Wilson Association

capmaj · October 28, 2009, 08:49:04 PM

As there's a Spaatz Association for Cadets, why no Wilson Association for Seniors?

FW · October 28, 2009, 09:25:09 PM

If there was an interest......

Gunner C · October 28, 2009, 09:25:31 PM

We're spending too much time of CAP Talk.

lordmonar · October 28, 2009, 09:27:00 PM

1) No one started one.
2) Unlike the Spaatz Award the Wilson Award while a significant accomplishment is not the same thing.

AdAstra · October 28, 2009, 09:42:06 PM

Several of us have tossed this idea around. The discussion usually gets stalled around the time someone asks "What would be the purpose?" Add another challenge coin to my collection? Provide scholarships to, say, COS or NSC? Network with other GRW awardees?

Any ideas?

FWIW, the perpetual plaque for the GRW Award was just delivered to California Wing HQ a couple of days ago. It was meant to compliment the Spaatz Award plaque that has hung at Wing HQ for several years. But the GRW plaque is far larger! There are over a dozen names to add since the order went in to the trophy company. And I just forwarded three more requests this week, following the recent NSC.

GRW #404

Cecil DP · October 28, 2009, 10:36:54 PM

There was never a large demand for a Wilson Association. There was a National Staff College Association for a few years in the mid 90's to the early 2000's that died after a few years from stagnation and apathy.

Chappie · October 29, 2009, 01:09:40 AM

While it may not be a formal association, there is a Facebook Group for Gill Robb Wilson awardees

There was a NSC alumni association -- I never kept current with it.

LTC Don · October 30, 2009, 01:37:30 PM

I didn't know about the Facebook page. And when I did a search on Gill Rob Wilson, it didn't come up. Doing a search on Civil Air Patrol Wilson brought it up. I joined the page.

Interestingly, in doing a search on Civil Air Patrol, it came back with 655 hits on groups alone. It's great to see such a healthy Facebook presence.

Cheers,

Flying Pig · October 30, 2009, 02:18:47 PM

....and what would you guys do in a Wilson Association?

Eclipse · October 30, 2009, 02:32:49 PM

Quote from: LTC Don on October 30, 2009, 01:37:30 PMhealthy Facebook presence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxymoron

Strick · October 30, 2009, 04:03:25 PM

Quote from: Flying Pig on October 30, 2009, 02:18:47 PM
....and what would you guys do in a Wilson Association?

Promote Senior member PD, Sposor a scholarship for NSC........Preserve and promote the history of Mr. Wlson..........

AdAstra · October 30, 2009, 06:33:24 PM

You forgot to include creating a GRW challenge coin!

The San Diego Air and Space Museum has an impressive Aerospace Hall of Honor. Every time I walk by, I wonder what it would take to petition them to add GRW.

Since earning the Wilson Award, and especially since I became emcee for the annual GRW Memorial at his gravesite, I've continued to research GRW. Interesting guy....

Two years ago, I met with the last president of the NSC Alumni Association. "Herding cats" and failure to agree on the association's goals were some of the reasons it folded. Earlier this year, I corresponded with folks about the proposed Medal of Valor Association, who shared some of the difficulties trying to get it off the ground.

A Wilson Association is a good idea, but it would take some careful nurturing....

James Shaw · October 31, 2009, 11:03:35 AM

Overall I think the idea of the GRW Association is a good. The problem is the support of the group and the purpose as stated earlier. The numbers would be larger than some groups. You would have to get a GRW recipient to take the helm of it and try to develop it. This is a difficult task. The kicker would be getting the Wilson family to endorse it or atleast acknowledge the "purpose" behind the group.

The hardest part of forming the Medal of Valor Association is the number of recipients. Although we have had about 130 SMV recipients and about 500 BMV recipients less than 10% of those people are still in CAP.

We were also accused of tyring to be "elitist", "vane", "bragging" by some. We were asked what the purpose was and when and where do we meet.

LTC Don · October 31, 2009, 07:13:46 PM

I would say the overall purpose of the GRW Association would be to promote the CAP Professional Development mission. As with the Cadet Program and the Mitchell Award, there is a huge dropoff off subsequent progression in senior members beyond Level III although admittedly, I don't know the actual numbers.

Secondly, as an ancillary purpose, the GRW Association should have a scholarship program for both the cadet program and the senior member program to help those seniors that would like to attend the RSC or NSC, but can't due to expense.

Thirdly, the GRW Association could sponsor some sort of Excellence Award(s) on the order of the Senior Member of the Year Award, or some other type of humanitarian award to recognize someone outside of CAP.

In terms of meeting, it would not be a really hard stretch to have a GRW meeting on a regional basis at the various Region Conferences, and for the main meeting to be during the annual National Conference.

For this to be a profesisonal level organization, it would definitely take a whole lotta work, and the commitment to pay another level of dues, to have a national organization with an executive director and secretary/treasurer.

I'm in the process of joining the Brotherhood of Saint Andrew, a church-based brotherhood that has been around for quite a while, and I suspect there are many other organizations that could be looked at for organizational, and purpose models.

Cheers,

flyboy53 · November 08, 2009, 05:03:19 PM

I take exception to the thought that the Spaatz Award and the Wilson Award are different. True, one relates to cadet achievements, mentoring and training. The other, however, relates to senior member training, achievements, and volunteer management that are by no means any less of an accomplishment and sometimes more difficult to accomplish because the senior member has real world responsibilities or committments. At the recent NSC, students were told that about 80 percent (actual statistic skewed because I wasn't writing) of cadets never go further than the Mitchell Award. A similar statistic related to the incredibly high number of senior members who never complete Level II. That means that achievement of either award is no small feat! We all hear the success stories of the Spaatz cadets who go on to be Members of Congress or astronauts. You never hear motivational stories of Wilson Award recipients or their impact on the organization. Perhaps it's time to revisit the association...and as a site note, the same Facebook page that lauched the NSC alumni association has already expanded to include a separate site for Wilson recipients.