Why don't more cadets attend encampments?

[TheSkyHornet]

We've been fortunate that we have had a good stock of uniforms but we've played with the idea of possibly going farther in setting up some kind of voucher system to get items sewn on or incidentals.

Whereas in our unit, supplies are so short-handed, it's becoming a burden just to tell newer cadets "Well, we can see what we have...."

So far, the newer sign-ups have had parents say "Whatever the uniform cost is, we'll pay it." (Careful, don't let national find out ) But we've managed to keep our cadets in-stock just enough to get them to where they need to be. But we are definitely running out of uniform stores.

As to leniency I would agree there is a gray area. I'm going to hold them to standards but I'm not going to be quite as nitpicky with cadets as one would be during a Guard mount.

+1  :clap:

Our major problem is the local economy, there ain't one. The town I live in has about a 40% poverty rate if not more. We have cadets who can't afford to buy multiple uniforms. Before anybody says pay to play, consider this because of the quality of the unit, we have managed to keep kids out of gangs, and in the past few years we have had 2 cadets make it into service academies. One came from a very poor household, successfully graduated and now serves our Country.

Our locale isn't the most well-off, nor the most impoverished. But we do have those occasional people who just can't afford to keep paying in addition to the membership. And we're one of the cheaper units in the region when it comes to member dues for seniors and cadets. Although, most of the parents have been very helpful with making sure their cadets have uniforms. Sometimes, it's the cadets who don't take the initiative to get the proper items to start with and end up with their parents buying an item that shouldn't have necessarily been purchased (wrong belt, etc.).

One of the main problems is our Cadets out grow their uniforms sometimes very quickly. The Blues pants that were slightly long on my son in May are now about an inch and a half short, and we have re-hemmed the pants twice. We can supply pants and shirts, it's the rest of the uniform that can get expensive. (look at the cost of a belt on Vanguard, I will make it easy http://www.vanguardmil.com/products/air-force-belt-blue-cotton-with-mirror-tip-male?variant=1153452812).

Growing cadets is a huge problem...okay, not a problem, but an adversary to their finances. Considering I'm about the same size as most of our cadets (if not shorter ) it isn't so much a problem for the smaller ones who really won't grow too much more. But the ones that go from 5'2 and jump to 6'0 in a couple of years are the most financially-burdened. Unless we can supply it, it's their responsibility to get their uniforms, and the voucher program, as far as my understanding of it, isn't going to accommodate those pesky growing adolescents very well.