Incentives for Mission Base

[Short Field]

I have been told that the only people who work mission base positions are those either afraid to fly or those too old to continue flying.  That is BS IMHO.  However, how do you attract more people to train, get really qualified, and participate on a regular basis in the senior Mission Base positions?  Specifically I am looking at incentives to get people to pass up flying as a mission pilot or observer on a semi-regular basis to get qualified and experienced as AOBD, PSC, OSC, and IC.  The CUL, LSC, FASC, and other "skilled" staff positions are included as well. 

What do you think? 

[Eclipse]

Well, you could start by remembering GBD.

You have to start from day one that CAP membership requires more commitment than just what "you find fun" - some days you're a player, some days you're a ref.  If you don't switch once in a while, soon no one will want to play.

Some of my best experiences in CAP were as GBD and MRO, but it was because of team synergy and spirit, with a bunch of other highly trained, efficient "management types" who kicked ass working together.

If you turn back the clock 5 years, our EOC's were huge CF's with arguing, yelling and chaos. 

Show a member a finely tuned machine, and they will want to be part of it, show them chaos, and many will just steer clear.

[SDF_Specialist]

I think the first problem to address is motivating the members to come out on their weekends, and train for ES. It's hard enough to get some (not all) to even get their 116 & 117. How to motivate?

[isuhawkeye]

At its core this is a recruitment issue.  If CAP's only recruitment tool is free flying then the motivating factor for the membership will be flying, and no one will have any incentive to move up. 

It starts from day 1.  Providing motivation and ideals based around the total CAP force

[Pylon]

I hate to bring it up.  (Somebody can smite me, smack me, and/or shun me for this one)

But what motivates a lot of people?  Yes, bling.

The ground side has their badges for GTM's, GTL's and GBD's.  The aircrew side has their wings for MO and MP's.   The ES mission base and support staff have?  Nothing.  Until, at least, you become a full fledged IC at least.

Just an observation.

[SDF_Specialist]

I hate to bring it up.  (Somebody can smite me, smack me, and/or shun me for this one)

But what motivates a lot of people?  Yes, bling.

The ground side has their badges for GTM's, GTL's and GBD's.  The aircrew side has their wings for MO and MP's.   The ES mission base and support staff have?  Nothing.  Until, at least, you become a full fledged IC at least.

Just an observation.

Well unfortuantely, you're right. Some members don't want to do things unless they know they can secure bling. How do we get them out of that frame of mind?

[davedove]

I hate to bring it up.  (Somebody can smite me, smack me, and/or shun me for this one)

But what motivates a lot of people?  Yes, bling.

The ground side has their badges for GTM's, GTL's and GBD's.  The aircrew side has their wings for MO and MP's.   The ES mission base and support staff have?  Nothing.  Until, at least, you become a full fledged IC at least.

Just an observation.

Well unfortuantely, you're right. Some members don't want to do things unless they know they can secure bling. How do we get them out of that frame of mind?

I can agree with that, but there is also the fairness issue.  Using that line of thought, neither aircrew nor ground teams should have their bling either.  If one gets it, I see no reason why others shouldn't as well.

Now I can also see an argument about too much bling, but bling is the only compensation we have in CAP.

[DogCollar]

I have been told that the only people who work mission base positions are those either afraid to fly or those too old to continue flying.  That is BS IMHO. 

I think the person(s) who say such things should be referred directly to the Mission Chaplain...do not pass go...do not collect air crew...go directly to the Chaplain

But seriously...mission base is time spent in boredom with intermittent moments of complete madness.  You learn things about yourself, and what kind of leader you are, when you can handle the moments of chaos and still do your job and assist others to do theirs!

[LittleIronPilot]

I think, as already mentioned, this has to do with expectations of new members.

For too long CAP has used flying as the hook for Officers. In both squadrons I have been in, there were those that thought I was nuts to want to get into the ground team stuff as well as mission base. Especially since I am a pilot.

However I own my own aircraft, and I spend my discretionary funds on keeping THAT flying, not CAP birds. Not to mention the paperwork and regulations surrounding MP are just too much for me, again considering I can hope in my own aircraft and fly at any time.

Thus I will most likely not go any higher than MS on the flying side, but I will get my GTL on the ground side and work on GBD and AOBD. I am already MRO and will work on some other stuff.

I want to be useful to the mission, not just a position. If a real alert goes out and the bird is full but they really need GTM's I would feel like an arse not being able to contribute because I was selfish enough to not get qualified in other areas that I could be useful in.

Just my .00002

[capchiro]

As much as I hate to admit it, I think there does need to be some bling for mission staff.  Mission staff work can be long hours, sometimes much longer than air or ground crew hours, and sometimes it gets awfully hectic.  Plus, do you ever see the mission staff (other than PAO) on the news or in photos when there is a find??  Mission staff is probably one of the hardest working, worst (how can that be in a non-paid group) paid positions in CAP.  Although PAO is a close second.. 

[CAPSGT]

This is a topic that I have been contemplating for quite some time.  The situation I find myself in right now is a double edged sword.  As the only qualified IC in the group (and the only qualified one for most staff positions in the group), I am constantly leaned on to pull staff duty for group SAREXes.

I had been fighting the constant pull to do mission staff, as my primary responsibility until recently was getting my squadron's ground team trained, which required me to go with them as a GTL.  When I got the group commander to agree that we needed more qualified mission staff folks in the group, he urged people at a recent commander's call to train for mission staff instead of staying at GTL or MO/MP.  The response he got from even his own ops officer was "why would I want to do that and be stuck at base all the time?"

So the problem I see is that we need more mission staff to spread the staff workload out, but because mission staff is spread so thin, nobody wants to do it.  For me, working towards IC was something I decided to do when I started working on GTM as a cadet.  My motivation when it comes to ES is that I want to make myself as useful as possible when it comes to missions.  I could be much more helpful to the accomplishment of the mission as a FASC or FLS than as a GTL or MO if there are enough GTLs and MOs to go around.  They're not necessarily as fun, but ES is first and foremost about helping others in need.

[lordmonar]

Well unfortuantely, you're right. Some members don't want to do things unless they know they can secure bling. How do we get them out of that frame of mind?

You don't...you use that frame of mind to get the mission done.  Our jobs as leaders is to motivate people to get the mission done....not change their mind sets.

It is what I have been saying about bling all alone.

[Psicorp]

Well, I blame part of that on the changes to the ES qualification requirements, at least for me.  Now Mission Staff Assistant (MSA) is required for base staff positions (but not CUL for some reason).  It's taken me a while to find someone who was MSA qualified in the Wing, but now I am too so that barrier is removed and I can start teaching that to others (including Cadets).

Being a Mission Observer, I was looking forward to learning the Air Operations Branch Director job.  Can't do that now though, someone decided that you have to have the Mission Pilot qualification first in order to be AOBD.  I'm not a pilot.   Without being an AOBD, you can't be an Operations Section Chief or a Planning Section Chief.  What that means now is that only pilots can be Incident Commanders.  Nice.   

[Pylon]

Being a Mission Observer, I was looking forward to learning the Air Operations Branch Director job.  Can't do that now though, someone decided that you have to have the Mission Pilot qualification first in order to be AOBD.  I'm not a pilot.   Without being an AOBD, you can't be an Operations Section Chief or a Planning Section Chief.  What that means now is that only pilots can be Incident Commanders.  Nice.   

You don't need to be an MP to be AOBD.  You need to be either an MO or MP.

See item 2 on the AOBD SQTR. And you need not be current in the rating; just have earned one of them in the past.

[Psicorp]

Being a Mission Observer, I was looking forward to learning the Air Operations Branch Director job.  Can't do that now though, someone decided that you have to have the Mission Pilot qualification first in order to be AOBD.  I'm not a pilot.   Without being an AOBD, you can't be an Operations Section Chief or a Planning Section Chief.  What that means now is that only pilots can be Incident Commanders.  Nice.   

You don't need to be an MP to be AOBD.  You need to be either an MO or MP.

See item 2 on the AOBD SQTR. And you need not be current in the rating; just have earned one of them in the past.

Sir, the SQTR in eServices under Ops Qual / ES lists both MO and MP as prerequisites and doesn't say "or". 

[davidsinn]

Yes it does in a round about way:


Air Operations Branch Director - Prerequisites
Must Complete 1 Task(s)    MP - SAR/DR Mission Pilot   
                                                MO - Mission Observer

The must complete means you only need to have one.

[Pylon]

Sir, the SQTR in eServices under Ops Qual / ES lists both MO and MP as prerequisites and doesn't say "or". 

And in the PDF SQTR it's even more clear with this statement (my emphasis added) "Qualified SAR/DR Mission Pilot or Mission Observer (need not be current)"

However, the most important doucment is the regulation.  CAPR 60-3, 2-3, L. with my emphasis added:

l. Air Operations Branch Director (AOBD).
1) Trainee Prerequisites. Satisfy the following to begin training for AOBD:
a) At least 18 years of age.
b) Qualified SAR/DR Mission Pilot or Mission Observer (need not be current).
c) Qualified GES.

[CAPSGT]

e-services is a bit weird on the MP or MO requirment for AOBD as well as the AOBD or GBD requirement for PSC.  That's just a matter of how the programmers wrote the computerized version to accept tasks from various parts of the ops quals database.

As Mike said, the most important thing is what the actual regulation says.

[RiverAux]

People get into ES partly because of the "fun" aspects of it, and lets face it, working at mission base is not always fun and is rarely, if ever, exciting. 

I think what it takes is a sincere effort on the part of the Wing/Group to specifically recruit smart people and then provide them the opportunity to get trained. 

While the new NIMS training is very good and requiring it is the right thing to do (even if we didn't go as far as we should) for mission staff, it is just going to make it harder to bring people in. 

[isuhawkeye]

I have to respectfully disagree. even though I enjoyed aircrew and ground team experiences nothing was more exciting than coordinating dozens of agencies, hundreds of volunteers, getting thanked for my effort by 2 star general, shaking the govenors hand and then getting in on a press conference.  now that was fun