Covers

[abdsp51]

To me it shows that every wing does it's own thing for encampment standards and uniforms.  I know here in Ca wing folks crunch their ball camps after being at encampment.

[mdickinson]

I've seen lots of violations of the CAP uniform manual in my years, but that hat takes the cake! The homemade collar insignia is just the icing on that cake.

I just hope this spectacle wasn't at an actual military base... oh wait, it was a... WING ENCAMPMENT?!  That sacred week during which an example is set for all the new impressionable cadets to take home to their units? And the example they chose to set was: "if u think up some cool way to bling out ur uniform, u can totally go ahead n do it"

My guess is about 10% of the cadets in attendance go home and immediately start nagging their squadron commander to let them wear a smokey the bear hat when they become their squadron's drill sergeant (oh wait, we don't have them in CAP? well let's just make a new insignia for it...)

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

I once knew a CAP member who was a former U.S. Army DS.

He would have told that cadet, "GET THAT HAT OFF!"

If some serving and/or former MTI's would have been there...wow.

I would have just said "Cadet, unless you can show me, in writing, where and why you have authorisation to wear that cover, which is not even an issue item for the CAP uniform (it looks like it could be a State Trooper's cover), take it off.  If that collar brass has homemade stars on it, take them off and replace them with regulation insignia."

I think that an RAF Air Ranks (flag rank) Officer's "wedge cap" looks mega-cool too, but I have no authority to wear one...therefore, I don't.



I wish terribly that we could wear blue epaulettes with "CAP" embroidery and hard rank again, but we have no authorisation to do so...therefore, I don't.

[Private Investigator]

That was at a Wing Encampment?! What standards do you think they have at Petticoat Junction Cadet Squadron?? 

Maybe a Pickelhaube for Oktorberfest? 

[AngelWings]

Why is it the cadets fault for all of this? Did he pick a Mass State Trooper hat or the homemade insignia? Think a little bit, he is not coming up with this stuff. He's following orders.

I do know it is a Mass State Trooper hat, I've personally seen both a real Mass State Trooper (many times), and I recognize the silver rope. Here's a Mass State Trooper hat



The wing doesn't care that much, even if others do. No one emmulates the standard at their squadron. It's a Mass Wing thing.

[Garibaldi]

Why is it the cadets fault for all of this? Did he pick a Mass State Trooper hat or the homemade insignia? Think a little bit, he is not coming up with this stuff. He's following orders.

Not really. If you read down, someone posted the facebook comments on his pic, which went something along the lines of "I'm glad someone resurrected my smoky! They wanted to take it away!" which to me implies that a) it was HIS (the commentor's) idea and not universally loved or authorized, and b) someone recognized the illegality of it at some point and tried (unsuccessfully) to get rid of it. And you know what the argument about "he's just following orders" is just bull. No one can order anyone to do anything in CAP with impunity.

The point is, it's not regulations, it's not authorized and someone should have stopped this nonsense when it started. Even back in the 80s when we wore just about whatever we wanted, this kid would have been tied up and tossed in a locker for the duration of the encampment.

To paraphrase John Bender from "The Breakfast Club"..."If he wears that hat, we'll all wear that hat! It'll be anarchy!"

[lordmonar]

It is not his fault.....even if it was his own idea.

The fault lies with wing and higher leadership for not stopping it in its tracks.  It is the fault for NHQ for not enforcing the regulations.

Like I said before.......I got no problem with the smokey bear hat......who cares what USAF MTI's think......IF they were authorised, if the wing commander had the authority to make the exception to the rule.....and they all wore smokey bears to indicate staff.....that's cool.

But they are not authorised, the wing commander does not/should not have the autority to make an exception to the rules, and it just seems only one guy got to wear the stuipid thing.........and there is complete silence from NHQ on this issue.

AND THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME THIS HAS HAPPENED. 

It will continue to happen until CAP starts to hammer commanders.

And the insignia for the command chief.........same story......

[rant] And this seques into my other pet peeve.........the eternal Chief Syndrom.  I bet that wing (and a lot of other wings) has a bunch of cadets not finishing their Mitchell because they want the "cool" jobs an encampment.  Simple fix for this...........you must be an officer to be on encampment staff....period end of story.[/rant]

[Eclipse]

Why is it the cadets fault for all of this?

No, it's 99% the failure of the seniors involved, including those who don't say "knock it off" when they hear about it second hand.
It's 1% the cadet's fault in that someone with that many stripes (who may well be delaying Mitchell to be the CCMSgt) knows better and
chooses to accept the "well no one said no" path.

An encampment should be the absolute tightest, by the book, activity in CAP, with no room for "creativity". For many members it is the only activity they ever attend outside their home squadron, and the only time they get to see the "real" CAP in action.   Unfortunately the reality is that encampments,
and most similar-scaled activities, are run as entrenched "islands" with little scrutiny from higher HQ as long as no one is complaining and the columns in the WBP correct to zero.  Change is rarely impacted unless there is a new Commander who was not invested in the "olde guarde", and rarely will an
encampment get a new commander who does not come from previous year's top-level staff.

Without the attitude of "Tight and Right, or Not At All^®", not only are the typical stereotypes about CAP not corrected, but the "small stuff" gets exported to the units, along with the attitude of "What's the big deal? It's cool!"  Apparently the very clear statement in 39-1 about not wearing grade on ball caps does not apply to encampments, because that's probably the most common of the "small stuff". One t-shirt says "don't sweat the small stuff" and then on the back it says "...and it's all small stuff..." except that a big part of CAP for cadets is paying attention to small stuff details and regulations. We literally test them on it.

As we stress here, CAP encampments are not BMT - not by design (basic cadet training happens at the squadron in the form of Curry), and certainly not
by execution, but to use the analogy, when a recruit completes BMT in any of the services, he receives a baseline, consistent, "blue sky" presentation of the minimum expectation(s) of the respective service.  Once he's graduated, the level of "hard corps*" he experiences will be different depending on his duty, grade, and assignments, but he knows in the back of his mind what the expectations are, and where he's pushing the envelope when he gets "creative".

CAP owes it to itself, the cadets, and the home squadrons to move the pendulum back to the "Tight and Right, or Not At All^®" philosophy.  We make a big deal about how encampments will export skills back to the home units, then we allow "creativity" to creep in, then we wonder why nothing changes.

I do know it is a Mass State Trooper hat...

At least in the photo above the hat fits.  There are photos from previous years where the hat is clearly too big, impacting the command bearing of the wearer, and in some the cadet has the senior hat device improperly placed (in respect to this improper hat).  It looks even "better" with BDU's.

It'd be one thing if this was presented to the head cadet NCO ceremonially and it sat on his rack, desk, hung on his wall, etc. - that would be a fun tradition, but to be walking around wearing it means those who are allowing it don't even understand the question, since for starters, an NCO at that level of staff is not going to be doing hands-on direct cadet training like an MTI would, he's just a "manager", though odds are in reality the cadet in that role at this activity is wandering around "spot correcting" his NCOs.

There is an interesting lack of seniors present in the photos, though, which may or may not mean anything.

*Not a typo

"Tight and Right, or Not At All^®" is a registered trademark of eClipseco Mining and Heavy Machinery Consortium.  All Rights Reserved.  Let eClipseco service all of your rhetoric and propaganda needs!

[Walkman]

p.s Neither the Air Force or CAP have "Covers".

When I was a new Butterbar, I said "BDU Cap" in reference to headgear, and one of the more senior NCO cadets corrected me in a very respectful but stern tone that "It's called a Cover, sir". I knew it is called a BDU cap in 39-1 and also on the tag of the darned thing, but I was still felling my way around leading cadets as a SM, so I didn't say anything about it.

Entrenched, incorrect traditions will always be around. Wearing the uniform is a powerful thing. To cadets still working their way through maturity, dreams of the acclaim and respect given to those in the elite echelons of the military can create a really strong pull to identity with.

[Garibaldi]

[rant] And this seques into my other pet peeve.........the eternal Chief Syndrom.  I bet that wing (and a lot of other wings) has a bunch of cadets not finishing their Mitchell because they want the "cool" jobs an encampment.  Simple fix for this...........you must be an officer to be on encampment staff....period end of story.[/rant]

But...but...what about flight sergeants and other NCO positions?

[lordmonar]

Cover, Cap, Hat.........really?  If we are going to demand that we call it what it really is.....then we don't have BDU shirts.....we have Coat, Woodland Camoflage, Extream Weather (IIRC).

Hat, cover, cap, lid, sun blocker......if the message is being transmitted....then why are we argueing somantic?

[lordmonar]

[rant] And this seques into my other pet peeve.........the eternal Chief Syndrom.  I bet that wing (and a lot of other wings) has a bunch of cadets not finishing their Mitchell because they want the "cool" jobs an encampment.  Simple fix for this...........you must be an officer to be on encampment staff....period end of story.[/rant]

But...but...what about flight sergeants and other NCO positions?

You mean Assitant Flight Commanders, Assitant Squadron Commanders and Assitant Logistic Officers, etc?   

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

[rant] And this seques into my other pet peeve.........the eternal Chief Syndrom.  I bet that wing (and a lot of other wings) has a bunch of cadets not finishing their Mitchell because they want the "cool" jobs an encampment.  Simple fix for this...........you must be an officer to be on encampment staff....period end of story.[/rant]

Agreed on that.  For some reason there seems to be an unspoken (sometimes) dictum that you're no longer "cool" once you've put on a cadet lieutenant's pip.

My first squadron produced a Spaatz, and she sure didn't get that by hovering in the SNCO grades.

The "no-one said no" camp is on the senior side too...given that, I should be allowed to wear this with the G/W uniform:



After all, it's grey, and no-one said "no."

[EMT-83]

There is no requirement for a gray hat with the G/W. Any civilian headgear is authorized.

[Eclipse]

But...but...what about flight sergeants and other NCO positions?

What about them?  Flt Sgts are fine and rarely a problem.

The First Shirt, in many encampments, is a largely ceremonial position that struggles for a real role, and as the #4 in executive staff,
is usually younger and much lower grade then the others.

As noted, far too many cadets artificially delay their move to cadet officer for no other reason then to be able to serve as a First Sgt
at an encampment. 

One thing seen a lot is that the First Sergeants tend to be the ones pushing the FMJ stuff the hardest, possibly for no other reason
then they don't have much else to do and they are supposed to be the #1 NCO.  Eliminating the position would at least remove a lot of the FMJ nonsense that we see.

You mean Assitant Flight Commanders, Assitant Squadron Commanders and Assitant Logistic Officers, etc?

Perfect.

[Ned]

In yet another amazing "only on CAP-Talk coincidence," watch for the new National Encampment Guide / Manual / Pamphlet (we're still debating what to call it) to appear in draft form on the NHQ CP website "proving grounds" within the next week or so.  It will have guidance that "covers" this kind of thing (pun intended.)

All interested members will be invited to download, review, and comment of the draft document before it appears in final form.

Ned Lee
CP Enthusiast

[ßτε]

There is no requirement for a gray hat with the G/W. Any civilian headgear is authorized.

I don't mean to derail this discussion, but can you show me where that is stated in CAPM 39-1 or in an ICL?

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

There is no requirement for a gray hat with the G/W. Any civilian headgear is authorized.

So...civilian could be anything without insignia, yes?

And thanks to Jedi Master Ned for coming through as usual.

[Eclipse]

So...civilian could be anything without insignia, yes?

39-1 only says "CAP ball caps are authorized", not "wear whatever you want".

[Major Lord]

Cover, Cap, Hat.........really?  If we are going to demand that we call it what it really is.....then we don't have BDU shirts.....we have Coat, Woodland Camoflage, Extream Weather (IIRC).

Hat, cover, cap, lid, sun blocker......if the message is being transmitted....then why are we argueing somantic?

And don't forget our blouses and field scarves! I have noticed the trend for CAP cadets to adopt Marine nomenclature ( Understandably, since the Marine Corp is the finest fighting organization ever assembled by man) BUt if we start calling them "covers", then the next thing you know, we will be swabbing decks instead of sweeping floors, and saying "Aye, Aye" instead of the traditional CAP "Okey Dokey!". I suspect that a lot of this arose from "Full Metal Jacket" which right-thinking people never even recognized, was supposed to be an anti-war film! We just thought it was cool. Every kid in my neighborhood wanted to have the first confirmed-Commie Kill too! ( Althoug killing Commies seems to one out of fashion, since we just elect them to Congress)

I am reminded of the hippy parents who give their kids a toy green wind turbine, or transvestite doll, whereupon, the regular American kid turns the whimpy toy into a gun, by force of his imagination, hormones, and natural inclination as Jr. Men.

In short, I think a lot of these Uniform issues revolve around CAP's search for identity. On one side, we have the "Alan Alda" camp, which wants to promote  an estrogen-soaked world view and move CAP the same direction. ( You will know them by their Pony Tails and Greenpeace bumper stickers on their Hybrid cars) versus the natural tendency for young men to join the John Wayne, Arleigh Ermy, Chuck Norris camp, oozing excess testosterone and wishing that CAP was the type of organization that cared about punishing our enemies, and ready to lay their lives on the Altar of freedom. The DI hat ( I loved Jack Webb!) push for ABU's, etc, is an expression of a desire to push CAP outside its Boundaries, while the "Alan Alda" camp suffers our association with USAF, but puts up with it for whatever benefits they enjoy as a member ( Working with good kids, etc.)

We are decades old, but still have growing pains. Remarkable.

Major Lord
p.s. Now that the ACA has gone Army, what has replaced "flotsom on their quarterdeck"?