Historical membership awards and documentation

Started by Holding Pattern, December 27, 2017, 06:21:22 PM

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Holding Pattern

Firstly, a rant: The 5 year retention rule on files needs to go away and we need to keep ALL personnel records in e-services.
/rant

OK, with that out of the way, let's talk about historical awards requests. I've gotten more static on historical awards in the last 30 days than I've ever seen before, and I'd like to make sure that I can counsel departing members with any interest in returning in the best way of maintaining recognition of their awards.

Before I haul out my ideas on this front, I wanted to check in here first: How do you make sure departing members have everything they need in order to get their file restored someday?

Eclipse

#1
Quote from: Mordecai on December 27, 2017, 06:21:22 PM
Firstly, a rant: The 5 year retention rule on files needs to go away and we need to keep ALL personnel records in e-services.
/rant

Forever?  Why?  In case someone might rejoin "at some point?"

Former members are just that, former members - they provide no service, financial or otherwise, to the
organizaiton, and the organization owes no service back to them.

With that said, the reality of a single .PDF of their records, or some file space in eServices is probably negligible
in today world of unlimited AWS, but one only can guess at the limitations of the eServices Hamsters.

Quote from: Mordecai on December 27, 2017, 06:21:22 PM
OK, with that out of the way, let's talk about historical awards requests. I've gotten more static on historical awards in the last 30 days than I've ever seen before, and I'd like to make sure that I can counsel departing members with any interest in returning in the best way of maintaining recognition of their awards.

Before I haul out my ideas on this front, I wanted to check in here first: How do you make sure departing members have everything they need in order to get their file restored someday?

You make sure that everything is properly documented today. That's all you can do, and when they leave,
make sure they get the full and complete copy of their records.

Beyond that, it's on them.  If they are gone more then 5 years, and the "whatever" wasn't important
enough for them to keep themselves, it's certainly not CAP's responsibility to retain these "unimportant" things.

The problem right now is the catch-up because NHQ has been historically deficient in properly tracking,
and in some cases even presenting decorations, awards, and the like, but once a given member is caught up,
there's little you can do past that.

Interestingly, I've spent a fair amount of time and breath telling people they need to bring in documentation
for past awards to complete their records. Shockingly, those invested in CAP and who are generally active
have had no issue doing just that, be it a 120, the cert itself, or some other documentation, and those
who take an apathetic attitude towards participation and CAP in general, can't be bothered - I suspect in
some cases because the substantiation is somewhere between dubious and nonexistent., and they don't want
to be told to remove a given dec.

"That Others May Zoom"

TheSkyHornet

Received a message on our squadron Facebook page from a prior member a couple of weeks ago. She's rejoining CAP (after a year+ lapse) at another unit. She wanted to know when she could stop by and pick up her personnel record from when she "fell off the roster" (non-renewal, no formal resignation). I told her, on behalf of our Commander, that she needed to come during a unit meeting when we're guaranteed to be there to collect her file. So far, she never showed up, and never replied.

So, for me, personal accountability is a big one. If I'm resigning, or plan to quit, I want my file or a copy of it. Keep it with you. It's the people who just "die out" that are absolute headaches because they disappear for 6 months, a year, or more and suddenly to come back but expect everything to fall flat in line for them when they do. It doesn't work that way.

#1: Take care of your own stuff.
#2: Don't rely on someone else to do it for you.

Yes, there is a duty position assigned to maintain someone's file. But don't expect everything to be squared away.


darkmatter

Well from personal experience, thanks too eclipse my squadron commander and wing chief of staff I was able to figure out how to, for my self upload historical awards and decorations right from eservices it was surprisingly less painful that I was expecting for everyone involved

Eclipse

Quote from: TheSkyHornet on December 28, 2017, 08:38:26 PM
Received a message on our squadron Facebook page from a prior member a couple of weeks ago. She's rejoining CAP (after a year+ lapse) at another unit. She wanted to know when she could stop by and pick up her personnel record from when she "fell off the roster" (non-renewal, no formal resignation). I told her, on behalf of our Commander, that she needed to come during a unit meeting when we're guaranteed to be there to collect her file. So far, she never showed up, and never replied.

So, for me, personal accountability is a big one. If I'm resigning, or plan to quit, I want my file or a copy of it. Keep it with you. It's the people who just "die out" that are absolute headaches because they disappear for 6 months, a year, or more and suddenly to come back but expect everything to fall flat in line for them when they do. It doesn't work that way.

#1: Take care of your own stuff.
#2: Don't rely on someone else to do it for you.

Yes, there is a duty position assigned to maintain someone's file. But don't expect everything to be squared away.

Per regs they can have a copy, but the original stays with the unit for 5 years, then is destroyed.

I would say that's her only option right now up until she's actually a member again.  Even if she joins at another squadron,
until she's a member, the last unit or record has to retain the file, after joining she could self-carry it.

"That Others May Zoom"