience as well. In fact, I was kicking myself for not taking it sooner.

Honestly, I think SLS and OBC should be moved up quite a bit soon in PD. I honestly wouldn't mind of OBC was a req for Level 1 and SLS was for 1st Lt.

[mwewing]

Honestly, I think SLS and OBC should be moved up quite a bit soon in PD. I honestly wouldn't mind of OBC was a req for Level 1 and SLS was for 1st Lt.

I just took SLS in Feb. and I must say I agree with you. Many people in my class had already progressed beyond the scope of the course before attending. I think this is a tribute to some extremely effective unit training programs that are giving new senior members a baseline understanding necessary to offer meaningful contributions much earlier in a CAP career. This is also nothing against the instructors of the SLS I attended. They were all very knowledgeable and created a very engaging classroom environment.

Probably the best thing SLS provided me was the networking opportunity with members from different units and groups. This is another factor, at least in MIWG. We are not permitted to take SLS or CLC via the online format. Leadership has decided to emphasis the benefits of in person learning with peers from around the wing. Additionally, there are limited offerings of both courses in order to maximize attendance numbers. This certainly plays a role in senior members advancing through unit and group led training before being able to attend a formal course offering. There was some talk at our wing conference this past weekend about offering some alternative learning methods within the wing, in part I think to increase accessibility to members with hectic schedules, or other constraints.

I think SLS is a great course with essential information for a member to succeed. I would recommend the course be taken as early in a CAP career as possible. I think that maximizes the effectiveness of the program, and gives you early exposure to the diversity of members, units, groups and even wings. Hopefully, I can make it to a CLC quickly too. I imagine this holds true for that course as well.

[bflynn]

I'm scheduled to take SLS in about two weeks, I'll try to remember to loop back then and give my impressions.  I would be curious about what others think was the most important part.

I will say that I think OBS online was somewhat wasted.  I'd rather have taken it in person over an extended period.  So many of the topics there were things that could be a month long course all by themself.

[Phil Hirons, Jr.]

I will say that I think OBS online was somewhat wasted.  I'd rather have taken it in person over an extended period.  So many of the topics there were things that could be a month long course all by themself.

You have to have suffered thru ECI-13 to appreciate how much better OBC is.

ECI-13 had references to regulations that no longer existed and there was an exam question about CAP's website and the "correct" answer was CAP.AF.MIL

OBC is certainly not perfect. However, CAP can keep the content updated and ideally the concepts introduced in OBC can be expanded upon in SLS, CLC, RCS, NCS.

[Private Investigator]

I did SLS many years ago but that was a very positive class. Two days you learned a lot and interacted with members of the other local Squadrons.

You take it this year and go back next year as staff. In a few years come back as the Director. The other really enjoyable courses are UCC and RSC.   

[BFreemanMA]

To answer bflynn's question, it's personally a bit difficult for me to pin down the "most important part." Everyone comes into the class with a certain background and understanding and that is used to an advantage in SLS, especially in my case with taking it outside my home wing.

If you were twisting my arm about my most important part in the class, I'd have to say it was the case studies and collaboration that happened. We were all given various examples of leadership and shown a couple clips from movies that demonstrate various methods of leadership. A little "eye opening" for me occured when they screened a clip from Miracle. I'm not familiar with the movie in its entirety, but the clip shows the coach asking their hockey team's doctor if their star player is able to play on a severely bruised leg. The doctor says that it would hurt, but that he could. The coach then riles up the player in an aggressive manner, flipping over tables and whatnot, to the end result that the star player is ready to play.

Being a high school teacher, I couldn't see myself or any of my peers effectively using that leadership style. Then, one of the instructors made a comment about ES being about potentially life or death situations and how a slightly more aggressive (not as aggressive as in the movie, of course!) form of leadership might be appropriate to motivate people on a ground team who claim they are too tired, but still have something left with regards to energy. I can't see myself ever acting like that as I usually lead by example, reasoning, and from my good raport, but it was food for thought.

The least important, at least for me, was the section on communication. As an English teacher, that portion was a rehash of my undergrad/graduate school, but it was still a decent exercise to look at communication from a military point of view.

BFlynn, let us know what your thoughts are after you've taken it, if you wouldn't mind. I love seeing other people's opinions and learning as much as I can about the different facets of this organization.

EDIT: Grammar and spelling