Facts, Myths and Legends

[Damron]

I like the Lee Harvey Oswald story. He was a cadet. It's unfortunate that we have anything in common with him, but the story is worth telling.
http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=16983.0

NRA badge?

[RNOfficer]

Wait, that's a thing???

why did they not go through with it tho

I resume that you are referring to my earlier post "A well-established fable is that CAP cadets were considered for the teenage resistance group in the original "Red Dawn"."

It makes no sense that a CAP cadet unit would have been considered. Maybe you've heard the claim that "CAP is America's best kept secret". I don't know if it's the "best" but the existence of the CAP is not well known among the general American public. For a film to use CAP cadets, there would have to be a whole pointless backstory explaining what they are. No filmmaker would bother with that.

So, very reasonably, a football team was the nucleus of the "Wolverines", which was their school mascot.

[abdsp51]

You might include which members are actually considered "Total Force", however the reality
will make people sad, since the real number is a small percentage of total membership.

Absolutely, do this one. Not all of us are TF, all the time. Great suggestion.

V/R
Spam

Nobody is Total Force all the time.  You attending your unit meeting is not Total Force.

Unless you're signed into an AFAM 24/7, you're not Total Force all the time.

I am...

[TheTravelingAirman]

You might include which members are actually considered "Total Force", however the reality
will make people sad, since the real number is a small percentage of total membership.

Absolutely, do this one. Not all of us are TF, all the time. Great suggestion.

V/R
Spam

Nobody is Total Force all the time.  You attending your unit meeting is not Total Force.

Unless you're signed into an AFAM 24/7, you're not Total Force all the time.

I am...

Maybe we say nobody is Total Force at all times in their role as a CAP member?

[Spam]

We had a sister units qualified GTMs stop in our meeting this past WED, as they were unable to get a qualified GTL to take them out on a storm related ND AFAM sortie. When our team later arrived from the sortie they were greeted with "hey, here comes the Total Force(TM)"!

Laughter ensued...
Spam

[etodd]

..... the existence of the CAP is not well known among the general American public.

Most folks that see Cadets in uniform at an event assume its a high school ROTC unit. I hear that often.

[GaryVC]

Third person form of address was actually worse then the example (which wasn't third person).

It was "what does the colonel wish me to do?"

I don't know how far this goes back, but it was apparently used in the Army before WWII. WAWAC in the late 1960s we had a retired Army colonel at group 18 HQ in California that told us we should talk like that. The leadership book that we had it that time said specifically not to use that form of address.

[Mitchell 1969]

Third person form of address was actually worse then the example (which wasn't third person).

It was "what does the colonel wish me to do?"

I don't know how far this goes back, but it was apparently used in the Army before WWII. WAWAC in the late 1960s we had a retired Army colonel at group 18 HQ in California that told us we should talk like that. The leadership book that we had it that time said specifically not to use that form of address.

That was Joseph Parilla, Lt Col, CAP and Col, U. S. Army (Ret).

He was a character. Hr was truly "Old Army," as in pre-WWII. Besides the third person thing, he also taught army style D&C, and had an incredible disdain for Jodie's - "I was there when Private Willie Duckworth invented that. I wasn't impressed then, I'm not impressed now." I got to like the guy. I wish I knew more about him. I know that he received the Silver Beaver Award from BSA and the local Little League in his town named an award after him.

[indiaXray]

..... the existence of the CAP is not well known among the general American public.

Most folks that see Cadets in uniform at an event assume its a high school ROTC unit. I hear that often.

Me too.  To quote my mother-in-law when she learnt of my joining CAP: "They're still around?!!"

[NIN]

Me too.  To quote my mother-in-law when she learnt of my joining CAP: "They're still around?!!"

To quote my neighbors when they saw me in uniform last year: "thats still a thing?"

[AirAux]

That CAP members troll military bases attempting to get salutes??? 

[AirAux]

That CAP was the beginning of the Air Force?

[NIN]

That CAP members troll military bases attempting to get salutes???

Oh, no, sneaky RadioMan. I see you.

[NIN]

I always liked the Myth (or maybe its legend?) of the carload of cadets that slammed into a bridge abutment, killing all aboard, as the reason for cadet not being able to drive themselves to activities.

We were told this back in the 1980s.  I had just gotten my driver's license and there was either a "Cadets can't drive themselves to CAP activities" or "Cadets can't drive other cadets to CAP activities" thing that went around in a really nebulous "sort of third hand from a 4th person" kind of way.

"I heard from my buddy..." is the way it started off.

And then, like any good madlib thing:

"that.."
[Pick One or more: "the wing commander" | "the Group Commander" | "the Group Commander of a group over there" <insert handwave in a cardinal direction> | "National Headquarters"]

"won't allow..."
[Pick one: "cadets to drive to activities" | "cadets to drive other cadets to activities"]

"that are.."
[Pick one: "over an hour away" | "outside of the group" | "at an Air Force base" | <some other fantastical but illogical place>]

"because..."
[Pick one or more: "a carload of cadets slammed into a bridge abutment and it killed all of them.. in 1963." | "CAP's insurance doesn't cover cadets." | "a cadet drove off the road and died last year." | "a cadet got hit by a tractor trailer and died screaming." | <some other horrific end>].

"It was awful."

there was always nebulous handwaving and assurances that they somehow knew a guy who knew the deceased.

[Eclipse]

That CAP members troll military bases attempting to get salutes???

Oh, no, sneaky RadioMan. I see you.

Heh - nice.

Actually, that is a 100% myth, so fair game.

[TheSkyHornet]

New suggestion:

D&C myths and legends are always fun, and are useful to cover when coupled with the admonition to go back to the USAF Instruction for the real truth data on how to drill. Examples that keep popping up of myths and bad habits coming from sacred tradition but not any approved manual or reg:

- The fall out "twirl" on dismissal.
- The hallway passing brace to attention and "BY YOUR LEAVE SIR/MA'AM".
- The Third Person Form of Address "THISCADETDOESNOTKNOWBUTWILLFINDOUTSIR".
- The no hands in pockets in uniform sin.
and so forth.

V/R
Spam

Those are more SOP things, not so much regulatory. I guess the myth would be that people think it's regulatory.

[GaryVC]

Third person form of address was actually worse then the example (which wasn't third person).

That was Joseph Parilla, Lt Col, CAP and Col, U. S. Army (Ret).

He was a character. Hr was truly "Old Army," as in pre-WWII. Besides the third person thing, he also taught army style D&C, and had an incredible disdain for Jodie's - "I was there when Private Willie Duckworth invented that. I wasn't impressed then, I'm not impressed now." I got to like the guy. I wish I knew more about him. I know that he received the Silver Beaver Award from BSA and the local Little League in his town named an award after him.

He was a major in CAP when I met him. I looked him up in some Army manuals we at at UC Riverside and I can tell you he retired from the Army in 1948 with a AUS (Army of the United States) commission. I think he was a captain for many years between the world wars and once said he had been a judge at what may have been named the "Drill Competition of the United States" sometime before WWII. I was curious what he had done during WWI but never asked him. One thing I did learn from him was how to do a face in marching which wasn't explained very well in the drill and ceremonies book we had then.

[fixed quotes]

[Live2Learn]

"CAP aircraft don't have engine problems because they are the best maintained fleet in the world..."

[Storm Chaser]

That CAP members troll military bases attempting to get salutes???

We don't? :p

[Storm Chaser]

Fact or myth?

CAP is always the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary.