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College Squadrons

Started by 38ffems, November 01, 2006, 09:26:16 PM

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38ffems

So would a flight operate somewhat independantly of a squadron except for training missions and like meetings?  After talking to several of the search and rescue club members this is looking like a great route to take.  I would say we actually have some people quite excited about this.  I still have one more hurdle before we go to crazy but I have even talked to a buddy at ROTC and he thinks that they may even help us get started.

DNall

A Flight would have its own seperate meetings with its own people running the show, but you'd only be doing the most basic paperwork. A local unit will help take care of your larger administrative issues, and you'll train with them a couple weekends a month, and they'll be the ones to call when a mission comes up. You'll also be free to do a lot on your own.

38ffems

I am wondering why CAP hasn't set up some sort of program for college students.  They carry them through high school and its either you become a senior member or you dont.  I mean I am sure there are many campuses out there that could have a strong CAP program if it were available.  I understand that there is already AFROTC but there is JROTC to and CAP still exists.  Has anyone thought about this or heard anything that would answer my question?  By the way the UVM SAR club is meeting this weekend to determine if we will be approaching CAP about starting an on campus flight.

arajca

It has been discussed at the National level, however, nothing has come of it. One issue is that the amount of support and paperwork for a squadron at a college is the same as a regular squadron. Plus, there is the added issue of what to do with any squadron property during the summers.


38ffems

I feel like we the college community would be a great demographic for CAP to explore.  As far as property goes it would be any different than any other club or organization, just lock it up in your storage area.  There are a lot of potential CAP members that dont know anything about CAP and never will if the effort isn't put in to recruit. 

DNall

Again, I was on the board of trustees for a national fraternity, those chapters are basically the same size as CAP Sqs (30-60, with the rare few around 100) & the members do MUCH more work, administrative & otherwise, than a CAP Sq. What we did back when I was in school is pretty typical of what we required nationally & what everyone had to do locally. We had completely seperate annual reports for the university & for Hq, each of which was used as a basis to determine if we should be allowed to stay open for another year. We had monthly & quarterly reports due on eveything, with supporting documentation. And biggest of all, we were responsible as a chapter for everything any member did with or away from us. That's financially responsible of they don't meet their obligation the HQ, legally responsible if they're an idiot one night, responsible for their grades even if they're inactive... we'd have to meet those obligations where they fell short, show how we were working with the member as a part of a larger systemic program to resolve & prevent such situations, and ultimately have their success or failure held against us iin determining if we'd keep our charter a while longer.

The reporting requirements in CAP are a disorganized mess & not nearly as intensive or probative of our activities. There is no requirement to bring that data together at a Sq, there are no metrics being run to diagnose or demonstrate anything about anything, There's no board out there reviewing your annual Sq data & determining if you should be shut down for not doing good enough to carry the CAP & AFAux names. I think you might be selling college students short if you don't think they could do a better job than most of us running a CAP Sq, You just have to approach it differently.

I think it's a great deal for CAP to get college units going, both as a holder for upper level cadets as Bill I think was mentioning, and as this gentleman is describing, & also in partnership w/ AFROTC in the way Arnold Air Society is. All of this generates a system to transition cadets to senior membership & recruit a young educated driven group of people we need to revitalize our ranks. I say charge ahead.

Also, ALL CAP units are oppressed into barely operating by the moutain of PITA paperwork that doesn't seem to serve any purpose. It would be better if we were following something like the Iowa model, or really a middle ground where we designate most Sqs as Flights & tie 3-5 together as a Sq & move that administrative load to that level so the local units can focus on the tactical job at hand. In this case, certainly you could keep them as a flight off an area Sq. And, there's no issue with gear over the summer. Colleges are open year round & tend to be quite active in the summer. It may be that half of your members won't be around, but half will & they'll still be operating. Probably though you would keep most of that stuff with the parent Sq anyway though.

RiverAux

I suspect that there are CAP units in towns with most large public universities already but that participation is pretty low from college students for several reasons....
1.  The CAP units probably don't recruit colleges very heavily since many students will be moving on after graduation, which would probably be about the time the student really completed training for various CAP specialties and was just starting to become useful to the unit. 
2.  Because of the cadet program many college students really see CAP as more of a "kiddie" program if they already know about CAP.
3.  Face it, 18-23 year olds have things much more fun to do than hanging around CAP senior members whose average age is probably in the upper 50s.   

BillB

RiverAux was correct on the attitude of CAP cadets attending college. With few exceptions they do not want to be associated with a local squadron where the average age of cadets is 13. They are usually proud of their cadet activities and their cadet membership and want to continue progression in the cadet program.
Normally a college level CAP Flight is not going to have aircraft, vehicles or very much corporate equipment assigned. So that eliminates alot of paperwork. With online upgrading of qualifications, more paperwork is eliminated. Many AFROTC units up until last year had a CAP component, this was mainly for O-rides or eligibility for CAP activities that were unavailable to AFROTC cadets. But the AFROTC/CAP membership category was eliminated by National and Air University.
That should have no effect on a CAP flight assigned to Wing at each major university. Why assign it to Wing? to reduce further the paperworkand allow each Flight to operate independently from local Squadron or Group restrictions, policies etc.
I would like to see General Pineda explore the possibility of chartering Flights at the universities to allow cadets to continue through the cadet program while in college. I set up such a unit at the University of Florida when I was Wing DCP years ago and I know it works.
Gil Robb Wilson # 19
Gil Robb Wilson # 104

connelly

Well a college squadron would be hard but apply for a town squadron and meet at the college or what not would be much easier.
C/CMSGT Connelly
Topsail Composite Squadron
http://topsailcomposite.com

connelly

C/CMSGT Connelly
Topsail Composite Squadron
http://topsailcomposite.com

38ffems

The biggest issue about the area squadrons is their meeting times, basically they meet after work during the week and its really hard to meet at their meeting times.  As far as college kids not being interested, I beg to differ.  People have this preconcived notion that college kids are burn outs and drunks and in reality its not that case at all.  I am 22 and I rarely drink.  I am a volunteer firefighter/EMT and have worked on the schools ambulance and will be joining a second department for firefighting.  We have almost 30 people on the SAR club and most if not all expressed interest in CAP.  Honestly I think this is an example of CAP shooting itself in the foot.  We may only be at school for 4 years but its not like we couldn't transfer to another squadron where ever we end up.  There of course is the possibility that the CAP squads around here are going to tell us that they are not interested in this idea.  I can tell you that our club is extremely motivated and we would definately benefit CAP. 

RiverAux

I didn't say anything about college kids being drunks, just that hanging around with a bunch of old farts or junior high school kids that make up the vast majority of CAP membership is not going to be terribly attractive to them. 

College kids do a ton of volunteer work, probably more than the average adult.   Thats not the problem, its that they are generally interested in more short-term volunteer opportunties.   

Your club may very well be an exception, but the fact that a very small minority of CAP cadets stay in the organization after high school and into their 20s speaks to the fact that CAP is not meeting their needs. 

38ffems

Yeah thats pretty much what i was getting at, its not that we dont want to hang out with old farts or high schoolers its just that the oppurtunity doesn't really exist.  I really hope that they realize how many individuals they are missing out on by not putting any energy into trying to recruit them.