New Commander Advice

[sqcom]

I have been a member of CAP for about one year and now find myself as squadron commander. The previous commander
had some personal problems and was almost desperate to get out. When I joined, I was very enthusiastic. I worked
very hard in the area of AE, recruited three senior members and three cadets. I also became a mission scanner and trained to become mission pilot. Life as a CAP member was rewarding. I now find myself under a sea of unexpected pressure. The previous commander made many promises to mentor me, but as soon as I accepted the position, he left me with SUI visits from Wing and the AF with no help. We also were being evicted from our building and had to spend two weeks moving to a new building. After three months, we were evicted again and we have no place to meet. I am under a tremendous amount of stress that is affecting my job and has caused tension in my family. The demands from Wing are endless and the morale of the squadron is low. This is more than a member with one year experience should be given. I would recommend some minimum requirements before being allowed to become commander. This would prevent situations such as the one I'm in from occurring in the future. So here I am and I need advice from those that may have been in a similar situation. What did you do?

[JeffDG]

I have been a member of CAP for about one year and now find myself as squadron commander. The previous commander
had some personal problems and was almost desperate to get out. When I joined, I was very enthusiastic. I worked
very hard in the area of AE, recruited three senior members and three cadets. I also became a mission scanner and trained to become mission pilot. Life as a CAP member was rewarding. I now find myself under a sea of unexpected pressure. The previous commander made many promises to mentor me, but as soon as I accepted the position, he left me with SUI visits from Wing and the AF with no help. We also were being evicted from our building and had to spend two weeks moving to a new building. After three months, we were evicted again and we have no place to meet. I am under a tremendous amount of stress that is affecting my job and has caused tension in my family. The demands from Wing are endless and the morale of the squadron is low. This is more than a member with one year experience should be given. I would recommend some minimum requirements before being allowed to become commander. This would prevent situations such as the one I'm in from occurring in the future. So here I am and I need advice from those that may have been in a similar situation. What did you do?

First, let me strongly concur in the part I just bolded above.  Your predecessor dropped a pile of crap in your lap.

Second:  Talk to your Group or Wing Commander (not sure if you have groups).  They are there to support you, not make your life harder.  If the demands from Wing are excessive, you can always tell them to prioritize or find themselves a new squadron commander! 

I would talk to the IG about putting off your SUI...personally, I think a new commander deserves some time to get his feet under him without an SUI crawling all up in his business.

Talk to the other members in your unit.  You're their leader, but you're also a team...you don't have to do this all yourself.

[Eclipse]

There's no reason to postpone the SUI - the grade is meaningless, however the discrepancies it will likely reveal will
inform the actions you need to undertake.  I always required my new commanders to do an SUI self-assessment within 90 days
of assuming command for this exact reason.  An SUI is not a final exam, it is an informational snapshot designed to assist you
and higher HQ in accomplishing the mission.

The Air Force has zero involvement with unit SUIs.  If you're being inspoected by someone from CAP-USAF or a CAP-RAP you
need to ask direct questions as to "why".

I also agree that 1 year in CAP is not usually enough experience for someone to assume command, with the asterisk that
a new commander with no baggage experience will be forced to read the regs, and therefore might actually wind up being
ultimately more successful then someone who believe they know how CAP works (and actually doesn't).

Chart your own course based solely on facts and the regs and let those in the unit know they can follow, or not, on their whim,
but "this is the way we will be going".

[JeffDG]

The AF could just be a survey audit that his unit was selected for.

[Eclipse]

The AF could just be a survey audit that his unit was selected for.

Agreed, but I can't imagine a Wing CC allowing a unit with a recently chaotic history to be selected for an audit, unless they had no choice.

Regardless, just let it happen.  It's certainly not any reflection on the new guy, but will give him the stick to make changes.

[Walkman]

Eclipse, you have a good point that the SUI could give the new CC a place to being setting goals. However, the caveat to this is that the IG handling the SUI keeps the proper perspective of a fairly new member and new CC. If it becomes an interrogation, that would be a bad thing.

[Eclipse]

Eclipse, you have a good point that the SUI could give the new CC a place to being setting goals. However, the caveat to this is that the IG handling the SUI keeps the proper perspective of a fairly new member and new CC. If it becomes an interrogation, that would be a bad thing.

As I've pointed out a bunch of times, IG's are not the secret police of CAP - they have a very specific lane and zero authority.  The are fact-finders only. They ask and report, sometimes being allowed a recommendation of action, which the commander to whom they report is free to ignore.

The SUI is a series of YES/NO questions.  Substantiation is only required when the inspector decides the answer needs more detail or does not
believe the response.  IG's and SUI inspectors are not allowed to "grill" the staff being inspected, nor are they ever, never, ever, allowed to interject their opinion of what "should" be done.  This is the purview of the commander from whom they have been discharged to perform the inspection.

For example, an IG is not allowed to "require" anything in regards to how appointments are done.  He may well feel that a physical 2a should be
on file for every action taken, but since the systems and the regs allow for an end to end paperless appointment (for all but a handful of staff), his
opinion in this regard is irrelevant if the staffer is ultimately properly appointed and noted in eServices.

Same goes for the unit's file system - absent direction from higher HQ, as long as they have one, whether the inspector "like it" or not is again irrelevant.  BTDT on both.

A unit SUI should take a couple of hours, tops.  Less with multiple inspectors and prepared staff. These 4-8 hour root canals that we hear about all the time are inappropriate and unacceptable.

[fadiaz]

A unit SUI should take a couple of hours, tops.  Less with multiple inspectors and prepared staff. These 4-8 hour root canals that we hear about all the time are inappropriate and unacceptable.

I agree that they are unacceptable; but unfortunately in some places, in some wings, they do occur...  (Lets hope that in the original poster place, they are not like this...)


FAD

[Майор Хаткевич]

I have zero advice, but want to say thank you for taking on the job. I'm a relatively new SM, and I know I would NOT want to be in command at this stage in my CAP career. I'm sure you can find help here / advice that can help you out, but again, thanks for taking it on, and I hope you can get something good out of this forum and your local help (Unit staff, group/wing, etc).

[ZigZag911]

A squadron can be thoroughly inspected by 2-3 officers from group or wing in two to three hours, painlessly and efficiently, provided:

1) inspectors have done their homework and now what they need to accomplish
2) squadron CC and staff are prepared and have necessary documentation available
3) squadron staff are present or have properly briefed their stand in

Inspectors should never dictate or try to tell the unit members what to do.

Neither should they engage in long, instructional conversations.

It is, however, an ideal time to make brief, constructive suggestions about how to correct deficiencies (even if it is simply to advise "you'll want to contact wing comm officer about this", for instance)

[Private Investigator]

I have been a member of CAP for about one year and now find myself as squadron commander.

I was once in the same spot. With in three days of the change of command, I got three calls, Group Commander, Wing Aircraft Manager and Wing Commander, all regarding three very different problems.

When the young eskimo asked the village elder what will we do with a 40 ton whale. The elder said, enjoy it one bite at a time.

Have fun with it. Squadron Commander is a great assignment. If something does not work, next time will be better. After a year you will know how it all works.

[sqcom]

I appreciate the positive comments. I find that being able to express my concerns in such a forum is a great way to reduce stress.