Your CAP New Years resolution.

[James Shaw]

Do you have any CAP New Years resolutions? This could be personal goals, squadron, or etc.....

[AngelWings]

Do you have any CAP New Years resolutions? This could be personal goals, squadron, or etc.....

Make it to C/2LT, make my squadron have a high amount of cadets, continue the great work my squadron and I have done, and improve my run time to 6 minutes or less.

[Cliff_Chambliss]

From an Army Aviator site:

All my best wishes to the kiowapilots gang.

I hope for you a happy and bright 2013.
A year bristling with love, good fortune, family, friends, and happy outcomes.

Instead of the usual new year's resolutions (losing weight, getting in shape, etc), may I suggest some other alternatives else you might consider?

* Clean out your garage, so that you might be able to actually store your automobiles in there.
Wait, wait, I know it's a novel and controversial concept, but it's one that has merit.
Your car or truck has value, and all that bull[mess] junk and old stuff has little-to-no value.
Which of the two should be outside in the cold and frost every night?

* While you are at it, tackle one each closet every weekend for the next few months, and clean out all the old stuff and clothes that are collecting dust in there.
Sell all that stuff, along with all the junk you have collected from cleaning out the garage, and sell it at a Saturday morning yard sale.
Or better yet, take it to the nearest homeless shelter, and see if they can use it.
If it's clothes (old jeans, sweaters, and even shoes), then chances are there are some homeless guys or gals who need some warm, clean clothes to wear.

* Stop texting while driving.
It's stupid, and it's a deadly habit.
And if you cause an accident that harms me or my car, I will tear your texting arm off and beat you to death with it.
So knock it off, okay?

* Sing more.
Sing loudly, and with gusto.
Your houseplants will appreciate it, and it will annoy the heck out of any visiting relatives or boomerang kids.
Sing often enough, and they will get just aggravated enough to find a job and move out.

* Reconnect.
Reflect on who it is that you still have feelings for, but have lost contact with for one reason or another.
Pick up the phone, or compose an email, and get that friendship or relationship back in order.
Life is too short to hold grudges, or to allow things unsaid.

* Drink more beer.
It will help the economy (do you know how many men and women are employed by breweries around the nation?), and it will help you to sing better, and more loudly.

* Cut up one credit card with a sharp pair of scissors, and then steadily pay off the debt on that account.
Just because the federal government loves to go trillions of dollars into debt, paying for all kinds of frivolous, useless Bravo Sierra, it doesn't mean that you should.
Unlike them, YOU will ultimately be held accountable for that debt.
Cut it up and pay it off.

* Spay and neuter your house pets.
The local animal shelters are over-full with puppies and kittens because some Alpha Hotel out there was too stubborn or lazy to get their cat or dog fixed.
I am tired of crying my eyes out every time that ASPCA commercial comes on with the pitiful doggies and kitties, and the Sarah McLaughlin or Roberta Flack song playing in the background.
Just do it, all right?

Okay, that's about it.
Peace, out.

[MajorPayne]

  I laughed so hard at the post above me. Valid points made and taken! Bravo! :clap:

[Walkman]

2013 goals as ESO

Squadron:
5 new GTM3s
7 New UDFs
3 new APs (including me)

3 joint FTXs

Personal:
Get AP & MO qual'd
Attend NESA

[Thrashed]

Same as last year; try to find a reason not to quit CAP.

[RiverAux]

Well, I'm not quite as discouraged about CAP as I was last year this time (though I agreed with Thrasher's thought).  I failed this year to get more air time and actually lost my Observer qual.  However, some opportunities have come up to regain it and actually get some use out of it. 

However, I continue to hold multiple offices in the CG Aux this year, and quite frankly that organization is much more interesting to me right now than CAP) and I'm also active in another ES organization that consumes a lot of time and probably should consume more.

So, I imagine it will be another year where the vast majority of my CAP time will probably be on CAPTalk. 

Its pretty sad, but since I'm in CAP almost entirely for ES and since there haven't been any meaningful ES missions in my wing for several years, I'm just not that motivated. 

Really considered dropping out entirely to focus on the other ES org since it involves a lot of stuff that I'll only be physically able to do for about another 10 years while everything I do in CAP I can do in my 50s-80s so I figure I can always go back to it. 

[disamuel]

I'm looking to:

Complete my IC rating
Complete PIO, MSO, and FSC
Complete master rating in Comms
Help as many members as I can complete ICUT
Continue to contribute to my unit by offering to help with ES ratings for other members


I've been a member for almost five years and I'm not bored yet. I appreciate the opportunity to be able to serve, and by furthering my training, I can help others.

[Private Investigator]

Work with my current Squadron to make it more professional.

The only problem with 10 new XYZ, 10 new XXX3 and 5 new ZZ-Ts. Is if you are putting numbers out there to impress Wing, it does not work. We had a 'push' to get Cadets in ES. We got three gung ho Cadets and the other ten .... Really are not into 'it'. Quality beats quanity everytime. But two years from now we will do the same thing again.   

[Walkman]

The only problem with 10 new XYZ, 10 new XXX3 and 5 new ZZ-Ts. Is if you are putting numbers out there to impress Wing, it does not work. We had a 'push' to get Cadets in ES. We got three gung ho Cadets and the other ten .... Really are not into 'it'. Quality beats quanity everytime. But two years from now we will do the same thing again.   

That's a great point, and very true. However, every goal has to have some sort of way to quantify it. It gives a framework to build the plan and a way to verify where you are on the road. I've learned by experience to never set a goal I couldn't quantify in some way or another.

[JeffDG]

The only problem with 10 new XYZ, 10 new XXX3 and 5 new ZZ-Ts. Is if you are putting numbers out there to impress Wing, it does not work. We had a 'push' to get Cadets in ES. We got three gung ho Cadets and the other ten .... Really are not into 'it'. Quality beats quanity everytime. But two years from now we will do the same thing again.   

That's a great point, and very true. However, every goal has to have some sort of way to quantify it. It gives a framework to build the plan and a way to verify where you are on the road. I've learned by experience to never set a goal I couldn't quantify in some way or another.

Classic phrase in the outside world:

If you measure it you can manage it.  If you manage it, you can improve it.

Metrics and quantification of goals is absolutely critical to improvement.

[Eclipse]

I agree, however 10 new "anything" is better then zero.

[Private Investigator]

I agree, however 10 new "anything" is better then zero.

Is the point to impress the Wing Commander with numbers? If the 10 new 'anythings' just want a GT Badge to wear on the uniform but is unavailable at o' dark thirty for a mission, was the training successful? Great practice for the instructors but eventually some of us get burnt out. 

[SarDragon]

My new resolution is 1440 x 900, times 2. 

[Walkman]

Is the point to impress the Wing Commander with numbers? If the 10 new 'anythings' just want a GT Badge to wear on the uniform but is unavailable at o' dark thirty for a mission, was the training successful? Great practice for the instructors but eventually some of us get burnt out.

Again, you have a valid point. Your model though, it seems to me, is based on someone setting goals based on something other than an informed position. Before anyone sets a goal, there has to be an underlying reason for it. In my case, my unit hasn't had an ES program for many years. When I transfered in and was assigned ESO, people were excited because there was interest, but no one able to get things going. I've got a good percentage of our squadron excited for training and we're growing into a very strong operational unit. So my particular goals are based on a solid foundation.

I can readily see many situations where leaders make goals that aren't really based on a good foundation and things go bad. I lost a job because a GM set a completely unrealistic sales goal for the year that wasn't based on anything other than her ambition and some politics. When none of the sales staff were even close to the goal after 6 months, my non-sales job became political collateral damage. Bye-bye paycheck.

However, just because there are instances where goals are arbitrarily set and things go haywire doesn't mean that the principal of setting goals with quantifiable results isn't valid.

[Walkman]

My new resolution is 1440 x 900, times 2. 

Good one!