Cadet Blog: Quality Cadet Unit Award Announced

[Capt Rivera]

Cadet Programs Blog blog post below seems to not received as much fan fair as I would have expected. I think it sounds like a good program provided they provide the tools and information to drive year over year or even quarter over quarter improvement.

I would like to see some more dialog on this and maybe any information on what became the final standards for the first iteration of the award.

I searched but did not find a topic on this. If one is out there, feel free to moderate away...

Quality Cadet Unit Award Announced   Posted by Curt LaFond | November 16, 2010 | 2 Comments   
Let's celebrate those squadrons that have strong program fundamentals... Let's get even more squadrons pointed in the right direction... What's measured tends to be what gets done:  Enter the Quality Cadet Unit Award.
Any cadet unit that displays strong program fundamentals can earn the Quality Cadet Unit Award. This new award motivates squadrons to pursue goals that we think will inevitably lead to their having a vibrant Cadet Program. The Quality Cadet Unit Award is purely objective. Cadet and composite squadrons who meet the challenging criteria as of 31 December each year (beginning this year) automatically earn the award. There's no application process -- every cadet unit is entered automatically.
Faithful readers of the Cadet Blog might remember we floated the idea of the QCUA back in 2009 in our "Slumdog vs. Tooey Spaatz" posting. Over 80% of respondents to our informal poll supported the award's concept, so we're hopeful that the QCUA will prove to be a popular and effective award program.
Stay tuned for the QCUA inaugural year winners to be announced in January 2011.

[SKI304]

A link to the new requirements is listed on the right hand side of that post.  Personally, I  liked the original proposal the most.  The first published modification from one of the National Board meetings (or maybe NEC?) I thought made it way too easy.  The new standards make some of the requirements pretty difficult for large units to achieve due to sheer lack of resources outside of the units' control.  I've fought tooth and nail to get O-Flights for my cadets, and even though I nearly got our squadron's annual O-Flight record nearly doubled, we still fall short of the 40% requirement.  Encampment too - many encampments have a cap on the amount of spaces available to Basic Cadets.  We had to wait list 20 some of our cadets who applied to the encampment at our own home base.  The ones who could afford the travel all went to surrounding wings, but in the end even though we had a record number of encampment grads this year, we still fall well short.  Granted some of the requirements aren't too clear on how they're calculated, but It looks like I personally fall short on some of the cadet advancement areas.  I say "I personally" because even though some of these things were outside of my control, as the CDC, I have to shoulder the entire burden of the failures of my cadet program.

I'm ashamed to say and utterly embarrassed that we won't be earning this award.  At least not this year. 

It will be nice if they include a report in the Cadet Promotions Module tracking these criteria so that we at the local level can monitor our progress and gauge our performances.

[Eclipse]

Based on messages from my Region DCS, this year's award will simply be sent out based on existing numbers.  I suspect that the ability to track some of the needed information is not currently a part of eservices.  Until a report is available at the unit/group/wing level (as needed), it will be difficult to track this.

Cadet and composite squadrons must meet 5 of the 8 criteria below to earn the Quality Cadet Unit Award.

First Year Cadet Achievement.  At least 33% of first year cadets in the unit must earn the Wright Brothers Award during the previous calendar year.

Cadet Officer Achievement.  At least 4 cadets in the unit must earn the Mitchell, Earhart, Eaker, or Spaatz Award during the calendar year.

Orientation Flights. 40% of cadets on the unit roster must receive at least one orientation flight during the previous calendar year.

Encampment.  40% of cadets who were in their first or second year of membership during the previous calendar year must have completed an encampment as a first-time attendee.

Aerospace. The unit must have earned the Aerospace Excellence Award (having completed 6 AEX activities and a 2-hour aerospace event) during the previous calendar year.

Membership Growth. The unit must show cadet membership growth of 10% for the previous calendar year, or a growth of 10 cadets for the previous calendar year.

Membership Retention.  The unit must retain at least 40% of the first year cadets from the previous calendar year.

Adult Leadership. At least one senior member on the unit roster must complete the Training Leaders of Cadets course during the previous calendar year, or the unit must have three senior members on its roster who have completed TLC in the previous two calendar years.

PROCESS

(1)   Each December 31st, beginning in 2010, NHQ will examine every cadet and composite squadron's performance in the criteria above, as reflected in eServices. Every cadet and composite squadron is automatically considered for the award – there is no application procedure necessary.

(2)   Each January, NHQ will announce the winning squadrons on this webpage. Award elements will be mailed to the respective wing headquarters, for presentation at a suitable venue.

AWARD ELEMENTS

Cadet and composite squadrons that qualify for the Quality Cadet Unit Award will receive the following:

(1)    An award emblem for the unit's website, letterhead, recruiting materials, and other publications.

(2)    A high quality award certificate that will be presented by wing headquarters at an appropriate venue

(3)   Mention of the unit's achievement in the Volunteer magazine

[Eclipse]

Dear NHQ:

A report that shows what people need towards this award, vs. what they have done, would be a big help.

Trying to figure out who is a "first year cadet", which is a moving target, etc., will be something most unit CC's will tire of paying attention to, but a report that says "Cadet Bago needs to complete an achievement by Dec to help the unit's QCU status..." might get things moving.

That isn't how things should be run, but in this day of people with 1 million equal priorities, deadlines are sometimes the only thing that raises attention.

[jeders]

Dear NHQ:

A report that shows what people need towards this award, vs. what they have done, would be a big help.

From the CAP CP Facebook page, "Reports & tracking tools will be in eservices soon."

[davidsinn]

Dear NHQ:

A report that shows what people need towards this award, vs. what they have done, would be a big help.

From the CAP CP Facebook page, "Reports & tracking tools will be in eservices soon."

Shouldn't that have been on the blog with the announcement not on a separate page?

[Eclipse]

^ Thus the problem of splitting your message among disparate channels with no coordination.

[Bluelakes 13]

I've fought tooth and nail to get O-Flights for my cadets, and even though I nearly got our squadron's annual O-Flight record nearly doubled, we still fall short of the 40% requirement. 

Bill, what's the issue with getting O-Flights?  Do you not have access to an aircraft or a pilot or both.  When I was a unit CC, we had the exact opposite problem - we flew every single month and most cadets maxed out their flights in the first year.  We did not have a plane nor pilots at the time.  I just begged and borrowed, did all the legwork, even BBQed on the flightline to make it tempting for a pilot to fly 40 miles to my location.

Encampment too - many encampments have a cap on the amount of spaces available to Basic Cadets.  We had to wait list 20 some of our cadets who applied to the encampment at our own home base.  The ones who could afford the travel all went to surrounding wings, but in the end even though we had a record number of encampment grads this year, we still fall well short. 

How about doing what Anderson Prep did - have an encampment for the unit.  If you have the numbers of cadets waiting, why not?

[SKI304]

I've fought tooth and nail to get O-Flights for my cadets, and even though I nearly got our squadron's annual O-Flight record nearly doubled, we still fall short of the 40% requirement. 

Bill, what's the issue with getting O-Flights?  Do you not have access to an aircraft or a pilot or both.  When I was a unit CC, we had the exact opposite problem - we flew every single month and most cadets maxed out their flights in the first year.  We did not have a plane nor pilots at the time.  I just begged and borrowed, did all the legwork, even BBQed on the flightline to make it tempting for a pilot to fly 40 miles to my location.

Encampment too - many encampments have a cap on the amount of spaces available to Basic Cadets.  We had to wait list 20 some of our cadets who applied to the encampment at our own home base.  The ones who could afford the travel all went to surrounding wings, but in the end even though we had a record number of encampment grads this year, we still fall well short. 

How about doing what Anderson Prep did - have an encampment for the unit.  If you have the numbers of cadets waiting, why not?

Our biggest problem is that in northeast Ohio there is only one aircraft and it is a G1000 182.  There's very few Orientation Pilots qualified to fly it and they're busting their tails to provide O-Flight opportunities to about 6 or so other units when it isn't being used for SAR/CD/etc.  If we're lucky, we might get one flight day every couple months.  The unit that meets where that aircraft is at has flown nearly every one of their cadets multiple times and we're struggling to get even 40% of ours in the air even once a year.  That's why I'm glad that the new CAPR 52-16 is going to put weight on the wings to coordinate O-Flights.  We've got plenty of cadets chomping at the bit to go flying and I have no doubt we could have enough interest to fly them every weekend if we had the opportunity.

Also to alleviate our problem, this past year we recruited five new pilots and are working hard to get them trained and get a plane assigned to our unit.  Problem is the closest 172 is about 172 miles away, so it's been rough getting them this training.  Anyways, I don't want to derail this topic, so I'll stop there with the pilot stuff.

As for encampment, I think one of the best parts is meeting and working with other cadets from around the wing in new and exciting environments.  To do it locally with just our people, at our location, I feel that I'd be cheating them of that experience.  Not to mention overburdening the already very thinly stretched local resources.

I know: excuses, excuses.  It's just that the new metrics feel like a real kick in the pants for a ton of very self-destructive hard work.