When was the point where CAP rank ceased actually being rank?

[Eclipse]

There is nothing wrong with a volunteer who stays Level 1, and is happy to hand out water bottles and gets fulfillment knowing they are helping a cause. Its simply different strokes.

Of course not, but you didn't do that.  You want the "aw shucks" while at the same time
were happy enough to accept Captain.

[TheSkyHornet]

Okay, I gotta be that guy...

Can we not get into the personal attacks? I say we stick to policy and practice, not person.

[Shuman 14]

Hey Eclipse, thinking of you.

[Eclipse]

I like how I usually get the heat for things others have said or also said.

It's a fun game.

[etodd]

..... were happy enough to accept Captain.

Mischaracterization. Someone noticed I was CFII and was eligible to be a Captain. Didn't say anything to me. I just got a text message from the CC one day saying you're now a Captain. And that was that. Sure, I guess I could have told him to do the paperwork to take it back. But he seemed thankful to have more promotions in the Squadron, so I just said OK, and went about my way.

[Shuman 14]

I like how I usually get the heat for things others have said or also said.

It's a fun game.

I guess this is your "aw shucks" moment in the sun. (Roll eyes)

[Jester]

Also, your "aw shucks I'm just a regular guy" humblebrag/virtue signaling act wore thin a long time ago.

Sure, I mention it here and there. 

Understatement of the year.

[PHall]

..... were happy enough to accept Captain.

Mischaracterization. Someone noticed I was CFII and was eligible to be a Captain. Didn't say anything to me. I just got a text message from the CC one day saying you're now a Captain. And that was that. Sure, I guess I could have told him to do the paperwork to take it back. But he seemed thankful to have more promotions in the Squadron, so I just said OK, and went about my way.

You know, you can put a Form 2 in requesting a voluntary demotion back down to Senior Member if you want. There's nothing punitive about it. It's not like your pay is going to go down or anything like that.

[etodd]

..... were happy enough to accept Captain.

Mischaracterization. Someone noticed I was CFII and was eligible to be a Captain. Didn't say anything to me. I just got a text message from the CC one day saying you're now a Captain. And that was that. Sure, I guess I could have told him to do the paperwork to take it back. But he seemed thankful to have more promotions in the Squadron, so I just said OK, and went about my way.

You know, you can put a Form 2 in requesting a voluntary demotion back down to Senior Member if you want. There's nothing punitive about it. It's not like your pay is going to go down or anything like that.

Interesting. Didn't know. I'll ask my Commander about it.

[N6RVT]

In case anyone is curious, I did get an answer to the actual question.  It was September 18, 1947

[Shuman 14]

In case anyone is curious, I did get an answer to the actual question.  It was September 18, 1947

Was there any explanation that came with the answer as to why that specific date?

[TheSkyHornet]

In case anyone is curious, I did get an answer to the actual question.  It was September 18, 1947

Was there any explanation that came with the answer as to why that specific date?

U.S. Air Force was founded.

[Shuman 14]

In case anyone is curious, I did get an answer to the actual question.  It was September 18, 1947

Was there any explanation that came with the answer as to why that specific date?

U.S. Air Force was founded.

What I was asking what was the rationale for the striping of authority.

Clearly the US Army Air Forces trusted CAP with authority but US Air Force did not... did they say why?

[Eclipse]

What I was asking what was the rationale for the striping of authority.

Clearly the US Army Air Forces trusted CAP with authority but US Air Force did not... did they say why?

You're conflating things that are not related.

CAP members, per se, have never been Commissioned Officers (though obviously post WWII many
members were also military officers in addition to their CAP status) the authority
of CAP grade has never been "stripped" since it never existed in the first place.

As to trust, the USAF trusts CAP with plenty of things, and grade has never seemed to be
an issue, nor even a discussion point outside the philosophical CAP internal structure.

Another piece often missed in these discussion is that if CAP members were commissioned,
then military officers would have some inherent authority over members regardless of
their station.

As of today, military officers and NCOs have no authority whatsoever over members unless
they have been appointed as such through a staff role, etc., not even CAP USAF, which
has management oversite of the appropriation, and some limited go/no-go at the safety level,
but no actual authority over members (to their undying frustration I can tell you).

[RiverAux]

In case anyone is curious, I did get an answer to the actual question.  It was September 18, 1947

Was there any explanation that came with the answer as to why that specific date?

U.S. Air Force was founded.

I don't see what that has to do with the price of butter. 

[TheSkyHornet]

In case anyone is curious, I did get an answer to the actual question.  It was September 18, 1947

Was there any explanation that came with the answer as to why that specific date?

U.S. Air Force was founded.

I don't see what that has to do with the price of butter.

No clue. That's the "big event in CAP and Air Force history" on that date. Nothing else I can offer on it.

I think we're straying away from what the original question here was: When did rank within CAP stop having any intrinsic value within CAP?

[N6RVT]

Was there any explanation that came with the answer as to why that specific date?

[/quote]

CAP went from being part of the Department of War to a civilian organization under the Department of Defense.  The actual verbage is all in the charter we got at the time.

If you want to make the point that for the first six years CAP consisted of civilians in Army uniforms wearing guns and flying planes with bombs on them, I would counter by asking why CAP ever had military rank in the first place, as it would have never been appropriate.

[TheSkyHornet]

If you want to make the point that for the first six years CAP consisted of civilians in Army uniforms wearing guns and flying planes with bombs on them, I would counter by asking why CAP ever had military rank in the first place, as it would have never been appropriate.

Because "playing military" has always been a valuable recruiting tool to get numbers.

It's the same reason why the 1920 Boy Scouts used to look like:


And the 1920 U.S. Army uniform looked like:


I'll back up and say that while "playing military" is valuable at bringing people in, it also comes with the perception that they get to actually experience the military (and related privileges) because the organization's culture doesn't appropriately teach/address that mindset.

I can't tell you the number of people who flaunt the whole "We are the Auxiliary to the U.S. Air Force" when talking to a bunch of teenagers.

And that said, I think I'm going to start removing "USAF Aux" off all of my official correspondence. I probably inadvertently contributed to that.

[NovemberWhiskey]

And that said, I think I'm going to start removing "USAF Aux" off all of my official correspondence. I probably inadvertently contributed to that.

It's required in the email signature block!

[Eclipse]

And that said, I think I'm going to start removing "USAF Aux" off all of my official correspondence. I probably inadvertently contributed to that.

It's required in the email signature block!

It's suggested in a Pamphlet, but I'm not aware of any regulatory document
that makes it required. As I recall the attempts to make it required got flushed
with other reg changes.

But the ways people ignore the very simple guidelines shows how creative our members
are!

Fun fact: the Branding Guidelines web pages appear to be non-compliant with
the not-required anyway web guidelines, and they are hosted on a non-CAP server!

https://company-214080.frontify.com/d/crhrf1Aw1Ci9/brand-guide

#WINNING!