PAWG shuts down

[mikeylikey]

^ Just got an email that the Wing Cadet Competition and color guard comp was canceled.  That SUCKS for CADETS that worked hard all year and now are going to miss the chance to compete at Region.  This was in no way Cadets fault.  Yet, they are being punished.

I say this because PAWG was going to take REGION this year!  So, you lucked out NYWG.......

[CASH172]

My question is why isn't ORM required of all CAP members everywhere.  I haven't taken the course, but if it's that important to safety, why only require it when things get ugly. 

[JC004]

Current completion stats that were put out is 869 out of 2494 members.

[mikeylikey]

This was an email sent out today on the situation in PAWG.

First let me thank all those who have responded to the recent flurry of demands by National to bring Pennsylvania Wing into compliance.

We are under an operational shut down. What that means is if some disaster were to happen right now and FEMA or PEMA or a local ES organization contacted us for our help, we would have to say NO! 

I see emails every day about squadrons planning family days, color guard meets, fund raisers etc.
I must tell you all that MUST be put on hold until we work out this problem with our membership.

I was sent a list this morning of all those in the Group who are in compliance and who are not.
I was shocked to see the names on the non compliant list. There are Squadron commanders, former squadron commanders, Deputy commanders, members of my own Group 1 staff, former Group Commanders,  current and former Safety officers...the list goes on.

THE TOP PRIORITY, THE ONLY THING ON YOUR CAP AGENDA MUST BE...ORM COMPLIANCE OF EVERY MEMBER!

After a lengthy phone conference between the Wing Command staff last night and the Group Commanders the following facts and remedies are before us.

Facts!

1. PAWING IS UNDER AN OPERATIONAL SHUT DOWN! Going into it's third week soon!

2. OF the approximately 2,200 members of PAWING so far only approx. 870 have complied with
    the ORM requirement.

3. The Operational shut down will NOT be lifted until we are in 100% compliance.

4. PAWING Commanders have an obligation to bring the Wing into 100% compliance ASAP by what ever means necessary.

Remedies!

We have until Midnight Sunday the 27th of April. or some or all of these remedies will be   
implemented. There is no other way!

1.  Contact every non-compliant member by phone and tell them how to accomplish the orm.
  (we have tried email for almost 2 weeks, it did get 35% response, but we need the other 65%.)

2.  Failing to complete by Sunday night, non compliant members can be transferred out of their   
     squadron or group into squadron 000.

3.  Non compliant squadrons can have their charter revoked.

4.  Some squadrons who lose enough members by their being sent to Sq.000, could fall below the
     15 member minimum and be reduced to a flight or closed.

Do these remedies seem drastic and harsh? Absolutely!

Is National giving PA Wing any choice but to comply? NO!

Do the group commanders and Wing staff understand what this will do to the squadrons in the wing, to their membership, to the morale of the cadets and new members? ..Oh yes! we understand completely. But PA WING is in a box and there is only one way out.
COMPLIANCE! WE MUST ACHIEVE IT by any means necessary. There is no choice but to act, and act decisively.

We have been sending emails out for two weeks marked "URGENT!" and "PRIORITY!" and yes some have responded , that is why we have 870 compliant members. But we must concentrate on the remaining 1330.

The wing Staff has shifted blame for thier failure in safety to the wing membership.  Shame on them!

[RiverAux]

Exactly.  While there are obviously a few others involved in the safety program out in the squadrons dropped the ball, making this ORM requirement for the entire membership is asinine.  What they should have done was make it mandatory for all wing and group commanders and staff and all squadron commanders and deputy commanders.  Once that was achieved, lift the operational ban and then give a reasonable period of time to get everyone else on board. 

[dwb]

1.  Contact every non-compliant member by phone and tell them how to accomplish the orm.
  (we have tried email for almost 2 weeks, it did get 35% response, but we need the other 65%.)

...

We have been sending emails out for two weeks marked "URGENT!" and "PRIORITY!" and yes some have responded , that is why we have 870 compliant members. But we must concentrate on the remaining 1330.

When I get an E-mail marked "URGENT", it usually ends up in my Spam folder.

A Wing-wide call down should have been implemented as soon as they were grounded.  Wing staff calls Group staff, Group staff calls Squadron staff, Squadrons call all of their members.  It's the only way you're going to get anywhere near 100% compliance in a reasonable timeframe.

Since they can't run any activities right now, they might as well pick up the phone.  Heck, the Wing CC can even call members randomly to find out if they've completed the training.  Nothing says "oh crap, we're really in trouble!" like an out-of-the-blue call from the Wing King.

[SARMedTech]

Complying with ORM on an individual member level seems as easy as falling off a log, but...

There are people everywhere (not just in PAWG) who don't have time to get things taken care of due to soccer-family syndrome, etc. Threatening to transfer members to Triple Zero is just plain wrong and PAWG leadership at all levels should be ashamed of themselves. The carrot is obviously being able to resume activity in the Wing, but to make the stick transferring members or eliminating their membership is totally inappropriate.  Makes one think that there might just be more wrong with PAWG than safety issues. Seems like the entire Wing might need a kick in its collective butt.  Nothing like leadership through threats when the leaders are the ones who have screwed things up.

[BlackKnight]

After the dust settles this ORM exercise by PAWG may have inadvertently generated statistical data of nationwide import. Many of us have wondered (and argued) about what our actual "active" membership numbers are.  Looks right now like PAWG is running at about 35% active.   I suspect we'd see similar response trends in most of the larger and medium sized wings.  It's a heck of a way to trim the fat- like undergoing liposuction without anesthesia! 

[lordmonar]

This is news?

I would say that for any given unit 30% are active, 30% have valid reasons they can't be active but want to be associated with us and the rest are just informally resigned.

[wingnut]

This is an embarrassment,
the worse case scenario for CAP, and all the other CAP WINGS need to do some self reflection on just what the real facts are with each wing. CAWG has 2,000 seniors, if we have approx. 35% active that gives us maybe 700 who are doing the job. That may be a realistic number. Certainly for those of us who are active , 700 may be a high number. Nontheless, we are being dishonest to our Air Force and the American people by telling everyone we have 50,000, 60,000 or 40,000 members supporting 'Missions for America.

I believe in transparency in Government, by not doing so it creates a false sense of readiness, and when the Ball goes up we fall flat on our face. This does a disservice to the comunity and to our heritage. Maybe we need to trim the fat, be more open and honest.

[Eagle400]

Does anyone know the frequency at which wings have been put on freeze? 

If I recall correctly, this same thing has happened to at least 2 other wings in the past 10 years.

[Gunner C]

It depends on the level of the freeze.  NCWG was on a freeze for logistics.  It darned near stopped everything like PAWG, but it was able to keep up searches, cadet tng, etc.

GC

[FW]

I think PAWG is the 1st wing to be closed down for ALL missions.  I don't remember any other wing which was required to have 100% compliance for membership participation in anything.  

However, reading 1 email and sending a reply requires about 10 minutes of ones time.  If you can't do that, you probably don't have time for CAP.

So, with all things considered.  I guess the wing's leadership has decided on only having "active" members in squadrons;  the rest go to the"000" squadron.  This will drastically change the nature of the wing but, IMHO, it will be a more accurate picture of what goes on.   We'll know what the results are on Monday.

I don't think this will stop with PAWG.

[capchiro]

I may be missing something, but here goes.  Is PAWG the only wing that is required to have completed ORM??  If not, we are all in trouble.  Having looked at ORM, if I was at the right place, it is not a 20 minute OPSEC type of course.  It appeared to be multi-level and looked to take a few hours to complete.  Also, one of the first concepts in ORM is to weigh the benefit versus the risk and make an intelligent decision whether the benefit outweighs the risk.  If this is a core concept of ORM, how do they explain closing a wing down for not taking a safety course??  I don't think anyone applied the concept of ORM and truly considered the benefit versus the risk when they shut down the PAWG.  I mean, the wing has an impressive safety record and little risk is involved, versus the loss of mission and membership over the requirement of taking a course that may or may not have benefit to a wing that has a good safety record.  Mission first, safety always, but you really don't need safety if you don't do the mission.  Am I confused on this whole thing??  Or is there more to it than just the ORM requirement??  Are all wings in danger of this??  I would think so.  When was this requirement made and by whom??       

[badger bob]

Wings have and will get shutdown.

Wings could never train for ES missions, skimp on Aerospace Education, and blow off cadet programs; yet never get shut down. Wings are shut down for not succesfully passing their CAP-USAF evaluations.

Every two years they are evaluated by CAP-USAF for Operational Missions which look at  Emergency Services, Disaster Relief, Homeland Security and Counter Drug operations. A unsuccesful will shut down any wing operations- as in PA.

Every year CAP-USAF does a survey audit, and every 3-5 years a compliance inspection looking at accountibility for property and required administrative procedures. Although the larger compliance inspection looks at all areas and all missions, wings are placed on freeze generally for failing property management of supply, communications, aircraft maintenance, or vehicles. The penalty is a freeze on recieving new equipment graduated up to a a suspension of all wing operations for a repeat offender.

CAP-USAF also does regualr financial audits of wing finances. Wings can also be palced on a freeze for financial irregularities.

Succesful Hawk Mountains are not a required element.

Safety, Property Management, and Finances can suspend operations of a wing.

[RiverAux]

People are forgetting that a significant percentage of our membership does not have email at all.  This percentage probably varies by wing, but I suspect that a 35% response rate is probably close to half of those who have email an I wouldn't consider it any sort of reflection of "active" membership.

[SARMedTech]

I may be missing something, but here goes.  Is PAWG the only wing that is required to have completed ORM??  If not, we are all in trouble.  Having looked at ORM, if I was at the right place, it is not a 20 minute OPSEC type of course.  It appeared to be multi-level and looked to take a few hours to complete.  Also, one of the first concepts in ORM is to weigh the benefit versus the risk and make an intelligent decision whether the benefit outweighs the risk.  If this is a core concept of ORM, how do they explain closing a wing down for not taking a safety course??  I don't think anyone applied the concept of ORM and truly considered the benefit versus the risk when they shut down the PAWG.  I mean, the wing has an impressive safety record and little risk is involved, versus the loss of mission and membership over the requirement of taking a course that may or may not have benefit to a wing that has a good safety record.  Mission first, safety always, but you really don't need safety if you don't do the mission.  Am I confused on this whole thing??  Or is there more to it than just the ORM requirement??  Are all wings in danger of this??  I would think so.  When was this requirement made and by whom??       

How can we say that overall, PAWG has an impressive safety record. Simply because this is the first time they have been grounded doesnt mean there havent been problems. I mean, werent they also grounded due to maintenance procedural problems with a/c and vehicles?  It seems to me that anyone who is involved actively in operations, not matter what how often they participate, should be required to complete ORM. So what if it takes a few hours? So do the ICS series courses. I think we could safely exempt lawyers and accountants and chaplains (no offense intended, what they do is very important). But why should any ground pounders or air crews not be have a working knowledge of risk management. In my opinion, ORM should be tacked on to professional development above Level I.

[SARMedTech]

People are forgetting that a significant percentage of our membership does not have email at all.  This percentage probably varies by wing, but I suspect that a 35% response rate is probably close to half of those who have email an I wouldn't consider it any sort of reflection of "active" membership.

Can you cite where you get the information that a "significant percentage of our membership" does not have email?  I have a hard time buying that one. And if by stretch of the imagination it is true, let 'em go to the public library and establish a free email account on yahoo, gmail or hotmail.  I really have a hard time with this statement. Heck, the cadets in my sqdn have IPhones that can do everything but cook pizzas and mix margaritas.

[arajca]

People are forgetting that a significant percentage of our membership does not have email at all.  This percentage probably varies by wing, but I suspect that a 35% response rate is probably close to half of those who have email an I wouldn't consider it any sort of reflection of "active" membership.

Can you cite where you get the information that a "significant percentage of our membership" does not have email?  I have a hard time buying that one. And if by stretch of the imagination it is true, let 'em go to the public library and establish a free email account on yahoo, gmail or hotmail.  I really have a hard time with this statement.

About 10% of my unit members (cadet and senior) do not have email addresses on record with CAP. One member has not fully embraced "this new technological gimick", but has health issues, so we use other methods to get him the information. Some cadets' parents won't let them have an email address in CAP's records. Additionally, about 30% do not regularly (~twice/week) check their email.

Heck, the cadets in my sqdn have IPhones that can do everything but cook pizzas and mix margaritas.

The grown up versions will.  :angel:

[SAR-EMT1]

I feel that the ORM page could easily break down to follow the position of those in ops.
- GTM/UDF, A/C, MBS: ORM intro (level 1)
- GBD/AOBD, Sq. /CC : mid level ORM course (level2)
IC, /CC above Sq : Level 3 ORM course.
It appears the Level 4 course is intended for Flag Officers and has no online exam