Meeting Schedules

[Spike]

Hello!  I am trying to revamp my units meeting schedule.  I need some suggestions on how other units use their 2 hour a week time allotment.

I currently have Aerospace, PT, Testing and Moral Leadership/ Leadership assigned to a specific week.

Any help?  I just need to know how other Squadrons get it done.  While we are on the topic, I would also like input on some Weekend activities that were successful for you.  Thanks for your time!

[G+10]

CAPR 52-16 has a pretty good quarterly schedule on page 12. I think you covered all the bases except safety.

[NC Hokie]

My squadron's current monthly schedule is attached.  It's based on the quarterly schedule in CAPR 52-16.

[G+10]

Good point about specifying the Uniform of the Day, I forgot to mention that.

Also VERY nice to see your cadets are mostly in blues rather than BDUs!

[jimmydeanno]

This is our monthly schedule, but we had 2.5 hours each meeting, not 2:

WEEK 1: PT & Testing
UNIFORM: PT Gear

1830-1835: Opening Formation & Uniform Inspection
1835-1900: Flight Time (Drill, Other CAP related item that the flight staff needs to teach their cadets)
1900-1930: Testing (Done first to allow the testing officers to grade before the meeting ends)
1930-2000: CPFT (If CPFT runs over, it just shortens the following item)
2000-2050: PT Game (Soccer, Flag Football, Relay's, etc)
2050-2100: Closing Formation and announcements


WEEK 2: Aerospace
UNIFORM: BDUs

1830-1835: Opening Formation & Uniform Inspection
1835-1900: Flight Time (Drill, Other CAP related item that the flight staff needs to teach their cadets)
1900-1950: Aerospace Education Block I
1950-2000: Administrative Break
2000-2050: Aerospace Education Block II
2050-2100: Closing Formation

Right now we're doing the model rocketry program, which is using both blocks of time.

WEEK 3: Emergency Services
UNIFORM: BDUs

1830-1835: Opening Formation & Uniform Inspection
1835-1900: Flight Time (Drill, Other CAP related item that the flight staff needs to teach their cadets)
1900-1950: ES Block I
1950-2000: Administrative Break
2000-2050: ES Block II
2050-2100: Closing Formation

*The first block is usually a specific ES task instruction (i.e. line searches) with the second block being the practical of that skill.  We'll also (about once a quarter) do a mini-SAREX during our meetings and have the cadets look for ELTs, etc.

WEEK 4: Character Development

1830-1835: Opening Formation & Uniform Inspection
1835-1900: Flight Time (Drill, Other CAP related item that the flight staff needs to teach their cadets)
1900-1950: Leadership Block I
1950-2000: Administrative Break
2000-2045: Character Development Block II
2045-2100: Closing Formation & Awards/Promotions

* The leadership block is a class taught by an NCO or C/Officer on a leadership subject for the non-staff cadets.  They'll do a TLP, or other activity with them.  Meanwhile the "staff cadets" have a training session that pertains to what they do, "How to drill a flight." "How to conduct boards of review," etc.

WEEK 5: TBD
UNIFORM: TBD

This week, if we have one, we'll find some sort of "off base" activity to do.  Last month we went to a local fly-in.  We'll do tours on the base of the different shops (logistics readiness, flight tower, fire station, security forces, KC-135 Simulator, ATC Simulator, etc.) 

As for weekend activities, we have on available practically every single weekend (the exception being holidays).  I don't go to them all personally, but we have a few people who rotate being the "chaperone."  We'll go hiking, museums, ES training, bivouacs, etc.

We also have the O-Flights going pretty regularly, which helps fill some time during the week and the weekends.

It's pretty generic, if you'd like specifics of what we've taught over the last quarter or year, I can share the entire schedule we've had so far.

[whatevah]

We typically had two 30-minute events such as classes/testing/activities and the rest of the time was formation/inspection, drill, flight time, briefing, ending formation/promotions. If you need to stretch out the classes or split up into 3 smaller classes you could always shorten the D&C time.    First meeting of month, Blues, testing/leadership/ML class/guest speaker.   Second, BDUs/Aerospace/activity.  Third, BDUs/re-testing/specialty class (often SAR)/activity.  Fourth, PT uniform/CPFT/workout activities (volleyball/dodgeball/project X/etc).   If we had a fifth meeting, it would be a special night... either an open house/party or launch rockets at a local field or something of that nature.

Our weekend activities would be either SAR based (we had instructors from NGSAR/NESA in our squadron, best in the wing) or a Leadership Academy type thing (as we had very experienced senior and cadet staff members from a National/Tri-Wing encampment).  The Leadership weekend would be normally held at a USCG training facility (nothing special, just barracks, classroom and a big open field with a 1mile track) and would teach classes on a wide variety of topics just like you'd get at an encampment.  Leadership, Aerospace, SAR, etc.  Nights would be physical, volleyball, capture the flag, etc.  We were a half-mile from the ocean, so we would goto the beach for 2 hours on one of the days as an extended lunch break.

Something to mention, we had excellent cadet staff.  They would plan out the meeting schedule quarterly and submit it directly to the squadron commander for approval.  The schedule was done in Excel in a When/What/Where/Instructor/Notes format for each meeting. When, what time block. What, class title/activity. Where/classroom, drill floor, track, etc. Instructor, name.  Notes, (anything special, such as staff meeting in office during this block). The cadet staff taught the majority of classes as well.  We also had quarterly/yearly goals set by the top cadet staff and squadron commander that the meeting schedules were designed to help or accomplish.     I feel that the cadet staff were "excellent" because of the responsibilities given to them by the squadron commander.

[Airrace]

I like the schedule that Jimmy Deanno posted.
The only thing I would add is one more night of testing for both aerospace and PT skills. This would allow the cadets that can't make a meeting to still be able to progress.

[jimmydeanno]

^On that note.  We have one "formal" CPFT and testing night.  A cadet who knows they won't be able to make it to a meeting is more than welcome to arrange an alternate time to take the promotion exam and complete one of the "alternate" sign-off methods for the CPFT.

[DC]

Our schedule goes like this. Note: we meet for 3 hrs per week.

1st Week, BDUs - Testing/Flight Time, Leadership Lab
2nd Week, PTU - PT, Phase Seminar*
3rd Week, BDUs - Aerospace or ES (alternates each month)
4th Week, Blues - Moral Leadership, Promotion Board/Flight Time
5th Week, Varies - Class Varies (usually flight sims or something else that's fun)

* = A seminar type discussion about leadership, the cadets are broken up by phase (at the moment the Officers and NCOs meet together) and discuss topics more suited to that specific group. This allows us to go deeper into subjects that might either bore the NCOs and Officers, or go way over the heads of the Airmen.

The nightly schedule is like this:

1800 - Opening Formation/Inspection
1810 - Flight Time (or Safety, once per month)
1830 - Formation w/ Senior Members
1845 - First Class
1935 - Break
1940 - Second Class
2030 - Room Cleanup**
2045 - Admin Time
2055 - Closing Formation
2100 - Dismissal

We have to be out of our facility by 2045 so they can close on time (we meet in an FBO).

[BrianH76]

1st Week, BDUs - Testing/Flight Time, Leadership Lab

I'm curious... what type of activities do you conduct during the Leadership lab?  I'd be interested to hear from anyone about this.

The Phase seminar is a good idea.

[DC]

Ours is usually a leadership class appropriate for and relevant to all of the cadets, or a hands-on teamwork/leadership drill.

[Spike]

Thanks everyone!  I appreciate your responses.   :clap:

[CAPC/officer125]

Our schedule goes like this. Note: we meet for 3 hrs per week.

1st Week, BDUs - Testing/Flight Time, Leadership Lab
2nd Week, PTU - PT, Phase Seminar*
3rd Week, BDUs - Aerospace or ES (alternates each month)
4th Week, Blues - Moral Leadership, Promotion Board/Flight Time
5th Week, Varies - Class Varies (usually flight sims or something else that's fun)

I am from a small bottom heavy squadron (1 officer, 1 SNCO, 2 JNCOs, and 10 or so AB-A1C) and I would like to do something like this at my squadron. Could you give me some pointers on how to do the phase seminar for such a bottom heavy squadron? All cadet that are not AB-A1C are on staff. I am the officer.

Also, is it required that we have moral leadership every month or can in be every other month?

[majdomke]

NHQ just mailed out some terrific CP materials to every squadron. There are several books on team building and leadership. Check them out if you've already received them. We got ours about three weeks ago.

[NC Hokie]

I am from a small bottom heavy squadron (1 officer, 1 SNCO, 2 JNCOs, and 10 or so AB-A1C) and I would like to do something like this at my squadron. Could you give me some pointers on how to do the phase seminar for such a bottom heavy squadron? All cadet that are not AB-A1C are on staff. I am the officer.

Also, is it required that we have moral leadership every month or can in be every other month?

If I were in your position (and I am), I'd have the NCOs teach the element members and use reading assignments and homework for the staff members, as there really aren't enough of them (yet) to justify a separate class.

As to your question about moral leadership (now known as character development), CAPR 52-16 says that "[t]he moral leadership program will be conducted at least once per month for approximately 1 hour."

[DC]

Our schedule goes like this. Note: we meet for 3 hrs per week.

1st Week, BDUs - Testing/Flight Time, Leadership Lab
2nd Week, PTU - PT, Phase Seminar*
3rd Week, BDUs - Aerospace or ES (alternates each month)
4th Week, Blues - Moral Leadership, Promotion Board/Flight Time
5th Week, Varies - Class Varies (usually flight sims or something else that's fun)

I am from a small bottom heavy squadron (1 officer, 1 SNCO, 2 JNCOs, and 10 or so AB-A1C) and I would like to do something like this at my squadron. Could you give me some pointers on how to do the phase seminar for such a bottom heavy squadron? All cadet that are not AB-A1C are on staff. I am the officer.

Also, is it required that we have moral leadership every month or can in be every other month?

There's really nothing to it. Pick a discussion topic, have all of the cadets sit down, preferably in a way that allows them to face each other (we use a school circle for the Airmen, the NCOs and Officers sit at a conference table) and have whoever is leading the discussion (I'd recommend an NCO) introduce a topic, and have the cadets discuss their opinions about it.

We use a very informal, open-floor approach, and try to make everyone as comfortable as possible. The leader should actively seek out cadets that aren't participating as much as they should, and try to get them more involved. They should also have a predetermined direction they would like the discussion to go, and try to lead the group down that path by introducing specific ideas or making a point here or there to spur more discussion. It's important though for the group leader to not get too involved, the idea is to get the group thinking about a topic, and for them to share and exchange ideas about it, not for the NCO to lecture the airmen.