SM TAC Officer- first encampment questions

[UH60guy]

OK, I'm a senior member with just shy of a year in the CAP (never did it as a cadet either), and I volunteered to be a TAC training officer at this year's encampment. This will be my first CAP encampment experience, and I'm just trying to get a sense of what I've gotten myself into.

We have our staff training this weekend and the encampment is still a month out, so I've been working my way through the reading material, etc. The thing I'm hung up on are the intangibles. We were given generic guidance to "give some thought to/prepare something specific to their job function to steer & broaden the horizons of the mentee cadets as necessary so that they can excel in their assigned tasking."

Now being active duty Army I can give them some stuff about the sister services, life of a military pilot, general leadership techniques for the flight leadership, etc. But one thing I've learned over my little time in CAP, is the cadets can always be depended upon to suprise me with their insight and technical knowledge. I can never prepare completely for that, but some pointers of what to read up on or prepare might help.

Do any other senior members out there with prior encampment experience have any insights about what the cadets usually need in the way of mentorship? I assume some of this will be leadership focused as I'm a training officer probably working with the cadet leadership, would this be an accurate assumption (will get more details this weekend)? Any cadets with good or bad mentorship experience as cadet staff at encampment have something their senior members did well or wish they could answer better?

[Sapper168]

My biggest piece of advice is barring a safety issue, allow the cadet staff to make their mistakes so they can learn from it.  I noticed that as a TAC officer for me that was the hardest thing.

[coudano]

My personal approach to TAC is that i'm there to train advise and counsel the cadet flight staff (the flight commander and flight sergeant).  I like to let the flight staff instruct the basic cadets, without much intervention from me (barring a safety concern or something similar).  I know a lot of TACs struggle with that, and some tend to sort of overshadow the cadet staff and take over training of the flight cadets.  I might stand there and watch the flight staff try a less than optimal choice, and then pull them aside for a "how do you think that went, and what could go better next time" later, away from the other cadets.

The TAC is an extra set of eyes, to "dummy check" the training environment, and make sure that all of the DLO's get met, and no prohibitions get crossed.  Maybe to notice some things that a teenage cadet staff might not quite pick up on...  When possible, if things start falling out of parameter, i'd rather nudge the cadet flight staff and get them to notice things going sideways so they can realize it and fix it themselves.  I'll only step in and call knock it off when we are well past the point of productive learning, and certainly before the situation turns dangerous or gets completely out of hand.



That said, the role and expectations (and traditions) of a TAC can vary from one encampment to the next...  Definitely check your encampment training manual, and other materials.  You'll also want to know who the chief TAC or commandant of cadets is, and make sure that you are on the same page with them about what you are allowed and expected to do.

[Eclipse]

My biggest piece of advice is barring a safety issue, allow the cadet staff to make their mistakes so they can learn from it.  I noticed that as a TAC officer for me that was the hardest thing.

That said, the role and expectations (and traditions) of a TAC can vary from one encampment to the next...  Definitely check your encampment training manual, and other materials.  You'll also want to know who the chief TAC or commandant of cadets is, and make sure that you are on the same page with them about what you are allowed and expected to do.

+1 on both - don't assume a role you haven't been explicitly given.  This can be very difficult for new members involved with encampments, especially those with military backgrounds.

[UH60guy]

Gotcha, thanks for the feedback. So basically unless it's all gone south or they're reenacting Full Metal Jacket for inspections then it's mostly hands off. Sounds good to me. You know, leaders who did that for me in the Army- giving me enough rope to hang myself (figuratively, no rope issued during encampment I hope)- were always my favorite and I feel I learned the most through that approach.

[coudano]

There's definitely some room for active mentoring and teaching.

Fine line between being nothing more than a safety monitor,
and being an overbearing adult who drowns out the staff.

Tough line to walk, but when it's done right, it makes for the best results (imho).

[Eclipse]

Something to bear in mind and which gets lost at encampments, the cadet staff are learning too, and the need the opportunity to teach mentor their people
any time it's possible.

We've had TACs who would wander into a compartment and loudly bring the encampment to a full stop because of some relatively minor, non-safety "infraction".
That's a no-no.

We like our TACs to be partners with their flight staff and work as a team when possible (unfortunately logistics don't always allow for that).
Any time you can discreetly put the bug in the ear of the Flt CC or Flt Sgt that "Cadet Smith seems to be having an issue with 'x' ", and then let
the Flt CC/Sgt figure it out, or at least take the first pass at remediation, then everyone benefits.

[Майор Хаткевич]

Major things to watch for: limping, homesickness, general illness, horseplay during activities. Having just come out of Encampment a month ago, those were big, and I am willing to bet universal.