Then and Now

[BillB]

Over the weekend, I pulled my CAP historical files and compared CAP of 1948 to CAP of 2007.
In 1948, the USAF owned all the aircraft other than member owned aircraft flown on missions. All bore USAF markings, star and bar etc. Maintenance was performed at USAF bases. Squadrons had to fight off cadets wanting to join to ride in a "real Air Force aircraft".  Today we removed USAF Auxiliary from the aircraft, just to meet policy to allow missions for other governmental agencies.
Squadrons were commanded mainly with military veterans and the majority of senior members had prior military service, or were previously CAP cadets brought up through World War II. In addition you had Wing USAF Liaision staff to offer assistance directly to Squadrons. Today we have one Wing Director removing Squadrons from USAF assistance to a great degree.
Airlift was a given for almost for any activity. Trips to the Air Force Museum were regularly available along with base housing when you got there. Every Region and many Wings had multiengine USAF aircraft assigned, C-47's to C-45's with an occasional Convair.  This no longer exists.
Aerospace Education was more hands on, such as rebuilding a piper cub and putting on new fabric. Or visits to control towers at local airports for cadets who got to use the light guns to control aircraft under supervision of the tower operators.
Recruiting and Retention were not a problem during this period, as there were so many activities outside Squadron meetings, and flying was so much cheaper for seniors. If memory serves it was $10 an hour, wet. Cadets or Senior members that held a private pilots license, only had to have a USAF check ride to fly the USAF-CAP aircraft. Cadets could fly as observers or pilots on USAF authorized missions.  Now the only flying cadets get are the five O-rides. And at that, many cadets never get all five.
Uniforms for cadets and seniors could be obtained from surplus stores for $25 for a set of khaki uniforms and two sets of fatigue uniforms. Uniform and insignia changes occured every four or five years at the most. Maily those changes were the breast patches for cadets. (three versions within 10 years) Seniors that didn't meet weight standards still wore the same uniform, neat beards were also authorized. The Army practice of wearing rank was still followed metal CAP cutouts on left collar, metal rank on right collar, or for a time following WW II, CAP on both collars and metal rank on the epaulets.
The role of CAP was spelled out in USAF directives. Unlike today when nobody seems to know where CAP is headed.
So is it's understandable why the CAP membership numbers are dropping? CAP has changed so drasticaly since its conception.

[Eclipse]

I don't know if it's fair to compare 1948 to 2007.

A LOT has changed outside of CAP's control.

We still had a draft, a large number of able-bodied Americans were WWII vets, and we were ramping into the cold war.  There still existed the positive societal pressure of community service - versus today's America where "someone else will do it while I complain...". 

This was 2 years before Korea, and we were just at the beginning of the euphoria of being the world's policeman. It was also going to be 20 years before all those boomers became lawyers.

One of the things were have talked about during our campfire wish-sessions is how great it would be to chart every place in CAP where something was lost due to our own screw-up.

In 1956 we still had scuba divers, the same uniforms, an NCO corps and were hanging I-V's in the field.
(based on the photos I have).

Like most things government / military related, we are a reflection of the society we serve, but since we are volunteers, we reflect things even more so that our RealMilitary® brethren.

[sparks]

Lots of changes over the past 57 + years. The Air Force has fewer aircraft and air bases for cadets to relate to. They have an all volunteer force. The total number of veterans in the civilian population has diminished. Until the Iraq war the military budgets were being reduced.

Cap's mission has changed over the years but not enough to ensure its' future survival. Cap's mission needs to be clearly defined so the Air Force, DOD, state Emergency Management Directors (EMDs) and the membership know what it is.

Today I think the mission is to chase ELT's and provide emergency assistance to EMDs, run the cadet program and provide Aerospace Education when possible. Of course that is just my view and I'm certain every wing and squadron has a different point of view. Definition and direction is sorely needed.

No, we don't need more uniform changes and regulation tinkering.

[LTC_Gadget]

The minimum wage in 1948 was 40 cents/hr.. So, the line boys would have had to work almost a solid week to pay for one hour's flying. I'd say they're a little better off by now.  Cost of living, and the change in relative percentage of certain major expenses, i.e, housing, car and medical costs have skewed the heck out of things.  The percentage of the household budget that they now occupy would have someone from '48 choking at the thought.

The military in general is still 'robbing Peter to pay Paul.'  Money is being taken from people (employment) and new programs, and being used to offset the cost of maintaining and upgrading existing systems. I work for DoD, and our service is going to take personnel cuts this year, either through attrition or trickle-down to pay for the cost of repairing certain system, and acquiring certain badly-needed new ones.

As a cadet in the mid-70's - I wore a uniform to school one day for a CAP recruiting assembly, and got spit on and called a baby killer, by the same ilk of peacemongers that we have today, who don't understand that freedom isn't free.  Never mind that *I* didn't even carry a weapon.  I'd be out there saving their stupid butts if they got stoned and lost in the woods..

For that matter, there are still people who think that the space program is a waste of money, and that all its money should be taken away.  They complain about it while heating their Corningware in their microwave, lamenting next week's minimally-invasive micro or robotic surgery; all of which have benefited from space program technology, either directly or through its spin-offs ..  Clueless fools.

In WWII, CAP aircraft lashed depth charges under their wing. There's no chance we're gonna work that corner ever again.  I worry enough about getting shot in the woods during certain months by some guy who's color blind. International orange might not look 'cool' but it'll save your butt more often than not.

There are several other reasons that things for use are different.  Chief among them are legal, insurance, and the occasional personal stupidity. The dumbing down of John Q. is the cause, and limited activity and missions are the result There's been a fundamental change in society, and legal thought, from 'sometimes stuff happens' to 'this happened, and someone's gonna pay!" - and it's usually the party with the deepest pockets and the second-best lawyer..

Some of the more senior among our leadership have not worn the uniform with the same zealous attention to detail, or care for doing it right as the majority of the 'rank and file.'  Being 'in the spotlight,' their transgressions cost all of us, i.e., 'public embarrassment.'  It's less critical to wear it wrong in your home squadron of fifteen people in the backwoods of wherever than it is to wear it wrong in the officer's club at Maxwell AFB, AL.. (figuratively speaking) So, the AF wants to make subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle changes in our uniform so that they can point at us and say 'they "ain't" us."  Add to that the 'title change' whereby we're now not the AF Aux all the time "aux on/aux off" and it probably means it's a lot more likely that we'll be wearing "US Civil Air Patrol" instead of "USAF Auxiliary."  I've personally said "AF Aux" for years, but had to quit with the title change.. It just isn't so 24x7x365 any longer.  That's probably never going to change, either.  But I'm not psychic.  Time will tell.

As far as AF support through the (LO) State Director goes, (sometimes) there seems to be no check and balance in place to assure that we (CAP) or the AF are getting anything concrete for the money.  (sometimes) The guys get paid whether or not support is provided.  Who checks to see that they answer their phone or email in a timely fashion?  Who checks to see that they're not talking us down to their AF buddies?  (sometimes) They seem to occasionally risk biting the hand(s) that feed them. It can be a cush entitlement job.  (sometimes) There seems to need to be closer tabs kept on whether forty hours (or whatever they're contracted for) are actually put in, and how productive they are with them.  But they don't answer to the wing commanders like they used to. So, if you get one that wants to slow roll it, you're stuck.. Good on ya if that's not a problem in your state.  I hear through the vine that it is in places.

I've also run across many folks who want to cherry-pick the regs to which they conform, simply ignoring those that don't fit their purpose, or creatively re-interpreting them.  I have no stomach for revisionists.. Thirty-five years of corporate memory is a bi.. bi... bear..  Don't tell me what the rule means, sonny.. I was there for the discussion, and when it was written into the regs.. I *know* what's behind it, what it means, and why it is the way it is.. Been there, done that, worn through the t-shirts several times.

Oops.  it seems that the soapbox spilled a little.  Apologies.  Know that the preceding is only one man's opinion, not necessarily mine, Batteries not included, void where prohibited, your mileage may vary, any resemblance between this story and actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental, yada, yada.  It's not necessarily anything other than conjecture; just random points to evoke thought and comment on the subject..

Wings up, wheels down...

V/R,

[RiverAux]

I did the calculations for something at work recently and that $10/hour wet would roughly be about $100/hour in today's dollars.  The $25 uniform would be about $250. 

[Earhart1971]

$10 per hour wet was the 1969 cost of a Cessna 150, in our CAP Flying Club.

Those were my years as a cadet.

Went to CAP Flying Encampment in 1971, in Norman, Oklahoma, and got my Pilots license for a total of $300 out of pocket (prereq was 20 hours of flying time and being soloed, and having passed the FAA written test).

We rode on an Air National Guard Constellation, and Convair 440, to and from the Encampment with a stop at Maxwell AFB.

So those years, of real cooperation and Air Force Benifits were good through the early 70s.

Now we have Type "A" Encampments at Army National Guard Bases, the Air Force does not have room for us.