I just withdrew from Encampment.

[Nathan]

Greetings,

I'm posting because I'm done with this topic, I want to bury this entire incident in a very deep grave and move on with my cadet career. A few of you towards the end noticed I didn't post the wings name or individuals names. That's because this was never about them. This was about me, and what lesson I could take from this. It seemed like no one could say I didn't get a bum rap and maybe so, other than that it boiled down to do things, stay and complete the "mission" or take my pale and shovel and go back to my own sandbox.

As for what I can learn from this, that is simple. I know now that I probably was very angry afterwards and I know that came off in my discussions with the camp staff. everyone has point-of-views and since there is a conflict thier point-of-view is most likely different from yours, this doesn't make others wrong or you right. When everything is going good it is easy to keep a cool head and be professional but it is when you are in a situation that is difficult however.. Having a temper never make a situation better, only worse, and it is improtant to remember that.

Daniel, I personally don't blame you for what happened. I've been in this situation THREE TIMES (as well as being promised support for applications in other positions that never came through).

Seriously, I was in a position where I, as a C/Lt Col, was almost downgraded to a flight commander from the C/VC, simply because the cadet commander didn't want to adjust the flight rosters for a staff person who decided not to attend at last-second. Luckily, I was able to fight that off and say, "I'm a C/Lt Col, I've been working to make this encampment awesome from this position for a while, and I think it would be a serious waste of my time to be placed in a position I have already clearly mastered. We have plenty of cadets who have never filled that kind of a position who would benefit far more from the learning experience than me, and it would be a huge disservice to them to deny them that position." I was on the verge of going home as well, but after I presented an alternative plan for them, they just said, "Okay" and went about their way.

I will say, though, that I ended up sticking it out in all three of these situations, and don't regret that I did so. That's not to say that you were wrong to leave; it's impossible to know how the situation would have turned out had you stayed. But in all situations, even when I was downgraded, I still put a lot of work into whatever job I was assigned and still gained a lot from the experience. In fact, some of the seniors weren't ignorant to the situation I was in, and took notice that I did a good job in a crap situation, which definitely opened some doors for me later on.

Just something to remember for the future. I know I've written two letters of recommendation for a cadet who just absolutely ROCKED a logistics assignment. Even though he was assigned there because he did poorly on a staff application, I talked with him and told him the same sort of stuff in this post. I let him write his own job description, and he went nuts with it. Somehow, he was ALWAYS busy, whether it was running around the base refilling toilet paper, setting up classrooms for presentations, checking the cleaning supplies BEFORE cadets even got to their barracks, and predicting supply shortages days before they even occurred. He was truly one of the more impressive cadets I worked with, and despite having a "bad job", he pretty much made me feel that I screwed up during staff selection. 

[a2capt]

Gee, sounds like the 'CTG' clique mentality is spreading from out west..  It's not all about encampment. You don't need 9 encampments. There's a lot more that CAP has to offer than encampments. Attend one as a basic, staff one, staff a second .. move on.

[Briski]

Gee, sounds like the 'CTG' clique mentality is spreading from out west..  It's not all about encampment. You don't need 9 encampments. There's a lot more that CAP has to offer than encampments. Attend one as a basic, staff one, staff a second .. move on.

You're absolutely right that encampment is not (and should not) be the end-all, be-all of the Cadet Program.

But the fact remains that encampment is one of the few opportunities cadets have to live, eat, and breathe the so-called "leadership lab", giving them a no-joke hands-on chance to practice what they've read in their leadership books.

Encampment should never be the only activity a cadet ever attends, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with making it one of the major components of a well-rounded cadet career.  I came from a cadet squadron that was really the size of a flight, so I personally had to get out of my local unit and participate in larger activities to really learn how to think and act like a cadet officer.

I've never personally seen the "CTG clique mentality" that you refer to, but I have seen plenty of other situations where cliques were allowed to form completely independent of any other aspect of the Cadet Program. This is a local leadership issue, not an issue that arises from any one region or activity.

Cadet Daniel L. might or might not have become a casualty in one of these failed wars on social norms and human nature, in light of normal adolescent development.

[Ron1319]

Other opportunities to live and breathe CAP:

NCC
COS
Hawk Mountain
PJOC
Cadet Command, especially after growing your unit to >30 cadets
IACE
Major bivouacs.  We once had one with >200 members in attendance.

I have fond memories of being executive staff at an OHWG encampment.  I think there is more to be learned from recruiting and scaling a unit to a larger size and growing a strong cadet staff and cadet program.

[Ned]

Other opportunities to live and breathe CAP:

NCC
COS
Hawk Mountain
PJOC
Cadet Command, especially after growing your unit to >30 cadets
IACE
Major bivouacs.  We once had one with >200 members in attendance.

Agreed.  These are all wonderful opportunities.

I have fond memories of being executive staff at an OHWG encampment.  I think there is more to be learned from recruiting and scaling a unit to a larger size and growing a strong cadet staff and cadet program.

Of course, the two are not in any way inconsistent.  Indeed, I would expect cadets that thrive in an intense large encampment environment to have the skillsets necessary to grow and sustain large home units.

[Briski]

At the risk of completely derailing the topic...

Other opportunities to live and breathe CAP:

NCC
COS
Hawk Mountain
PJOC
Cadet Command, especially after growing your unit to >30 cadets
IACE
Major bivouacs.  We once had one with >200 members in attendance.

I think it's important to distinguish different types of activities.

It's helpful to consider the term "leadership laboratory." If we compare it to a chemistry class, you won't be very successful in chem lab without also having chem lecture, so you can understand the theories on an intellectual level before putting on the lab coat and goggles and mixing chemicals.

With that, I would consider encampment, NCC, and major bivouacs/FTXs (great example: Operation Wolverine in MIWG, a cadet-run SAREX complete with Cadet IC) to be leadership laboratories.

COS, RCLS, CLA, NCLC, and other academic programs would be leadership lecture.

Programs like PJOC, APJOC, HMRS, CCOC, and Cadet Survival School are what I would consider to be personal leadership crucibles, as they are specifically designed to force cadets out of their comfort zones and to push them beyond their pre-conceived notions of their own abilities. This process brings them to a new level of confidence and ability to perform under pressure.

There can be some double dipping, since returning to HMRS as Cadet Staff would clearly also be a leadership laboratory, and serving on Cadet Staff at an encampment could certainly be a leadership crucible, as well.

Any CAP activity that is a week (or longer) in duration provides an awesome opportunity for cadets to live, eat, breathe, and dream CAP. It's really only a matter of which aspect it is that they're living, eating, breathing, and dreaming: leadership lab, leadership lecture, leadership crucible, or other great opportunities they might not get outside of CAP, such as flight training and Air Force and aviation career exploration.

I have fond memories of being executive staff at an OHWG encampment.  I think there is more to be learned from recruiting and scaling a unit to a larger size and growing a strong cadet staff and cadet program.

I have fond memories of developing an awesome long-term version for training the Cadet Staff in my squadron so we'd be able to sustain the influx of new cadets resulting from a massive recruiting drive.

Too bad my awesome long-term vision didn't account for the fact that I didn't have enough support from the SMs in my squadron to make it a reality, since they were somewhat disengaged.

[Nathan]

Gee, sounds like the 'CTG' clique mentality is spreading from out west..  It's not all about encampment. You don't need 9 encampments. There's a lot more that CAP has to offer than encampments. Attend one as a basic, staff one, staff a second .. move on.

So under that rule, I would have attended my first basic encampment as a C/SrA, returned as a C/SMSgt as a cadet flight sergeant, and then I should have been done.

Which means I would not have served as a C/Squadron Commander, C/PAO, C/VC, or C/CC at the encampment, and never have gained the valuable experience that I did from those activities. Nor would I have developed the very valuable contacts and worked with many of the awesome people I met during those encampments.

Huh.

[Eclipse]

Gee, sounds like the 'CTG' clique mentality is spreading from out west..  It's not all about encampment. You don't need 9 encampments. There's a lot more that CAP has to offer than encampments. Attend one as a basic, staff one, staff a second .. move on.

Move on?  Where?

Encampments are the largest non-unit-specific activity accessible to most members.  We'd love it if NCSA's and similar activities were within reach of everyone, but they aren't, for various and sundry reasons, to include location, timing, and the ever-present cost, and unlike NCSA's, encampments
are a core component of the cadet curriculum.

They aren't supposed to be the last-minute checkbox that they have become for many cadets, they are supposed to be the SAREx's of the Cadet program, where you show what you have learned at home, and maybe learn a few things to bring back.

[Ron1319]

Gotta love California..  Distance from Placerville, CA to Camp Pendleton (CAWG Encampment) - 510 miles.  If you discounted practices and prior competitions, NCC was cheaper by far.  I can't comment directly on the quality of the event since I haven't yet attended, but I do know that the "memory work" hasn't been updated in about 20 years and some of it directly contradicts the manuals/study material.

[Eclipse]

Wow - our furthest point-to-point would be about 400 miles, but we have two encampments, the second being more centrally located, and those more Southern cadets have other options in nearby states as well.

NCC, though, isn't really the same thing, in fact few of the NCSA's really equal an encampment in terms of scope or mission, which for encampment is essentially exercise of followership, leadership, and the core basics of the cadet program (vs. ES, aerospace, or whatever the other missions of the
specific NCSA is, where the basics of the program are important but secondary).

[Ned]

Gotta love California..  Distance from Placerville, CA to Camp Pendleton (CAWG Encampment) - 510 miles. 

That, of course, is the reason we prefer to put encampment "mid-state" at Vandenberg AFB or Camp San Luis Obispo (yes, I know that is only "mid-state" if you forget about anything above San Francisco, but most Californians talk about SF as "Northern California" even though there is another 400 miles of California above SF.)

But, there appears to be a war or two going on, and we get our facilities where we can.

And for the last couple of years, that has been Pendelton in So Cal.

[ol'fido]

Wow - our furthest point-to-point would be about 400 miles, but we have two encampments, the second being more centrally located, and those more Southern cadets have other options in nearby states as well.

NCC, though, isn't really the same thing, in fact few of the NCSA's really equal an encampment in terms of scope or mission, which for encampment is essentially exercise of followership, leadership, and the core basics of the cadet program (vs. ES, aerospace, or whatever the other missions of the
specific NCSA is, where the basics of the program are important but secondary).

Plus we have a contingent that yearly drives up from Houston, TX to attend summer encampment. This year we had a student at RCLS who paid his own airfare to get to Illinois from Pennsylvania. Somehow he got routed into Peoria and rode the Greyhound from Peoria to Champaign and finally back to Springfield at 1 am Sunday night.

[wacapgh]

It's helpful to consider the term "leadership laboratory."

Hmm that sounds kinda' familiar. Like it was printed on the cover of an old book or manual.... 

[SarDragon]

It's helpful to consider the term "leadership laboratory."

Hmm that sounds kinda' familiar. Like it was printed on the cover of an old book or manual.... 

Oh, look - CAPM 50-3, First Edition, 1965.