Pipelining Seniors

[RiverAux]

We've had quite a few discussions of the "pipeline" process of recruiting new cadets in which new members are only accepted at a few times of the year so as focus efforts on training new members, ease logistical issues involved with getting new cadets, and serve as a focal point for recruiting campaigns.

Has anyone ever tried this process with recruiting senior members into a unit? 

While there are not quite as many difficulties with integrating a new senior member into a unit, I could see some benefits to this program, especially if you are focused on building up an aircrew program.

Why aircrews?  Well, even though I'm more GT-oriented, lets face it, most CAP senior squadrons and senior sides of composite squadrons are focused on aircrew ops.  So, we have to deal with that.

I could see restricting new member applications to once or twice a year actually being a big help to getting new members trained more quickly primarily because you would potentially have enough new members at the same time to justify holding classroom training for aircrew positions.

As it is now, if a new member comes in, it is unlikely that their unit is going to be methodically working its way through the aircrew training program so their chances at getting the classroom stuff they need are quite low.  So, they are left mostly on their own to either to try to learn it by themselves out of the book or to travel to new units. 

The closest thing I've been able to recall to what I'm talking about is the program for new senior members that Iowa Wing was doing as part of their experiment.  IIRC, they were primarily focused on getting the new members through the various PD courses, but I believe there was also an ES component to it. 

But, has anyone tried it at the squadron level?

[Gunner C]

I think that with adults you need to have a place for them to go when they make the decision to join.  People have busy lives - when a new member decides to join, it is not only because they want to serve, but they have the time to spare and want to fill it up.

Youth are more cyclical.  They have the school/summer cycle to wrap their lives around.  Adults don't have that luxury.  If someone who would like to serve in CAP makes that decision in May, they may not have the same desire or time to invest in August or September (I use these months in no particular order - only to illustrate the point).  While I have never used this method with SMs, I'd be willing to try it, but, as stated above, there are some basic problems.

[arajca]

When I decided to get back into CAP, the first senior sqdn I visited had that type of program. Everyone who joined had to go through Level I, CPPT, B-CUT, A-CUT, Aircrew/Scanner, and a couple of other courses BEFORE they would even talk to you about what you were interested in. Since I had (and still have) zero interest in aircrew, I went elsewhere. Plus I couldn't see driving ~90 miles each way on a Sat to do something I wasn't interested in. I almost didn't rejion.