Cadets: A Sincere Question For You

[ProdigalJim]

This is for our cadet colleagues on this board.

I've noticed over the years reading questions and queries here that many cadets come to the forum to ask questions before ever checking the regulations themselves, the Knowledgebase or with their chain of command.

As Squadron CC of a composite squadron, I have a fair number of cadets in my own unit so I'm asking this sincerely for my own understanding and not to be snarky: why not look at the regulations first? Why do cadets not think of the regulations as the first source of answers? As a cadet, tell me your thought process for finding out information. Is there a reason why you ask here first instead of reading the regs? Are they confusing? Intimidating? Hard to find? Does your chain of command not know the regulations either?

I'm especially interested in hearing from cadets (rather than the rest of us who might have pet theories about why cadets turn here first before checking references).

??

[Майор Хаткевич]

I'm not a cadet, but I WAS one.

Back in the day...the regs were on paper, and everyone got a copy, and no one had a smart phone. Your recourse was to check the regs, or ask at the unit. Now? Even though the regs are available, instant gratification is a lot easier on a forum like this.

I noticed that as the regs were moved to a CD from NHQ instead of paper, less and less cadets read the regs themselves. Now that most people have internet access, I'm not at all sure why they don't just google the question, which typically leads to the proper reg.

[NIN]

I'm not a cadet, but I WAS one.

Back in the day...the regs were on paper, and everyone got a copy, and no one had a smart phone. Your recourse was to check the regs, or ask at the unit. Now? Even though the regs are available, instant gratification is a lot easier on a forum like this.

I noticed that as the regs were moved to a CD from NHQ instead of paper, less and less cadets read the regs themselves. Now that most people have internet access, I'm not at all sure why they don't just google the question, which typically leads to the proper reg.

Geezum crow, GOOGLE works better than this forum to get instant gratification.

I mean seriously.  I don't go to CAPmembers.com to look up the ABU policy letter, I just google "ABU memo CAP" and pow! there it is.

It doesn't get more instant than that in terms of gratification.

To Jim's question (former cadet here, worked on Wing Staff as a cadet, and I was good at SDAs), I think the lack of a physical regulation set throws people.

BITD, you had the "Big Book of Maxwells." Somewhere inside this compact physical device was what you were looking for.

We had no CTRL-F. We had no Google.  It was "domain knowledge" that got built up and honed (I was on our academic quiz bowl team... along with leadership, aerospace & current events, aspects of the regs were fair game) and used weekly, if for no other reason that it took just a couple seconds to look at the book, and you knew how it was "divvied up."

Today, the concept of "10-series" and "39-series" is abstract, whereas when you were charged with doing page-insert changes, you worked with the regs frequently and understood what the "39-series" meant, or the "100-series."  If you ask most cadets what "series" of regs covers "personnel," they look a you funny.  "You mean, like, the membership regs?"   Because the "grouping" of the regulations into numerical series by subject matter is not entirely clear from a PDF.

[AlphaSigOU]

I'm not a cadet, but I WAS one.

I'll echo Капитан Хаткевич and say that back in the olden days WIWAC, when the earth cooled and dinosaurs roamed the earth regs and manuals were issued on paper and any changes were done with pen-and-ink. Today, we're used to seeing regs and manuals pushed out in PDF along with updates made available on the internet. We need to teach the cadinks early on to at least become familiar with the necessary regs and manuals and to refer any questions up the chain of command within the squadron. CAPTalk, while it is a great - yet unofficial - resource isn't the official word. I can understand a young cadink with 'mosquito wings' asking a question, but a cadet NCO or officer should know better and have a thorough knowledge of the regulations.

[etodd]

(I posted this in another thread by mistake. Here is where I meant to post it.)

.

This online document is 17 years old. Does it still apply? Does each squadron have 'mentors' who should be working closely with each new member (Cadet or SM) and anticipating their questions?

WHAT IS MENTORING?

Mentoring is an essential ingredient in developing
well-rounded, professional, and competent future leaders.
The goal of mentoring in the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Cadet
Program is to help cadets reach their full potential, thereby
enhancing the overall professionalism of CAP.

Mentor means a trusted counselor or guide, tutor, or
coach. Mentors are helpers.

Mentoring is a relationship in which a person with
greater experience and wisdom guides another person to
develop both personally and professionally. Mentoring is
one of the broadest methods we have available today to
encourage human growth and develop the talent pool for
today's and tomorrow's CAP!

http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/P052_006_204F34CBD9CF4.pdf

.

[Jaison009]

The big blue 3 ring binder we all paid money to update every year with thousands of pages for every reg, that could kill someone if you hit them with it. Good times!

I'm not a cadet, but I WAS one.

Back in the day...the regs were on paper, and everyone got a copy, and no one had a smart phone. Your recourse was to check the regs, or ask at the unit. Now? Even though the regs are available, instant gratification is a lot easier on a forum like this.

I noticed that as the regs were moved to a CD from NHQ instead of paper, less and less cadets read the regs themselves. Now that most people have internet access, I'm not at all sure why they don't just google the question, which typically leads to the proper reg.

[MSG Mac]

I still have that binder and print all updates. Saves a lot of arguing

[Jaison009]

I still have the binder as well. Few years behind now but it still lives 

I still have that binder and print all updates. Saves a lot of arguing

[Garibaldi]

Yup. I have the big book of death as well.

[Holding Pattern]

I'm beginning to think I should have a printed set for the squadron as well.

[NIN]

I'm beginning to think I should have a printed set for the squadron as well.

I think there are benefits to having a single copy at the unit. But it's gotta be up-to-date or it's worthless.

[SarDragon]

(I posted this in another thread by mistake. Here is where I meant to post it.)

This online document is 17 years old. Does it still apply? Does each squadron have 'mentors' who should be working closely with each new member (Cadet or SM) and anticipating their questions?

[Quote elided.]

http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/P052_006_204F34CBD9CF4.pdf

Why would it not apply? What has changed since then to require an update, or rewrite?

[Holding Pattern]

(I posted this in another thread by mistake. Here is where I meant to post it.)

This online document is 17 years old. Does it still apply? Does each squadron have 'mentors' who should be working closely with each new member (Cadet or SM) and anticipating their questions?

[Quote elided.]

http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/P052_006_204F34CBD9CF4.pdf

Why would it not apply? What has changed since then to require an update, or rewrite?

I'm 95.564894531% certain this was a rhetorical question.

[SarDragon]

Well, I'm only 4.435105469% certain. He asked; I answered.

[Holding Pattern]

I was wondering where those percentage points went...

[SarDragon]

I usually just invoke Ivory soap in situations like this.

[etodd]

(I posted this in another thread by mistake. Here is where I meant to post it.)

This online document is 17 years old. Does it still apply? Does each squadron have 'mentors' who should be working closely with each new member (Cadet or SM) and anticipating their questions?

[Quote elided.]

http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/P052_006_204F34CBD9CF4.pdf

Why would it not apply? What has changed since then to require an update, or rewrite?

I'm 95.564894531% certain this was a rhetorical question.

The question was "Does each squadron have 'mentors?" .... and apparently not. I haven't heard of any in my squadron. Hence my question of whether the document from 1999 was still relevant.  Apart from this one, as I Google search things, I'm running across a large number of things that seem to be outdated, yet still indexed by Google ....  and Hdqs or whoever doesn't ever delete or purge. It makes it very confusing for those of us left to figure stuff out on our own and then we realize we are looking at an outdated document that has been superseded by a new one, yet both can still be Googled.

.

[Eclipse]

The question was "Does each squadron have 'mentors?" .... and apparently not. I haven't heard of any in my squadron.

Membership applications require that the Commander certify he has assigned a mentor to the new member.

[etodd]

The question was "Does each squadron have 'mentors?" .... and apparently not. I haven't heard of any in my squadron.

Membership applications require that the Commander certify he has assigned a mentor to the new member.

Is that the same as a PDO?  I was told who that was. But he hasn't attended a meeting in at least 12 months and I've never met him. Got an email from him in the beginning telling me to look through eServices. Hence my wondering if Mentors were different than PDOs.

[Eclipse]

Is that the same as a PDO?  I was told who that was. But he hasn't attended a meeting in at least 12 months and I've never met him. Got an email from him in the beginning telling me to look through eServices. Hence my wondering if Mentors were different than PDOs.

Not by definition.