View of CAP from the uninformed?

[NCRblues]

Let me help with some words of information. Not for us but when we encounter the skeptical or uninformed. I'll pose this in a series of questions and answers.

Q - What's with the uniform?

A - The uniform is order. When we arrive at a disaster, search, or event there is chaos. We may walk down a street after a tornado. We are here to help. We can bring you to safety.
     We will take care of you. We will work through this with you. We can be trusted. The uniform says that. In a parking lot at an Air Show the uniform says come to this spot.       Don't try to park in the wrong place. Don't follow the errant car going off the path. You can trust us. Come to the uniform. We are here to help.

Q - You all playing soldier?

A - the military isn't about the character of the war movie where every uniformed character carries a rifle. Instead for every rifleman there are 10 to 15 behind the scenes support troops. We are support. We are supply. We are given a task. We will accomplish this task in support. We are not playing soldier we are supporting this effort.

We are part of a democracy. We live in a free society. But, inside that society there are tasks which can not be accomplished by voting or rule by the majority. those tasks are called mission critical. Our police, fire, emergency services, and hospital ERs are organized to catch a bad guy, put out a fire, relief in a disaster, or save a life. When working on a
mission the best way to do all of these things is to have a command structure where some people give orders and some people follow orders. When we are on duty we are in this hierarchical structure so that we can bring order into chaos.

:clap:

Can i copy this down and use it??

[Smithsonia]

NCR Blues... you may use it as you like.

To often we think people don't like us. I don' thing that is almost ever true. In this case -Basically they are curious and ask a question prompted by this innocent curiosity alone. They ask what may seem to be an impertinent question to us. To them they just don't know and don't mean to give offense. Offer to give them some information and make a friend and supporter instead of reacting negatively.

Every little boy who ever examined a police office wants to know how many bad guys he's shot. When the officer says none - the little boy may seem disappointed. The officer is trained not to take offense. The officer doesn't want to shoot people unless it is absolutely necessary. Most officers will retire without ever shooting anyone. The expectation of the child is made through TV's and movies. The little boy will believe that someone who doesn't shoot 2 or 3 bad guys per one hour show isn't doing much. We forgive the boy. We have the same issues with our uniforms, ranks, and military practices. In this analogy - Be a good cop not a bad cop.

[PhoenixRisen]

Had a run in a few weeks ago with someone (Army junior enlisted guy) who, after seeing a group of cadets watching a flightline at a local air show, started going off about how there's no need for a "fake air force".  I inquired into just how familiar he was with CAP to make such a statement, and he responded with "I know all about you guys -- I read up quite a bit on you.  Don't you realize that your mission is already taken care of by NORAD's radar nets and NORTHCOM's F-22's?"  My palm hit my face so hard....  After explaining that the "coastal patrol"-ish stuff is a long-gone WWII-era thing, he simply shrugged it off, leaving the conversation with the same "I still don't understand the need for a fake air force" idea.

[Luis R. Ramos]

I recently joined (about a week) after a 5-year absence. Then it was 7-years service, and earlier 2 more years separated bya long absence.

In my participation, I have been saluted by:

1. NY Air National Guard
2. US Army
3. US Army National Guard
4. Sailor

I have been ignored by USMC

And while waiting at a bus stop, a boy was looking at my uniform when the mother said something about someone "wearing a costume." So, now it appeared to her I was a "klown."

Luis Ramos

[Eclipse]

And while waiting at a bus stop, a boy was looking at my uniform when the mother said something about someone "wearing a costume." So, now it appeared to her I was a "klown."

Never assume those kinds of comments are made about Civil Air Patrol, per se. People have a lot of bizzare views about the universe and figures in
authority.  It may have just been your luck to be standing there, she might well say the sames things about PD, FD, military, and her local grocer.

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

I was once in a store making a quick pitstop on the way home from a meeting.

I was wearing the short-sleeved AF order of dress, grey epaulettes/nameplate, and the one row of ribbons I had then.

A young woman came up to me and asked me if I was a store security guard.

I said no, pointed at my nameplate and explained briefly what I was.

She apologised profusely...I told her not to worry about it.

This young woman was standing just a few feet from me, in bright fluorescent light, and didn't mistake me for AF personnel.

So much for the "low-light/at-a-distance" felgercarb.

The ones who try to make jokes...let 'em.  I have more important things to worry about.

[cap235629]

We are part of a democracy. We live in a free society. But, inside that society there are tasks which can not be accomplished by voting or rule by the majority.

Love the info but cringed when I read this.  We DO NOT live in a democracy.  We are a Republic!

/rant

Carry On!

[NCRblues]

We are part of a democracy. We live in a free society. But, inside that society there are tasks which can not be accomplished by voting or rule by the majority.

Love the info but cringed when I read this.  We DO NOT live in a democracy.  We are a Republic!

/rant

Carry On!

Actually, we are a "federal republic"  now we can carry on.

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

^^^OK...having had some university level political science training, this is a matter of semantics.

The following nations are also republics:

Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea)
Islamic Republic of Iran
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
People's Republic Of China

...and are all as different as chalk and cheese from the traditional understanding of "republic"

The following nations are free democracies, some are republics, some are not:

Republic of Ireland (parliamentary republic)
Bundesrepublik Deutschland (federal republic)
Dominion of Canada (Commonwealth dominion)
Most Serene Republic of San Marino (presidential republic)
Commonwealth of Australia (Commonwealth dominion)
Swiss Confederation (very loose parliamentary republic)
Realm of New Zealand (Commonwealth dominion)
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (constitutional monarchy)
Kingdom of Sweden (constitutional monarchy)

The United States is a democratic, representative republic, first defined by James Madison in Federalist 10.

Since then the term has remained somewhat ambiguous.

OK, back to our regularly scheduled programming...

[N Harmon]

The United States of America is a Constitutional Republic, Wikipedia even says so and if it is on Wikipedia then it is 100% true. 

The view of CAP from the uninformed runs the gambit, and is just as diverse as the view of CAP from the informed. That said, the overwhelming majority of people I have encountered have a positive view of CAP.  While we will never achieve 100% approval ratings, it is hard not to like the Civil Air Patrol; We're volunteers who dedicate our time, talents, and treasure in service to fellow citizens in both direct and indirect ways. And in doing so we save the government a tremendous amount of money and produce many very dynamic young adults who go on to be productive members of society.

Every organization has faults and so do we. However our strengths  far outweigh them. So to our detractors out there (we know who you are), for every one of you there are hundreds who support us in what we do.

And to all CAP officers, cadets, patrons, sponsors, and paid staff:  Thank YOU for your service.

[JeffDG]

^^^OK...having had some university level political science training, this is a matter of semantics.

The following nations are also republics:

Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea)
Islamic Republic of Iran
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
People's Republic Of China

...and are all as different as chalk and cheese from the traditional understanding of "republic"

The following nations are free democracies, some are republics, some are not:

Republic of Ireland (parliamentary republic)
Bundesrepublik Deutschland (federal republic)
Dominion of Canada (Commonwealth dominion)
Most Serene Republic of San Marino (presidential republic)
Commonwealth of Australia (Commonwealth dominion)
Swiss Confederation (very loose parliamentary republic)
Realm of New Zealand (Commonwealth dominion)
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (constitutional monarchy)
Kingdom of Sweden (constitutional monarchy)

The United States is a democratic, representative republic, first defined by James Madison in Federalist 10.

Since then the term has remained somewhat ambiguous.

OK, back to our regularly scheduled programming...

To correct a couple of those, New Zealand, Australia and Canada are all constitutional monarchies, under Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, who goes by multiple titles like "Queen of Canada". 

The difference between a democracy and a republic is the fact that in a republic, government is limited.  In a democracy, if all of the villagers get together and vote to take the milk from your cow, they can and do so.  In a republic, they cannot take your property without compensation.  Things like the Bill of Rights, prohibitions on Bills of Attainder and ex post facto laws, along with the separation of powers doctrine in the US distinguish between a democracy and a republic.

In the UK, for example, there is a principle, established since the days of Cromwell, of Parliamentary Sovereignty...that is that Parliament can make any law that it deems appropriate and that no other body may question such laws.  This has been modified in some of Her Majesty's dominions to a concept of "divided sovereignty".  In Canada for example (before 1982 that is), this principle applied except that there were items that the federal government could do, and areas that the provincial government could do.  Courts could only rule that a particular law was ultra vires to the level of government.  Such a ruling would implicitly grant the power to enact a particular law to the other level of government.