Meeting locations...Which are the best?

[DrJbdm]

As someone from my Squadron already pointed out we have really nice facilities at Camp Mabry which is an active NG base. We have the front half of the bld (the back half may come soon, currently it's used by the guard to store water bottles and other such things) In our bld we can pretty much do what we need with it.

   we have high speed wireless internet, a phone system, a private office for our Commander, a private radio room, a large office space with Desks for our Officers, a cadet training classroom and a large general room for classes/briefings/ect. We also have a large storage area off of the Officers area for storage of uniforms and equipment and file cabinets. We have copiers and printers as well as a computer area where we have several computers set up. Most Officers just use their laptops at their desks.

  The only real downside is that we don't have a restroom....yet.  However as Chris pointed out, we are located a short walk away from the PX complex which is located almost next door to us. We have access to food and restrooms, barber shop, uniform alteration shop and the main PX. We are forming great relations with the NG and may yet take over the entire bld which would easily be able to hold over 200 people once it's configured.

  Compared to the other two squadrons in our area, we have the best setup CAP could hope for. One of the squadrons meets outside in the small T hanger at a small airport and the other squadron meets in a office at the State Aircraft Pooling board at Austin Bergstrom International Airport. However, that is a wonderful facility and works PERFECT for running flight ops for SAREX's and actual missions. it's a joy to fly the plane at that facility.

  I feel EXTREMELY fortunate to be on a Military installation and to have such a great bld for the unit. We are growing, and there are a few area needing be made better but we have done a lot since taking over the bld a couple of years ago.

[mprokosch11]

I'm really jealous now   , but when you have the privilege of being located on a military base, there is nothing better.

Our squadron meets at a church basement. We have one room all to ourselves for storage. In the summer its not that bad because we have a very large parking lot that no one else uses and it is great for drill. But in the winter we get pretty cramped.

Before 911, our squadron met at a small Army NG Armory, but when 911 happened the armory needed more room and we had to go. (this is what i'm told, but im sure its accurate.)

[baronet68]

I'm really jealous now   , but when you have the privilege of being located on a military base, there is nothing better.

Don't be too quick to judge.  My squadron meets on McChord AFB and it causes us a big headache in one particular area, base access:

McChord will let CAP members on base with their CAP ID card, but they will NOT let CAP members sponsor any non-members or passengers through the gate (exception, cadets with CAP ID are allowed to have a non-member parent drive them onto the base).  For all other non-members, including CAP spouses, we need to have someone with a DOD ID meet them at the visitor center and personally sign them in. 

Unless you only recruit members from among the military families, recruiting can be a disaster!  In order to make our 3 open houses per year successful we need to get someone with DOD credentials to commit to being at the visitor center for 6 weeks.  Sadly, we lose nearly 75% of our prospective members before they attend their 3rd meeting because they (or more often their parents) don't want to deal with the hassle at the gate.

[Ford73Diesel]

Having been a member of three differnet squadrons, I'll add my input

1st squadron

1st building

We met in a building that had sections that were rented out to various groups. CAP got a really good deal, although we had 1 classroom officially, we had access to the entire building the rest of the time. There was also a track in the back for mile runs, and a gym for winter PT. It had a huge outdoor parking lot for drill. It was in a very nice location, unfortunately they found a higher bidder, so we got the boot and had to meet at another nearby unit's building. 


2nd building Tri-C campus in the middle of downtown Cleveland

Worst meeting place besides no meeting place- thats all I'll say about that

3rd building Grays Armory in downtown Cleveland

Decent facilities, I transferred to the squadron that met there.

3rd squadron

National Guard Armory

Great! We have a huge drill hall, storage room, access to several classrooms with projectors and chalkboards. It is close to a highway. HUGE parking lot thats always empty when we are there (for drill and PT) We also have good relationship with the army folks that meet there. We even have our own reflective sign below their sign and a parking space for our CAP truck,genorator on wheels, and trailer. They also give us 24 HR access and let us stay overnight as long as we clear it with the instillation commander.

Hope this helps....

[DNall]

I'm really jealous now   , but when you have the privilege of being located on a military base, there is nothing better.

Don't be too quick to judge.  My squadron meets on McChord AFB and it causes us a big headache in one particular area, base access:

McChord will let CAP members on base with their CAP ID card, but they will NOT let CAP members sponsor any non-members or passengers through the gate (exception, cadets with CAP ID are allowed to have a non-member parent drive them onto the base).  For all other non-members, including CAP spouses, we need to have someone with a DOD ID meet them at the visitor center and personally sign them in. 

Unless you only recruit members from among the military families, recruiting can be a disaster!  In order to make our 3 open houses per year successful we need to get someone with DOD credentials to commit to being at the visitor center for 6 weeks.  Sadly, we lose nearly 75% of our prospective members before they attend their 3rd meeting because they (or more often their parents) don't want to deal with the hassle at the gate.

That's unfortunate. Have you considered meeting & recruiting in different ways. For instance you'll see Pegasus above there that meets two 8hr saturdays a month. That would reduce the number of times your members need to access the base. Then for recruiting you said you are doing three open house events per year, that's great I would have suggested condensed period of intense recruiting. Is the 6wk delay an issue of them not having a card yet? Caue they're quicker than that, especially if you call & tell them to rush it. Again, this would be less of an issue with the above mtg format - would take one hour twice a month. In general, you guys shuold have a note posted at the gate for problems related to CAP so one of your guys with a CAC can drive over & fix it.

[RiverAux]

To answer the original question, I don't think it matters WHAT the location is so much as what you have available there to use.  If you've got a meeting room adequate for your desired size, high-speed internet, an office or two, a supply room and a good space for drill outdoors you'll get by.  Ideally you would also have indoor drill space and a second (smaller) meeting room for testing.  Super ideally you would be on an airport and have a hanger for your CAP airplane. 

Regarding meeting on a military base, I think that currently there are more minuses than pluses associated with it, for many of the reasons given above.  However, if CAP were more focused on providing direct support to the AF, then an on-base meeting site would be a big help. 

[MIKE]

Some meeting locations don't even have a phone line, let alone high-speed Internet.

[DNall]

Some meeting locations don't even have a phone line, let alone high-speed Internet.

We don't right now, not worth the money just to have dial up internet a couple times a week. Everyone uses cell phones anyway, for everything.

To answer the original question, I don't think it matters WHAT the location is so much as what you have available there to use.  If you've got a meeting room adequate for your desired size, high-speed internet, an office or two, a supply room and a good space for drill outdoors you'll get by.  Ideally you would also have indoor drill space and a second (smaller) meeting room for testing.  Super ideally you would be on an airport and have a hanger for your CAP airplane. 

The question was WHAT kind of space best provides those qualities, as well as what particular qualities do you feel are a priority & why.

[RiverAux]

Well, I was acting on the assumption that we would like the option of using any CAP squadron meeting location as a mission base.  Obviously, that isn't always going to be possible for one reason or another and in some situations (multiple squadrons in the same metro area), not necessary. 

However, if we are talking about the ideal squadron location, it would have both telephone and high speed internet because it is now almost impossible to run a CAP mission without internet access.  Yes, there are a few ways to work around this, but they aren't the ideal. 

[floridacyclist]

It's not just mission stuff that makes internet desirable, much of the administrivia is online too. I hated waiting through a 20-minute CAPWATCH download or spending 2 hours trying to download and install printer drivers.

Putting cadets online for test-taking or helping them update their Eservices are other big bonuses.

Do you still submit paper CAPF2As?