CAP CAC Card Poll

[a2capt]

Nothing to do, you say?
Read your modules, or your boyscout stuff.
Tell your parents you have nothing to do.

[ARandomCadet]

Nothing to do, you say?
Read your modules, or your boyscout stuff.
Tell your parents you have nothing to do.

I already read my modules, already did my Boy Scout stuff for rank. Almost to C/Amn, if it weren't for my schedule and when we do PT, missed it this month along with a couple others because we were on a church trip, and so I can't do it til' July. Otherwise I would be a C/Amn, but I am still a C/AB right now and won't actually promote in the squadron (I will be a C/Amn according to eServices in July) til' August, because of my trips.

[jeders]

Tell your parents you have nothing to do.

I made that mistake once. That's how I got my first paying job at 9.

[Phil Hirons, Jr.]

If you put CAC after CAP the first thing I think of is Cadet Advisory Council. 

[JoeTomasone]

Anyway, back on topic:

I actually could get behind the issuance of CACs for CAP (say that five times fast!), the main reason being that our ID cards serve more to confuse the heck out of the folks at the gate than they do to identify us.    At the base I go to regularly, CAP has an agreement coordinated through CAP-USAF for access with the Base CC.   Supposedly, this has been promulgated down through SF, but we still have problems securing access because our cards are 1) Non-professional looking and 2) Unknown to the gate folks and 3) Are unscannable.   I was actually turned away at the gate once and made to get a DBIDS card (which, despite having no arrangement to receive said card was issued within minutes).   

While I was in Iraq as a contractor, I had a CAC.   Essentially, I had to show it all over the base to get access to pretty much anything.  It identified me as a civilian contractor, and was unmistakable by everyone.   

Consider this: We could be issued civilian CACs identifying us as CAP (with no mention of grade, etc, so no confusion with AD and all the potential issues).   The cards would be scannable, allowing access only at designated facilities, but would not generate the confusion that our CAP ID cards do.   That way, we'd have a "universally" accepted ID that is more in line with our parent service, and can instantly facilitate whatever access to/on base a member might require (even for special activities or Encampments) that the USG would control and could limit/revoke.    If you don't need a CAC on a regular basis, that's fine, it stays in your wallet.  If you do happen to go somewhere that it's required, you have it, and don't have to risk being turned away at the gate.

One other anecdote: The front gate of the base is about 90% reliably accepting CAP ID cards, but the gate through which we have to bring large vehicles (like our Comms trailer), it's closer to 5%.   I've had to wait close to an extra 30 minutes just for someone to confirm that the CAP ID was valid for entry.   It's not the end of the world, but an example of something that a CAC would likely have cleared up almost immediately.   What I do NOT know is how far they might have explored the possibility that I was trying to gain ILLEGITIMATE access to the base, and what COULD have transpired if they hadn't gotten the right answer.    Or maybe I'm watching too much Burn Notice lately?

[lordmonar]

The main issue of the CAC card is the cost and time.

Who foots the bill?

But as I said before.......CAP and CAP-USAF are working the issue right now.  I expect some info on it shortly.

[JoeTomasone]

I doubt that the cost of 67,00ish CAC (cards!) would amount to much more than a rounding error to USAF's bean counters.   

To be fiscally prudent, however, I would simply advocate that CAP be issued CAC-"like" cards that look like a normal CAC but that aren't smartcards.   A CAC-imitating DBIDS, essentially.  CAP should also re-introduce multi-year membership options so that the cost of the cards would drop (i.e. they don't all require re-issuance yearly).   

[a2capt]

The multi-year memberships were not used much, apparently. I managed to get two 3-year renewals in, and was probably one of the last thorns in their books.

The claim for dumping it was that the new accounting package could not handle dues on account past the fiscal year. It's a liability until it's earned.

Probably the same kind of bonehead content management software they use on the NHQ site, that makes a freaking mess of file names.

[JackFrost3k]

People say the Sahara Desert even when told that "Sahara means desert," so you should say The Sahara instead.

Who knew? That wasn't in the list of the word that I learned in Arabic.

You learn something new everyday. (I actually learned two things with this--the other being the definition of "pleonasm.")

In Swahili, Latifah means Queen so Queen Latifah is Queen Queen. You guys want to know what Isuzu means in Swahili?   

Mind-blowned

[Luis R. Ramos]

More:

FSR radio and ISR radio. FSR is Family Service Radio, ISR is Inter-Squad Radio, so you are really saying Family Service Radio radio, and Inter-Squad Radio radio.

Flyer

[EMT-83]

FRS

[/] drift

[Luis R. Ramos]

My post re FRS drift off-topic? Not really. It is related to the topic in as some stated that Saying "CAC card is repetition," and others made the point it is not the only such combination. I am adding other examples...

Flyer