Hours per year for CAP

[Eclipse]

I started a spreadsheet to keep track of all of my major CAP activities - SAREX's, meetings, encampments, etc.  Nothing fancy, just a when/where/how long/ mission #/ribbon/ and some free form notes.

These are "activities" (i.e. left home, dedicated to CAP, stayed overnight, etc.).  There's literally no way to ever calculate the hundreds of hours
commanders and involved staff spend supporting a squadron, but the high points are easier to find, can be objectively supported, and would be when you're missing something at home.

Since most of the "big stuff" involves driving a fair piece, I rounded up for transport time, but I promise I'm still being conservative and missing stuff. My staff only meets once a month, but does unit visits other weeks when we can - so less meetings than most units, but more activities.

Figuring a unit meeting is 3 hours a week, plus an hour roundtrip, that's ~200 hours a year for most members.

My number is ~587 hours for 2009.

What's your number?

Edit: Found stuff I missed...

[heliodoc]

Not to mention the long hours Operations Officers, FRO's, Aerospace Education Officers, Emergency Services Officers, MP/ MS/ MO's and other staff positions that put in just as  many hours or LONGER than some Squadron Commanders do in the prep for presentations in and OUT of CAP doing the external thing for CAP in front of emergency managers...

Some of us just do not advertise the fact of how many hours the PREP go into each gig that some Sqdn CC do not even begin to realize

That is probably why a number of folks do not want Sqdn CC....they got enough on their CAP plate

I am sure there are folks out there in excess of 500 hours......  but who's keeping track??

[lordmonar]

I'm running somewhere between 900-1000 hours this year.

[bosshawk]

For the three years that I was the CDO for CAWG, I ran between 500 and 700 hours a year on CD alone and then attended meetings almost weekly.  For example, last year I drove about 6000 miles for CAP.

[SarDragon]

2009 was a light year for me. I spent about 200 hours doing stuff outside the house, and probably another 100 or so at home shuffling paper and doing training materials., So about 300 altogether. It's a SWAG.

[RiverAux]

I've got to admit that my CAP hours have declined substantially over the last year.  Getting sort of burned out on my current job with no apparent qualified successor on the horizon.  Besides declining motivation on my part, mission activity has almost disappeared in my area (not an ELT issue - we never really had too many of them), which has accounted for a large share of my CAP time in the past. 

Never kept track of the exact hours. 

[IceNine]

I have to be close to that 580 plus some additional drive time.

But if you count the number of hours spent simply doing CAP stuff, I'm sure it's over 1000.

[dwb]

2009 was a pretty light year for me.  I'll put in more hours in 2010, for encampment if nothing else.

When I was a squadron commander, I did something CAP-related almost every day, even if it was just replying to E-mail.  I don't miss that.

[NIN]

I never tracked it, but between about 1999 & 2004, while I was a squadron commander, encampment commander, etc, etc, I probably had about 250 hrs a year of "in uniform, in person" CAP time, and another 500-750 hrs of "on the side" stuff (at the time, work was slow.. it was not unusual for me to do 2-3 hrs of CAP stuff on a really slow day at work..)

Which resulted in 3 squadron of merit and one squadron of distinction award, among other things.

[addo1]

Lets see... I spent 750 hours planning ONE activity last year... besides that, I do not even want to know the hours.

[Spike]

Lets see... I spent 750 hours planning ONE activity last year... besides that, I do not even want to know the hours.

Are you telling us you spent almost 11% of your year planning ONE activity??

That is 18 (almost 19) fulltime workweeks. 

May I ask what that was?

[RADIOMAN015]

Roughly about 400 "volunteer, uncompensated" hours per year.  I have not counted my time on "CAPTalk.net". 

I recently volunteered to become my unit's PAO, so, there's some additional hours that will have to be spent to get the program running at an acceptable level.   I will retain communications and also assist in ES.

I think it is a good idea to keep track of the time one spends in any volunteer activity.  I think CAP in some of its' past reports to Congress has indicated the amount of time spent on Mission by CAP personnel.

RM 

[addo1]

Lets see... I spent 750 hours planning ONE activity last year... besides that, I do not even want to know the hours.

Are you telling us you spent almost 11% of your year planning ONE activity??

That is 18 (almost 19) fulltime workweeks. 

May I ask what that was?

Well, I should probably specify that it was not all in a year... It was over a year... The activity was a gigantic event that is called Field Leadership Training School... Between my staff and I, we put together a huge curriculum and stuff to be used later on.

[Gunner C]

As a commander I was averaging about 20 hours a week with ease.  Some weeks were less.  Some, with SAREXs, schools, commanders' call, etc were more.  I wouldn't think that 1000 hours/year for those 4 years would be out of the ballpark.  But for an accurate count, you'd have to ask my wife - I think she kept a pretty good count. 

[NIN]

But for an accurate count, you'd have to ask my wife - I think she kept a pretty good count. 

Yeah, you'd have to ask my ex-wife..

[Chappie]

The number of hours that I contributed to CAP this past year totalled 2,384. 

[Spike]

Well, I should probably specify that it was not all in a year... It was over a year... The activity was a gigantic event that is called Field Leadership Training School... Between my staff and I, we put together a huge curriculum and stuff to be used later on.

That makes sense now.  I was hung up on the "in a year" part of the question.  Silly me. 

Of hand.....is this an ongoing activity?  Is there a link?  It sounds interesting.  When thinking about Field Leadership, ROTC summer camps come to mind. 

[addo1]

Well, I should probably specify that it was not all in a year... It was over a year... The activity was a gigantic event that is called Field Leadership Training School... Between my staff and I, we put together a huge curriculum and stuff to be used later on.

That makes sense now.  I was hung up on the "in a year" part of the question.  Silly me. 

Of hand.....is this an ongoing activity?  Is there a link?  It sounds interesting.  When thinking about Field Leadership, ROTC summer camps come to mind.

There is not a link at this time... There WAS when the activity was in full swing... Because of my CAC duties, I have stepped down from running the comittee that was responsible for it. At this time, I have another C/Officer working with the current comittee to get an activity up for this summer. If/when they release a webpage for it, I will let you know. In the Texas Wing, we have the CTEP program (Cadet Training and Education Program). This activity focuses completely on leadership. We worked this activity into both a basic and an advanced school, where each respective school learned leadership in the field. If you are interested, I might be able to find some of the stuff I used for it...

[Spike]

^ Very interested.  I just glanced at the txwg cadet website.  Cool stuff going on down there!

[addo1]

^ Very interested.  I just glanced at the txwg cadet website.  Cool stuff going on down there!

Glad you think so. The "TexasCadet.org" website is slightly out of date currently. I am to be the new cadet webmaster in a short time. My goal is to make it very accessible and easily used as a resource by cadets in and out of the Texas Wing.

[coudano]

I just listed the stuff I can think of, and reviewing my calendar (where much of it is still listed)
I came up with 638

That's about 200 for meetings, like you said
About another 200 for vfws (similar in time to an encampment, counted prep and post time)
The rest are piecemeal squadron activities, sarexes, trainings, actual missions (including a pres DR)

This does not count time spent 'thinking' or developing plans, or curriculum, or doing administrative work or inputting cadets stuff into cadet promotions on e-services.  I couldn't even start to guesstimate that.
Nor time on captalk or cadetstuff...  oy...

Total hours in 1 year = 8760 (24x365)
CAP = 638 (7.2%)
40 hours x 50 weeks at work (day job)(yeah right) = 2000 hours (22.8%)
Commuting to/from work  >:-z  (1 hour a day) = 250 (2.8%)
Sleep 7 hours x 365 days = 2555 hours (29.1%)
National Guard (Drill + Annual Training + 2009 Various TDY) = 1228 (14%)
Church & Church Activities = 100 (about)  (1%)

That's 76.9% of my life.  I guess I counted some of that sleep time twice...
Where does the other 23.1+% go???  hehh, family, probably tv, trips, working around the house, consulting/side work, projects and hobbies.  Little to zero 'down' or 'unused' time whatsoever, by the time it's all said and done.

I consider that to be a 'reasonable' distribution and prioritization...  at least, for me.

[Eclipse]

Gents - topic.

Also, the last thing I wanted to do was start challenging people on what they did or didn't do, but seriously, 750 hours on one activity?

This is "walked out the door and did a CAP thing away from home", just to get apples/apples, and give people an idea of what the more engaged members are doing, not every minute thinking about 1 activity.  That, as I mentioned, is unquantifiable.

[Rotorhead]

But for an accurate count, you'd have to ask my wife - I think she kept a pretty good count. 

Yeah, you'd have to ask my ex-wife..

Ditto.

[PA Guy]

Between encampment, NCSA, conferences etc. I spent >30 nights away from home in 2009.

[Rotorhead]

Also, the last thing I wanted to do was start challenging people on what they did or didn't do, but seriously, 750 hours on one activity?

No, but inevitably what you did get was I-spent-more-time-on-CAP-than-you posts.

I don't keep track of my hours. No point.

[DG]

I don't keep track of my hours. No point.

The USCG AUX makes it a primary part of the program to keep track of hours and report them once a month.

To show the good work being done.

Yes, it involves mucho data collection and management.  But the hard data is very impressive.

[EMT-83]

... as in, lasted year I spend 26.2 hours documenting my hours?

[MIKE]

I don't keep track of my hours. No point.

The USCG AUX makes it a primary part of the program to keep track of hours and report them once a month.

To show the good work being done.

Yes, it involves mucho data collection and management.  But the hard data is very impressive.

I suppose it also helps that you get a ribbon/mini medal for 750 hours or attachments thereafter. 

[Eclipse]

... as in, lasted year I spend 26.2 hours documenting my hours?

If it takes you longer than a few minutes at a time to update your "log", whatever that means, you're doing it wrong.
Pilots do it every time they fly. Sure catching up 10 years of activity will take a bit of work, but once it's done, it's done.

Numbers mean things - whether its substantiating your tax deductions, adding to a promotion or decoration narrative, or just having a baseline understanding of the reality of a given activity vs. mental credit for what you think you are doing, one of the reasons people are afraid of numbers if because they don't lie.

[RiverAux]

CG Aux members do have to fill out and submit forms for each individual mission (though some general admin tasks can be lumped together for a month), so its slightly more complicated than that.  For most members its no big deal, however, it can sometimes take quite a bit of time doing the paperwork associated with some missions (reporting on navigation aids seems to require a lot of time). 

Personally, though I'm fairly active, it doesn't take me more than an hour a year of form-filling since my missions aren't as paperwork intensive. 

[RiverAux]

Incidentally, I think one of the reasons that CAP Chaplains sometimes get relatively more "credit" than other members is that they keep track of all the time and money they spend on Chaplain activities.  This gives them a lot of ammo to argue about the value of this program.  The rest of CAP should follow their (and CG Aux's) example in tracking such things.  Combines that with various ways of measuring the value of donated volunteer time and we would be able to blow away folks with how much bang the AF is getting for the small amount spent on CAP. 

[Eclipse]

No manager can make a good decision without good information - knowing what a given activity "costs", whether its "hard" costs or "soft" costs is critical the process, and its also basic ORM.

Perhaps the constant flow "unfunded mandates" would slow if the real costs were known and articulated.

[Capt Rivera]

so what does your log look like?

[Eclipse]

Colors indicate some missing information, etc.

I noticed just now that I gave myself 09 credit for 10 stuff in my number in the original post.

I'm also probably going to add a miles and cost column for times when I have that info. I track tax mileage elsewhere, but it should be here, too.  These docs are viewable and editable on my G1, so entry in real time is easy.

Long live the GoogleSphere!

[sdcapmx]

I actually started to keep track at the beginning of this year but was starting to get freaked out about it and quit.  I am very confident that as Wing DO I am way, way over the 1,000 hour mark.  Probably closer to 1,500 to 2,000.

[Pingree1492]

Wow... I whipped up a quick spreadsheet, and I certainly spend more time on CAP that I thought I did!  About 1,650 spent on CAP last year.

That's broken down into ~750 hours spent actually at activities, ~210 hours spent planning for those activities, ~175 hours spent on weekly meetings, ~60 hours spent on Drill Team (I think I'm underestimating here...), and ~450 hours spent on "misc admin"- reading/answering email, tracking cadet status, staying current with knowledge, etc. etc. (about 8 hours a week- sometimes it's a lot more, sometimes a lot less, felt 8 was a good compromise).

[SarDragon]

Does time on CadetStuff and CAP Talk count, too? 

[DrDave]

I strongly recommend everyone consider participating with the President's Volunteer Service Award program.  Here's their website:

http://www.presidentialserviceawards.gov/

That's where you get credit and awards for all of your volunteer service.

Counting all my volunteer activities (CAP, Boy Scouts, Mentoring medical students, etc) I'm currently at 5,503.70 hours since 2005.

Dr. Dave

[Rotorhead]

I don't keep track of my hours. No point.

The USCG AUX makes it a primary part of the program to keep track of hours and report them once a month.

To show the good work being done.

Yes, it involves mucho data collection and management.  But the hard data is very impressive.

I'm not a member of the USCG AUX.

And if my CO can't tell my work without showing him a log, then I'm not doing it very well.

[Eclipse]

I strongly recommend everyone consider participating with the President's Volunteer Service Award program.  Here's their website:

http://www.presidentialserviceawards.gov/

That's where you get credit and awards for all of your volunteer service.

Counting all my volunteer activities (CAP, Boy Scouts, Mentoring medical students, etc) I'm currently at 5,503.70 hours since 2005.

Dr. Dave

Why?

My wing got all charged up about the PVSA a couple years ago, to the point of directing all the commanders to create reports of
hours and send them up so they could be consolidated into a big ceremony at the wing conference and presented before God and country...

...

...until it was pointed out it would cost the wing over $5000 just to present a certificate and a pin, and some members would qualify for several pins during the initial round.

I'm not knocking people who went after them, I just don't see the value in an award you self-substantiate and have to buy yourself.

[tdepp]

Numbers mean things - whether its substantiating your tax deductions, adding to a promotion or decoration narrative, or just having a baseline understanding of the reality of a given activity vs. mental credit for what you think you are doing, one of the reasons people are afraid of numbers if because they don't lie.

Sure, Eclipse, your QB rating isn't very high but I hear you usually throw the game winning TD in the the 4th Q of your games.    So I'd keep you around. 

But numbers don't tell the entire story.  Let's face it.  Some activities are more important than others.  Some activities are of a higher priority than others.  The numbers can help you see where you are spending your time and resources but they don't tell you what you should be doing.  That is a far more difficult process that is less empirical. 

As an attorney in private practice, believe me, I know--time = money.  And when it comes to telling our story and talking to funders, quantifying volunteer hours is impressive.  Many groups do it.  Sometimes, grantors require it as part of the deliverables.  But it also takes quite a bit of management (or at least decent software) to do it and not make it a burden on volunteers and the volunteers who have to manage those volunteers.  Perhaps PCLaw could make a version for CAP that tracks time on projects that wouldn't be too onerous for members to actually use.  But as we all know, garbage in garbage out. 

Interesting discussion from a management, funding, and PR point of view.