SM/Officer first time experience at encampments new to CAP, stories.

[mynetdude]

I'd like to hear about senior members/officers who were relatively new to CAP and went on their first encampment in the first year they were in.  I did, I joined in October of '06 went to encampment in July of '07.

I wouldn't say I had a blast, but my experience was a positive one overall.  Encampment wasn't for senior members anyway, it was for cadets and we are there to support them, guide them and maintain their well being/safety.

I got to learn a lot and I was the only 2d Lt at encampment last year being my first year.  And I got to get into trouble by my superior who was my squadron commander at my home unit and my supervisor for the encampment purpose which he was the chief TAC.

What was your experience as a new member and on your first encampment?  I met a few people, although more than half of them I already knew from prior activities leading up to the encampment or they were from my home unit.

[Brad]

Hmm...well I've only been in CAP since October. I missed the fall CTW, but I'm going to the Spring one in two weeks as a TAC. I have had similar experience before with NJROTC, when I was a cadet cadre at Leadership Academy, although there there was no established real cadet staff, there was simply each platoon (read flight), then it went to the cadet cadre, then to the Platoon Advisor, who was an NJROTC instructor.  The Platoon Advisor position would be more comparable to a TAC officer than the cadre from what I've read. Gives me a chance to utilize the finer aspects of leadership as opposed to the simple in your face stuff....although that's useful at times too, lol! 

[Eclipse]

I would be curious what you didn't like about it...

[NIN]

I wasn't new to CAP, but I was a newbie SM and fresh back from the Army when I went to my first encampment as a senior.  It was a two-week long encampment (man, that was a blast!) and the 2nd week I was on the "IG" staff (most places call that stan-eval now). 

First day, I'm walking toward one of the barracks to do a "contraband" inspection (ie. "shakedown") and as I approached the female barracks, the door flew open, the female flight sergeant darted out, ran up to me, saluted, handed me something, and ran away.

I was startled to say the least, until I looked down and realized it was "her" contraband: Her birth control pills.

I bet I turned 10 shades of red.  I had no idea what to do.  This was in the early days of the cadet protection program and everybody was on tenterhooks as to how to act around the cadets, especially cadets of the other sex, so it was ... odd....

I looked at the squadron adjutant thats with me and said "Uh, yeah, NOW what to do I do?"

[mikeylikey]

^ 9 months later...............

[Gunner C]

^ 9 months later...............

DOH! 

[RiverAux]

Boy, I think this would be a hard task for most new senior members and I admire you for taking that on so soon after joining. 

[mynetdude]

Well when I applied for a staff position at encampment... I didn't get exactly "treated" as any other member would but then again another certain member didn't get treated well because of a certain person but that is not the point.

I don't remember what I put on my app, I have a file copy somewhere, I know I applied for Assist TAC and I "kind of" got the job only because another 1Lt wouldn't be there on certain days while camp was running so I filled her position on those days and TBH I wasn't really much of an assistant anyway IMHO.

I also got assigned as the Assistant LG, again I didn't really do much really either. I just kinda walked around and observed mostly and then the other half of the time I stayed off my feet as I had injured my feet partly due to my past medical history with my feet in the first place so it was not an "occupational injury".

I would like to go back to encampment as a full time Assist TAC, seeing as there is a lot of walking/standing I'm hesitant to ask for that position again.  I most likely will ask for Logistics and IT, but I am not interested in going back this year.

What I didn't like was I didn't feel as if I was "connected" 100% really... I kinda felt out of place even when we began cadet staff selection.

I don't know that I would/could handle going outside my home unit for much else so I hope the PCR conference goes well in May .

[CadetProgramGuy]

New members headed off to Encampments?

Two things come to thought.....

1.  An Open mind
2.  Invest in Moleskin

[mynetdude]

New members headed off to Encampments?

Two things come to thought.....

1.  An Open mind
2.  Invest in Moleskin

Well I thought going to encampment as a new member would be a good opportunity to gain some experience for the next encampment and such forth.

I don't get blisters unless I run in my boots, so I don't run.  However I can't wear the combat boots for long periods of time as they bother/don't support my feet as well as the soles literally flex and flexing soles are just crap base platform for orthopedic support.

Of course I try to have an open mind, plenty of possibilities. I just did whatever "floats the boat" to get us through encampment and we did well.

I wouldn't say I didn't like the fact that I was the only 2d Lt at encampment, though it has passed with history that I have been the only one OF something at almost every camp I have gone to in the past; it gave us all officers something to talk about so I liked that.

[2ltAlexD]

What is expected of senior members at encampment? Do we have to follow contraban regs and march?

[Eclipse]

What is expected of senior members at encampment? Do we have to follow contraband regs and march?

It depends on the encampment, but it should be made clear to you by the commander(s).

Whether its marching or walking, expect to walk a lot.  Most encampments have TAC officers shadow their assigned flight the entire time, so you might not be in step, but your feet will be in motion.

There are also a lot of different jobs, so again, it depends...

[mynetdude]

What is expected of senior members at encampment? Do we have to follow contraban regs and march?

Haha not exactly, put it this way. Senior members are to set an example for the cadets because they look to us for guidance (kind of like little brother/sister and big brother/sister), whatever you do in front of your little brother as a big brother your little brother will do too at some point.

We are not required to March, though I would expect every senior member to wear some kind of uniform, even corporate distinctive uniforms.  I know for me, I was required to be at every Revile and Retreat, there were a lot of SMs who were not at the flag either.  Though the Encampment Commander was always at Revile and Retreat, my chief TAC, my TAC and all the assistant TACs (including myself). Once in awhile the chaplain or MLO would come out to either one of those or both.  We had a senior member who was the NCO for the camp/wing he would be present for most of the Revile and Retreats as well.

Simply put, you are expected to do what you would do as a senior member, be helpful, respectful, obey the rules etc... I don't know what different expectations there would be because it seems to be the same at the unit as well.

[mynetdude]

What is expected of senior members at encampment? Do we have to follow contraband regs and march?

It depends on the encampment, but it should be made clear to you by the commander(s).

Whether its marching or walking, expect to walk a lot.  Most encampments have TAC officers shadow their assigned flight the entire time, so you might not be in step, but your feet will be in motion.

There are also a lot of different jobs, so again, it depends...

The next encampment I'll get a job that doesn't put me on my feet so much IT will be one of them.  TBH with you, I didn't see much in the way of Logistics really, although LG handled vehicle/transportation checkin/checkout that was about it.

[Cecil DP]

Hmm...well I've only been in CAP since October. I missed the fall CTW, but I'm going to the Spring one in two weeks as a TAC. I have had similar experience before with NJROTC, when I was a cadet cadre at Leadership Academy, although there there was no established real cadet staff, there was simply each platoon (read flight), then it went to the cadet cadre, then to the Platoon Advisor, who was an NJROTC instructor.  The Platoon Advisor position would be more comparable to a TAC officer than the cadre from what I've read. Gives me a chance to utilize the finer aspects of leadership as opposed to the simple in your face stuff....although that's useful at times too, lol! 

I would have given them back and had her turn them in to the Medical Officer.

[mynetdude]

Hmm...well I've only been in CAP since October. I missed the fall CTW, but I'm going to the Spring one in two weeks as a TAC. I have had similar experience before with NJROTC, when I was a cadet cadre at Leadership Academy, although there there was no established real cadet staff, there was simply each platoon (read flight), then it went to the cadet cadre, then to the Platoon Advisor, who was an NJROTC instructor.  The Platoon Advisor position would be more comparable to a TAC officer than the cadre from what I've read. Gives me a chance to utilize the finer aspects of leadership as opposed to the simple in your face stuff....although that's useful at times too, lol! 

I would have given them back and had her turn them in to the Medical Officer.

Anyway aren't those things supposed to be checked when a cadet checks in for camp so that it can go to the medical officer so not to have such embarrassment like that?

[DNall]

I'm not sure why you need moleskin. I try to avoid that stuff, or rather the occasion of needing it, unless I ruck at least 5 miles. no such thing is going to happen at any encampment I've ever been to.

Big picture... Look, I've been to a lot of encampments & I'll go along to get along as the situation & leadership demand, but I'm not happy about it.

The whole purpose of encampment is an immersion experience. I would say mil immersion experience & talk to ACA (or whatever their name is now) about what that means.

My key with encampment, & as a cadet pgms officer in general, is cadet are capable of X (whatever that may situationally be), and the training standard is Y. As the supervisor (TAC, DCC, etc) your job is to guarantee Y is reached regardless of X. If the cadets are capable of that w/o you involvement, then by all means be hands off & safety net. If not, then for sure intervene to the extent necessary.

A lot of cadet programs &/or encampments are not run that way, which makes them about meaningless. That's unfortunate.

As a new member, it's important to realize where that standard is, your limits in driving for it, and how to tactfully deal with your leadership to ensure that standard is achieved.

[jb512]

DNall has it right.  Some flights at our last encampment had very strong cadet leaders and needed no help at all.  The flight that I had last year did not.

And yes, if you're to the point that you need moleskin, either your boots suck or you need to get outside and do more walking more than just one week out of the year.

I see the TACs role as safety only because the cadet staff are the ones responsible for the example setting, instruction, and such.  Those of us who are former cadets, military, etc., see things that need fixing and it's hard to resist the tempation to step in and say something.  My flight staff last summer obviously needed some help so I offered advice here and there but only when asked and I was very careful to do it out of earshot of the flight.

I noticed that some TACs want to act like mommies and daddies too much and circumvent the cadet leadership. Another one wanted to take over a flight as though he was their flight staff, but most of the rest of us were in the shadows unless needed for something.

On that note, one of my pet peeves is not following the chain of command.  Something we should teach all TACs is that unless there is an immediate safety concern to a cadet, out of respect you should always go through the flight staff to request cadets out of formation, barracks, etc.  Not only does it reenforce their authority over the flight, it lets the flight know that you respect the staff enough to go through them.  It also lets them know where their cadet disappeared to.

[adamblank]

I definitely second all of the above.  It is good to get a few minutes with your staff at the end of the day and do a leadership recap.  Most importantly...have fun.  You are taking a lot of vacation time most likely, encampments are a great experience, get as much fun out of them as you can.

[mynetdude]

I'm not sure why you need moleskin. I try to avoid that stuff, or rather the occasion of needing it, unless I ruck at least 5 miles. no such thing is going to happen at any encampment I've ever been to.

Big picture... Look, I've been to a lot of encampments & I'll go along to get along as the situation & leadership demand, but I'm not happy about it.

The whole purpose of encampment is an immersion experience. I would say mil immersion experience & talk to ACA (or whatever their name is now) about what that means.

My key with encampment, & as a cadet pgms officer in general, is cadet are capable of X (whatever that may situationally be), and the training standard is Y. As the supervisor (TAC, DCC, etc) your job is to guarantee Y is reached regardless of X. If the cadets are capable of that w/o you involvement, then by all means be hands off & safety net. If not, then for sure intervene to the extent necessary.

A lot of cadet programs &/or encampments are not run that way, which makes them about meaningless. That's unfortunate.

As a new member, it's important to realize where that standard is, your limits in driving for it, and how to tactfully deal with your leadership to ensure that standard is achieved.

I knew that from the get go, it was stressed by the commander, the encampment commander, the DCC and my best CAP friend.  And besides I could already tell it was already hands off since cadets do a lot of things on their own at the unit level as they should with SM support and safety net.

I already knew the expectations, the difficult part was knowing when and understanding when to intervene.  For the most part I dealt with the flight sergeants and flight commanders directly, if they had questions I typically answered or referred them to the proper SM who would have the answer for them.  I would also escort cadet basics that were to report to the encampment commander, etc.

I still could use more practice, being on my feet isn't going to happen this year or next year although next year I could do less "feet" tasking such as IT work to assist the cadet/senior PAOs in doing computer work and such and setting up internet for the staff to use and troubleshooting any problems they might have.

Being an Assistant TAC is one good way to understand and learn how to do your job and such although I have learned first time encampment attendees end up being TACs with no assistant under them or with an assistant under them depending on the staffing levels.

I know I am not doing encampment this year, if I don't next year I'd at least do an NCSA as a staff as that is pretty much all I can do anyway, the NCSA is for cadets.