CAP Photo ID project

[whatevah]

Who knows, maybe you'll be the designer of the ID card that thousands of CAP members will be carrying in their wallets for umpteen years.

hmmm... any reason why one of us designers could submit our own design to NHQ for an idea?

[Pylon]

Who knows, maybe you'll be the designer of the ID card that thousands of CAP members will be carrying in their wallets for umpteen years.

hmmm... any reason why one of us designers could submit our own design to NHQ for an idea?

I don't see why not.  In college, I did my fair share of designing IDs.   

[whatevah]

haha

I've never done an ID, but have done a few too many business cards, which I suppose are similar enough for me to give it a try.

[Pylon]

haha

I've never done an ID, but have done a few too many business cards, which I suppose are similar enough for me to give it a try.

Why don't we give it a try.  I mean -- everybody seems to have a good idea of why the current one is bad, and how we could do better.  Why don't we put our "superior" thoughts into action and design some proposals that might potentially please the memebrship majority and the USAF.

It can't hurt to try, right?

[arajca]

Well, how about people put up ONE feature with justification per post. Exclude the obvious (photo, CAP emblem/seal/majcomm, Name, etc). Just consider such stuff as orientation; placement of logos, photo, data; background; etc. You can post about as many as you like, just one per post to help keep things clear.

First shot:
Orientation - portrait/vertical
Helps make it line up with CAPF101 when worn on clip.
Less likely to be confused with a 'Guest' pass.
Looks more professional. IMHO.

[Pylon]

Sure, I'll play.

Security Features -  Hologram needed.

Anybody with spare time and a PVC printer from eBay could make them otherwise.
Gives credibility to the IDs when presented to law enforcement and others when on missions.
Won't look like a college student made it. 

[SarDragon]

You're making that sound much simpler than it probably will be. Will eBay have 52 of these printers available? Who will fund them? Who will operate them? Price of special consumables?

I think real IDs is a great idea, but when I see statements prefixed with "Anyone ...", or "All you have to do is ...", or "Just ...", my BS meter immediately jumps past mid-scale.

[whatevah]

You're making that sound much simpler than it probably will be. Will eBay have 52 of these printers available? Who will fund them? Who will operate them? Price of special consumables?

I think real IDs is a great idea, but when I see statements prefixed with "Anyone ...", or "All you have to do is ...", or "Just ...", my BS meter immediately jumps past mid-scale.

I think he meant that if we don't include a hologram, anybody could buy a card printer off of ebay and use it to print out FAKE ID cards (like they do at colleges and such all the time).  I don't think he was meaning for each wing to buy their own equipment and do everything that way.  I think we all still intend for NHQ to continue printing out the cards, but the cards should have one of our designs which include the features being posted here.

[SarDragon]

Gotcha. Missed the all important "otherwise" in that sentence.

[whatevah]

I thought that might be the case, no problem.

Any features missing from the current CAP membership cards that you'd like to see?  I'm gonna be busy all day today (work, class, CAP meeting) but I'll try and play around tonight.

[Pylon]

I thought that might be the case, no problem.

Any features missing from the current CAP membership cards that you'd like to see?  I'm gonna be busy all day today (work, class, CAP meeting) but I'll try and play around tonight.

Photo's -  lacking from the current membership cards, I'd like to see the membership cards changed to ID cards and the photos added.  I think almost everyone is in agreement with this.  If we don't want to replace the basic membership card yet, we should still get a new professional photo ID card to replace the horrible, forgable, unconvincing, antiquated Form 19 ID Card.

[abysmal]

Rather than asking what you want to see ON the new card, why not ask exactly what the new card is supposed to do that the current one doesn't and then just fill in the blanks.

After all, what will this spanky new ID card get us that the current one doesn't now??

[Pace]

Here's always been my beef with the way CAP does cards.  We have one for membership, one for ES, another for the corporate driver's license, etc.  Why not combine a few, say the 101 card and the membership card, all the while making the ID card look more professional and incorporate a photo.  Here's just an idea:

[Pylon]

Rather than asking what you want to see ON the new card, why not ask exactly what the new card is supposed to do that the current one doesn't and then just fill in the blanks.

After all, what will this spanky new ID card get us that the current one doesn't now??

The current plastic card we receive from national is a membership card, not an ID card.  The current CAP ID card is nothing more than a cheaply laminated piece of paper with a photo glued to it.  It's old, unsecure, and doesn't look credible in the least bit.  College students forging IDs for kids down the hall can make things that look twice as professional and three times as convincing.

A new card should be an ID card that's professional and credible looking, that covers all the basics -- photo, name, grade, USAF Auxiliary, hologram, etc.

The features have been pretty much consistent from the original proposed ID card that looked like the CAC, and the newest proposed design (that looked like a library card).  The features aren't necessarily what we're worried about.  It seems NHQ has it down what they want out of an ID card.  It just seems that the professional and credible look part is difficult to pin down.



Pace, nice idea!  I like the vertical orientation and especially the idea of combining the 101, Driver's license, memebership and ID cards into one card.   I can't think of anything better for the back than these qualifications.  It's better use of the backside than CAP's mission statement or the core values!

[abysmal]

The current plastic card we receive from national is a membership card, not an ID card.  The current CAP ID card is nothing more than a cheaply laminated piece of paper with a photo glued to it.  It's old, unsecure, and doesn't look credible in the least bit.

But to what end?
So we end up with this KILLER ID CARD.
So what?

Will it do ANYTHING in reality that the current Library card doesn't??

When has your current Library card stopped you from being able to do something in CAP that the new High-Speed ID Card would have allowed??

I am not trying to be the Devil's Advocate, and I am happy to pay the price for a much better ID Card, I am just really honestly currious what we are all expecting this thing to do for us. The idea of having the ES Ratings on the backside makes VERY good sence. That would actually DO something the current card fails to do anytime we use it.

[Pylon]

The current plastic card we receive from national is a membership card, not an ID card.  The current CAP ID card is nothing more than a cheaply laminated piece of paper with a photo glued to it.  It's old, unsecure, and doesn't look credible in the least bit.

But to what end?
So we end up with this KILLER ID CARD.
So what?

Will it do ANYTHING in reality that the current Library card doesn't??

When has your current Library card stopped you from being able to do something in CAP that the new High-Speed ID Card would have allowed??

I am not trying to be the Devil's Advocate, and I am happy to pay the price for a much better ID Card, I am just really honestly currious what we are all expecting this thing to do for us. The idea of having the ES Ratings on the backside makes VERY good sence. That would actually DO something the current card fails to do anytime we use it.

Have you seen the current CAPF 19 ID Card?  It's a ratty piece of paper, with your picture cut out and taped or glued to it, stuck in a cheap lamination pouch.  It's something a forger could have made in the 1970s, and something that any college kid with 15 minutes could instantaneously reproduce to perfection.

It holds no credibility with law enforcement or other agencies.  There are indeed cases of CAP Ground Teams going out to airports, marinas and other locations all the time, mostly in the middle of the night.  Once an ELT is located in an aircraft, boat, or building, many times law enforcement has to be called as CAP cannot enter on our own.   Law Enforcement officials have in the past and will continue to show up, never having heard of Civil Air Patrol.  We tell them we're on an official mission from the Air Force and that some device inside this building/plane/boat must be shut off and we need their help to open it because we can't.

Any good police officer who has never heard of Civil Air Patrol is going to want to see proof that we're just not some guys in cammies trying to break into something.  What can we give them?  Our cut n' paste CAPF 19?  A handful of various cards to link the name on our membership card with our Driver's license photo with our 101 card?

This is just one example of where a professional photo ID is something CAP has been in dire need of for some time.

How can we expect to carry out official Air Force missions, act as professionals, and enter/exit military facilities when we can't even get an ID card that shows we are actually a part of this and we didn't just order some stuff from The Hock online and print off our own membership card?  How are we to be taken seriously?

If someone seriously questioned our purpose somewhere, whether it be on a base or a mission or elsewhere, we don't have a very convincing way of proving our purpose.  We have to explain things at length, go into what CAP is, show them minimally several different cards, and hope they buy the story.

Sorry -- that doesn't cut it for me.  NHQ and the USAF have the capability to give us proper identification, I don't see why we should stick with the membership card + whatever state-issued license you have + 101 Card system.  Seems pretty unprofessional and "fly-by-night boiler room operation" to me.

[abysmal]

Seems pretty unprofessional and "fly-by-night boiler room operation" to me.

And that my friend pretty well sums up CAP for the last many years.
I think the case can be well made that the USAF is NOT all that concerned that CAP members are able to exact any higher levels of "Credibility" either On or Off Base.
In fact it could be said that they are working hard to make sure we Don't obtain more credibility..

But I do like your argument, and I would like a better ID Card as well.

[Major_Chuck]

Here's always been my beef with the way CAP does cards.  We have one for membership, one for ES, another for the corporate driver's license, etc.  Why not combine a few, say the 101 card and the membership card, all the while making the ID card look more professional and incorporate a photo.  Here's just an idea:

The problem with your certifications on the reverse is if they change (expire or you add to it).  Do you end up having to get a new card?  It is a good use of the reverse though then wasting it with the 'mission statement' or 'safety pledge' as Pylon said.

Second issue:  The barcode.  What information do we want stored in the barcode and who has barcode readers readily available?

-CC

[Pace]

I got bored so I modified my idea a little more.  Some of the useless stuff on the back has been removed, and a few more (probably required) pieces of the 101 card were added.  The CAPID number was also added to the front so that the card incorporates the numerical and barcode CAPID.  This means that the card now includes the membership card, the ID, and the 101 card.  I doubt that it would be possible to incorporate the corporate driver's license since those are still issued by wing.
NOTE: Because I had to reduce the resolution to host the image, some parts of the card are nearly unreadable.

[Major_Chuck]

By taking off your height, weight, hair color, eye color you've turned it back  into a 101 card. 


What about members who are not active in Emergency Services but are focused on Cadet Programs or Aerospace Education? As a matter of Cadet Protection shouldn't the date of CPPT training be indicated somewhere.