Just Pinned Major During Open House

[ProdigalJim]

I just pinned Major on Nov 5, during our Open House at the airport. We had for a backdrop our 182T, the GA-8 that has been living with us for a few months and...a real, honest-to-goodness CAP Stinson that flew submarine missions out of Coastal Patrol Base 4. Super cool!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mer-va-102/30742363701/in/album-72157674788393501/

[ColonelJack]

Congratulations!  Great picture and great setting, too!

Well done!

Jack

[Luis R. Ramos]

Welcome to the club. Hard work done!!!

Congrats...

[JC004]

YOU GET A MUG TOO!  MUGS ALL AROUND!

CONGRATS!

Now drink coffee from your Major mug, and go spend $60 on a field grade service cap....

[CAPDCCMOM]

Congrats from a lowly LT. :clap:

[Eclipse]

The FGO club used to be so nice, now it's like "Come on in!"

In all serious, congrats, and I hope we see a lot more of this as CAP moves into the last year of "1 ups" under the old
grade system.

After 2018 Majs and especially Lt Kernals are going to be much more rare.

[capmaj]

The FGO club used to be so nice, now it's like "Come on in!"

In all serious, congrats, and I hope we see a lot more of this as CAP moves into the last year of "1 ups" under the old
grade system.

After 2018 Majs and especially Lt Kernals are going to be much more rare.

I think I missed something. What happens in 2018?

[RogueLeader]

Those eligible for major under the old requirements go away, and those that want to make major will have to have level 4 instead of level 3.

[Eclipse]

Those eligible for major under the old requirements go away, and those that want to make major will have to have level 4 instead of level 3.

And the real hill to climb will be Lt Col which will require Level 5 / NSC, with NSC being an organic
limiter as it's only run once a year and to a small number of participants.

Even as it stands today RSC has been a limiting factor to Major as many members simply can't
take a week off for an in-residence seminar.

There is also an additional year added to TIG for Major (4) and Lt Col (5).

Members with a date of their last grade prior to 11 August 2014 may use the previous
promotion criteria for one promotion until 11 August 2018, at which time everyone will be
under the same (new) criteria. After the "1-up" members will still have to catch up their
PD to the new spec for subsequent promotions.

I would imagine RSC seats will be at a premium next CY as member scramble to
get in under the wire.

1st Lt and Capt also have extended TIG with 1st Lt now 18 Months vs. 1 year and Capt now 30 Months vs 18.

Minimum time to Lt Col for a new member is now 13.5 years versus 10 previously.

See 35-5, Page 11 (and elsewhere) for details: https://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/R035_005_489E25C089E93.pdf

[JC004]

Those eligible for major under the old requirements go away, and those that want to make major will have to have level 4 instead of level 3.

And the real hill to climb will be Lt Col which will require Level 5 / NSC, with NSC being an organic
limiter as it's only run once a year and to a small number of participants.

Even as it stands today RSC has been a limiting factor to Major as many members simply can't
take a week off for an in-residence seminar.

There is also an additional year added to TIG for Major (4) and Lt Col (5).
...

There will be lots of permanent Majors and my mugs will be very popular.   

[Ed DeSocio]

Congratulations, Jim!!  It looks like you had a great day!!  I loved the pictures!

[AlphaSigOU]

Congratulations on the golden bottlecaps! And the farts and darts on the bus driver cap! (In the olden days, only 'chicken' colonels sported farts and darts; it was later extended to 'telephone' colonels and finally majors. Army gets scrambled eggs when you pin on major; Squiddies, Gyrenes and Puddle Pirates don't get theirs until they become commander/lieutenant colonel).

[Angus]

YOU GET A MUG TOO!  MUGS ALL AROUND!

CONGRATS!

Now drink coffee from your Major mug, and go spend $60 on a field grade service cap....

Where can I find one?  Once my major comes through I'd love to get one.  I even know a few people now who would like one. 

[ProdigalJim]

Congratulations, Jim!!  It looks like you had a great day!!  I loved the pictures!

Thanks! Yeah it was a fun day. We're lucky that A) we have the GA-8...makes a helluva display and B) we're so close to the Flying Circus Airshow, which brought the vintage aircraft.

[JC004]

YOU GET A MUG TOO!  MUGS ALL AROUND!

CONGRATS!

Now drink coffee from your Major mug, and go spend $60 on a field grade service cap....

Where can I find one?  Once my major comes through I'd love to get one.  I even know a few people now who would like one.

Oh boy.  Now I'm getting replies AND messages about the mugs.  It has been a while since the batch of mugs was produced.  We could always produce a batch ourselves and customize it a bit.

There ARE some mugs available from CafePress with that logo, HOWEVER, CafePress quality is kinda spotty because of the short-run methods they use.  I have owned several products from them and have never been totally satisfied with them.  They will NOT look as high-quality as those above.

Both the mugs that I got from CafePress have faded and turned crappy -- I got one for a group of which I am a member, and a different one for my grandmother.  I never even put mine in the dishwasher, but it has still turned out crappy.

Now if there's enough interest, I might be willing to produce a bunch of CAP Disgruntled Majors (possibly Disgruntled Field Grade Officers) mugs, and donate the money to my unit's needs for cadet support.

TRAVEL MUGS might be most appropriate and most useful for CAP activities.... 

League of Disgruntled Field Grade Officers Travel Mug?  For missions, cadet activities, meetings??

I usually put safety vests on my drinks...

[WhiteWings66]

Congratulations and yes, great background setting!  Only thing is, now that the picture is on Flickr, how are you going to keep the wife from finding out about the blonde?

[Devil Doc]

Question, why did they make the TIG and other requirements longer or "Tougher" to get rank? I know there was a slew of Majors, and Kernals but did making the TIG and the PD Levels more to get rank for a reason? I mean assuming LvL 4 can be done if your motivated fairly quick. However, LVL 5 is the pesky thing were a limited amount can go to that college thingy. Is CAP TIG the same as the AF or similar? I am not sure how officers rank up.

[Eclipse]

The rhetoric was to reduce the number of FGOs and bring the grade structure more in line with the duties and level of the average member,
most of whom never leave the squadron.

Level IV also requires a week-long in-residence training session as well, which many members simply can't get to, even if more of them
are offered.  A number of members in my wing are scrambling to try and make an RSC so they can get to Lt Col before August,
but under the new schema they wouldn't even make it to major.

A master level in PD isn't anything to sneeze at, either, since the major ones require service at the group or higher.

For the average member who has joined in the last year or so, Captain is probably going to be the reasonable top-end.

[RogueLeader]

Question, why did they make the TIG and other requirements longer or "Tougher" to get rank? I know there was a slew of Majors, and Kernals but did making the TIG and the PD Levels more to get rank for a reason? I mean assuming LvL 4 can be done if your motivated fairly quick. However, LVL 5 is the pesky thing were a limited amount can go to that college thingy. Is CAP TIG the same as the AF or similar? I am not sure how officers rank up.

It was to make our system match more closely to the Air Force.  Prior to the change, it was possible to make CAP Lt Col by age 29.  I know of one personally.  Fresh, SM to Lt Col used to take 10 years.  Now its is faster than the Air Force, just not as fast as it used to be.  It's still not the same however. (Which is ok in my book.)

[NIN]

It was to make our system match more closely to the Air Force.  Prior to the change, it was possible to make CAP Lt Col by age 29.  I know of one personally.  Fresh, SM to Lt Col used to take 10 years.  Now its is faster than the Air Force, just not as fast as it used to be.  It's still not the same however. (Which is ok in my book.)

Well, not only that, but it "pushed down" some of the training that you were only getting when you made Lt Col down to Majors and Captains.

When I went to Region Staff College, much of what I saw in the curriculum was things we were already teaching to cadets at Cadet Leadership School. This was information and leadership training that seniors should have been exposed to as 1st Lts and Captains, to make them more effective at the unit and Group level, not Majors going for Lt Col.

[Eclipse]

That may well be part of the logic, but it doesn't fit the CAP model unless the requirements to serve
at upper echelons will be changed to require the PD first (which we all know isn't a practical reality).

The actual result will just be more Captains serving at Group and Wing, not more members expected
to complete the higher training earlier.

[Eclipse]

Question, why did they make the TIG and other requirements longer or "Tougher" to get rank? I know there was a slew of Majors, and Kernals but did making the TIG and the PD Levels more to get rank for a reason? I mean assuming LvL 4 can be done if your motivated fairly quick. However, LVL 5 is the pesky thing were a limited amount can go to that college thingy. Is CAP TIG the same as the AF or similar? I am not sure how officers rank up.

It was to make our system match more closely to the Air Force.  Prior to the change, it was possible to make CAP Lt Col by age 29.  I know of one personally.  Fresh, SM to Lt Col used to take 10 years.  Now its is faster than the Air Force, just not as fast as it used to be.  It's still not the same however. (Which is ok in my book.)

Interesting - even though the new minimum TIG to Lt Col is 13.5 years, a new member who joins as a senior at 18 can't make it in less then ~14.5 because of the
inability to achieve SFO, so they bump to 1st Lt at 21.

Of course CAP can still see 30 year old Spaatzen getting the silver oaks, but I guess that's better then 28 it used to be.

[USACAP]

Lookin' good homie.
Congrats.

I just pinned Major on Nov 5, during our Open House at the airport. We had for a backdrop our 182T, the GA-8 that has been living with us for a few months and...a real, honest-to-goodness CAP Stinson that flew submarine missions out of Coastal Patrol Base 4. Super cool!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mer-va-102/30742363701/in/album-72157674788393501/

[Devil Doc]

It was to make our system match more closely to the Air Force.  Prior to the change, it was possible to make CAP Lt Col by age 29.  I know of one personally.  Fresh, SM to Lt Col used to take 10 years.  Now its is faster than the Air Force, just not as fast as it used to be.  It's still not the same however. (Which is ok in my book.)

Well, not only that, but it "pushed down" some of the training that you were only getting when you made Lt Col down to Majors and Captains.

When I went to Region Staff College, much of what I saw in the curriculum was things we were already teaching to cadets at Cadet Leadership School. This was information and leadership training that seniors should have been exposed to as 1st Lts and Captains, to make them more effective at the unit and Group level, not Majors going for Lt Col.

I did 5 Years JROTC, 2 Years AD, and 1 year Reserves and have been in CAP for 4 years. Most of the Leadership stuff the Cadets are learning I learned in JROTC... Heck I still got all of my Leadership Books from JROTC, Learn to Lead books, and all the other jazz books. My question is... do you still need to go to RSC if you were a Cadet/Ex-Military or did JROTC? Is the leadership training not the same as it is in JROTC or what is taught to CAP Cadets that is taught at RSC?

[Alaric]

It was to make our system match more closely to the Air Force.  Prior to the change, it was possible to make CAP Lt Col by age 29.  I know of one personally.  Fresh, SM to Lt Col used to take 10 years.  Now its is faster than the Air Force, just not as fast as it used to be.  It's still not the same however. (Which is ok in my book.)

Well, not only that, but it "pushed down" some of the training that you were only getting when you made Lt Col down to Majors and Captains.

When I went to Region Staff College, much of what I saw in the curriculum was things we were already teaching to cadets at Cadet Leadership School. This was information and leadership training that seniors should have been exposed to as 1st Lts and Captains, to make them more effective at the unit and Group level, not Majors going for Lt Col.

I did 5 Years JROTC, 2 Years AD, and 1 year Reserves and have been in CAP for 4 years. Most of the Leadership stuff the Cadets are learning I learned in JROTC... Heck I still got all of my Leadership Books from JROTC, Learn to Lead books, and all the other jazz books. My question is... do you still need to go to RSC if you were a Cadet/Ex-Military or did JROTC? Is the leadership training not the same as it is in JROTC or what is taught to CAP Cadets that is taught at RSC?

The only waiver for RSC is Professional Military Education, see CAPR 50-17, p 30

https://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/R050_017_AAC4BB3089BE0.pdf

[Devil Doc]

It was to make our system match more closely to the Air Force.  Prior to the change, it was possible to make CAP Lt Col by age 29.  I know of one personally.  Fresh, SM to Lt Col used to take 10 years.  Now its is faster than the Air Force, just not as fast as it used to be.  It's still not the same however. (Which is ok in my book.)

Well, not only that, but it "pushed down" some of the training that you were only getting when you made Lt Col down to Majors and Captains.

When I went to Region Staff College, much of what I saw in the curriculum was things we were already teaching to cadets at Cadet Leadership School. This was information and leadership training that seniors should have been exposed to as 1st Lts and Captains, to make them more effective at the unit and Group level, not Majors going for Lt Col.

I did 5 Years JROTC, 2 Years AD, and 1 year Reserves and have been in CAP for 4 years. Most of the Leadership stuff the Cadets are learning I learned in JROTC... Heck I still got all of my Leadership Books from JROTC, Learn to Lead books, and all the other jazz books. My question is... do you still need to go to RSC if you were a Cadet/Ex-Military or did JROTC? Is the leadership training not the same as it is in JROTC or what is taught to CAP Cadets that is taught at RSC?

The only waiver for RSC is Professional Military Education, see CAPR 50-17, p 30

https://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/R050_017_AAC4BB3089BE0.pdf

I know... unfortunately, an untimely injury prevented me from taking any Military Leadership courses.

[THRAWN]

It was to make our system match more closely to the Air Force.  Prior to the change, it was possible to make CAP Lt Col by age 29.  I know of one personally.  Fresh, SM to Lt Col used to take 10 years.  Now its is faster than the Air Force, just not as fast as it used to be.  It's still not the same however. (Which is ok in my book.)

Well, not only that, but it "pushed down" some of the training that you were only getting when you made Lt Col down to Majors and Captains.

When I went to Region Staff College, much of what I saw in the curriculum was things we were already teaching to cadets at Cadet Leadership School. This was information and leadership training that seniors should have been exposed to as 1st Lts and Captains, to make them more effective at the unit and Group level, not Majors going for Lt Col.

I did 5 Years JROTC, 2 Years AD, and 1 year Reserves and have been in CAP for 4 years. Most of the Leadership stuff the Cadets are learning I learned in JROTC... Heck I still got all of my Leadership Books from JROTC, Learn to Lead books, and all the other jazz books. My question is... do you still need to go to RSC if you were a Cadet/Ex-Military or did JROTC? Is the leadership training not the same as it is in JROTC or what is taught to CAP Cadets that is taught at RSC?

The only waiver for RSC is Professional Military Education, see CAPR 50-17, p 30

https://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/R050_017_AAC4BB3089BE0.pdf

I know... unfortunately, an untimely injury prevented me from taking any Military Leadership courses.

Is it no longer mandatory to take the POIC before you make 3rd class? I seem to recall that you had to do that before you got crows. If you did it, would seem to me that it might meet the requirements of " US Armed Forces NCO Academy or equivalent, resident or correspondence". Send it up. Worst they can tell you is no....

[MHC5096]

It was to make our system match more closely to the Air Force.  Prior to the change, it was possible to make CAP Lt Col by age 29.  I know of one personally.  Fresh, SM to Lt Col used to take 10 years.  Now its is faster than the Air Force, just not as fast as it used to be.  It's still not the same however. (Which is ok in my book.)

Well, not only that, but it "pushed down" some of the training that you were only getting when you made Lt Col down to Majors and Captains.

When I went to Region Staff College, much of what I saw in the curriculum was things we were already teaching to cadets at Cadet Leadership School. This was information and leadership training that seniors should have been exposed to as 1st Lts and Captains, to make them more effective at the unit and Group level, not Majors going for Lt Col.

I was a 29 year old Lieutenant Colonel. 

Now I'm a 45 year old Lieutenant Colonel. 

Sadly the pay remains the same. 

[CyBorgII]

For the average member who has joined in the last year or so, Captain is probably going to be the reasonable top-end.

And for many members who joined long before.  I wish I had realised that so that my expectations would not have been set too high for my capabilities.

[audiododd]

Everybody's talking about rank and I'm over here saying, "I just want to fly that [darn] Stinson!!!"   

[Devil Doc]

It was to make our system match more closely to the Air Force.  Prior to the change, it was possible to make CAP Lt Col by age 29.  I know of one personally.  Fresh, SM to Lt Col used to take 10 years.  Now its is faster than the Air Force, just not as fast as it used to be.  It's still not the same however. (Which is ok in my book.)

Well, not only that, but it "pushed down" some of the training that you were only getting when you made Lt Col down to Majors and Captains.

When I went to Region Staff College, much of what I saw in the curriculum was things we were already teaching to cadets at Cadet Leadership School. This was information and leadership training that seniors should have been exposed to as 1st Lts and Captains, to make them more effective at the unit and Group level, not Majors going for Lt Col.

I did 5 Years JROTC, 2 Years AD, and 1 year Reserves and have been in CAP for 4 years. Most of the Leadership stuff the Cadets are learning I learned in JROTC... Heck I still got all of my Leadership Books from JROTC, Learn to Lead books, and all the other jazz books. My question is... do you still need to go to RSC if you were a Cadet/Ex-Military or did JROTC? Is the leadership training not the same as it is in JROTC or what is taught to CAP Cadets that is taught at RSC?

The only waiver for RSC is Professional Military Education, see CAPR 50-17, p 30

https://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/R050_017_AAC4BB3089BE0.pdf

I know... unfortunately, an untimely injury prevented me from taking any Military Leadership courses.

Is it no longer mandatory to take the POIC before you make 3rd class? I seem to recall that you had to do that before you got crows. If you did it, would seem to me that it might meet the requirements of " US Armed Forces NCO Academy or equivalent, resident or correspondence". Send it up. Worst they can tell you is no....

No... I also picked it up in the Reserves when I was "Technically" Medical Discharged... it was more of a retirement rank... so to speak.

[Devil Doc]

It was to make our system match more closely to the Air Force.  Prior to the change, it was possible to make CAP Lt Col by age 29.  I know of one personally.  Fresh, SM to Lt Col used to take 10 years.  Now its is faster than the Air Force, just not as fast as it used to be.  It's still not the same however. (Which is ok in my book.)

Well, not only that, but it "pushed down" some of the training that you were only getting when you made Lt Col down to Majors and Captains.

When I went to Region Staff College, much of what I saw in the curriculum was things we were already teaching to cadets at Cadet Leadership School. This was information and leadership training that seniors should have been exposed to as 1st Lts and Captains, to make them more effective at the unit and Group level, not Majors going for Lt Col.

I was a 29 year old Lieutenant Colonel. 

Now I'm a 45 year old Lieutenant Colonel. 

Sadly the pay remains the same. 

Atleast you didn't have to change you rank on your uniform... lol

[MHC5096]

Another way to look at it is that I've had to change CAP uniforms more often than rank in the past 16 years. 

[Devil Doc]

Another way to look at it is that I've had to change CAP uniforms more often than rank in the past 16 years. 

So you went from the Navy, to Army National Guard, to Airforce...

[MHC5096]

Another way to look at it is that I've had to change CAP uniforms more often than rank in the past 16 years. 

So you went from the Navy, to Army National Guard, to Airforce...

Navy Reserve to Air National Guard to Air Force Reserve over 22 years. When I finally retired you would think I would be content with just having one uniform (CAP) to contend with, but no...I had to go add the Coast Guard into the mix.