Membership numbers

[N6RVT]

We have been seeing member numbers in the upper 600000 recently.

Someone just joined and got member number 363789.  Thats lower than mine and I joined (for the third time) in 2005.

Are they recycling numbers?

[NIN]

We have been seeing member numbers in the upper 600000 recently.

Someone just joined and got member number 363789.  Thats lower than mine and I joined (for the third time) in 2005.

Are they recycling numbers?

Usually an out of sequence number is someone who joined,  got that number,  left,  then rejoined.

[JohhnyD]

Yep, my number is a 2nnnnn number issued in the 1990s.

[Dad Jokes]

If they were a cadet when the existing numbering system was in use it will pull their old number.  Just had a member join who was a cadet and they gave him his old number back.  But, if they were a cadet before the new number system , they will get a new number that is in sequence with what ever point it is that day. Had that happen a few months ago.

[SarDragon]

Here's the results of some research I did a while back on member numbers.

Initially, they were issued wing-by-wing, and the info was sent to NHQ as a part of the membership application, which went through the wing HQ on its journey. Later on, there was a shift to SSANs, some time prior to 1970.

According to another member: It looks like from 1994 to 2000, the CAPID was used internally at NHQ and not used on membership cards or membership reports.

...for members with join dates starting in June 1994, CAPID numbers are sequential based on join date. [It is supposed] that from 1994 to 2000, it was only used internally in the national database and not actually used on anything given to members or units.

If you were a member before the change from SSNs to CAPIDs, at the transition you got a six digit CAPID starting with 1, based on your position in a list of members in SSAN order. These went up to about 145xxx. Then there's a gap. The new members who joined after the transition have CAPIDs starting with 15XXXX. There are some unresolved anomalies in that theory.

There are some thousand number gaps around 1492xx, 1494xx, 1495xx, 1496xx, and 1497xx. The sequence starts again at 1498xx. There is another gap at 1500xx. They seem to continue regularly after that.

Since the SSAN is the master record ID, it's easy to reassign prior numbers to rejoining members.

[Eclipse]

the national database

Lt Col John Eunomia updates membership records for the Civil Air Patrol.
Photo Date: June 2 2021

[CAPJOE]

Here's the results of some research I did a while back on member numbers.

Initially, they were issued wing-by-wing, and the info was sent to NHQ as a part of the membership application, which went through the wing HQ on its journey. Later on, there was a shift to SSANs, some time prior to 1970.

According to another member: It looks like from 1994 to 2000, the CAPID was used internally at NHQ and not used on membership cards or membership reports.

...for members with join dates starting in June 1994, CAPID numbers are sequential based on join date. [It is supposed] that from 1994 to 2000, it was only used internally in the national database and not actually used on anything given to members or units.

If you were a member before the change from SSNs to CAPIDs, at the transition you got a six digit CAPID starting with 1, based on your position in a list of members in SSAN order. These went up to about 145xxx. Then there's a gap. The new members who joined after the transition have CAPIDs starting with 15XXXX. There are some unresolved anomalies in that theory.

There are some thousand number gaps around 1492xx, 1494xx, 1495xx, 1496xx, and 1497xx. The sequence starts again at 1498xx. There is another gap at 1500xx. They seem to continue regularly after that.

Since the SSAN is the master record ID, it's easy to reassign prior numbers to rejoining members.

I first joined in 1991. My CAP ID is 136***.

[SarDragon]

That was before the changeover. Where was your SSAN issued?

[Simplex]

I joined in 1993 and my CAP ID is 130xxx !

[N6RVT]

We have been seeing member numbers in the upper 600000 recently.

Someone just joined and got member number 363789.  Thats lower than mine and I joined (for the third time) in 2005.

Are they recycling numbers?

Usually an out of sequence number is someone who joined,  got that number,  left,  then rejoined.

Turns out this is the case and their original join date was 2003.

[Spam]

I joined in 1993 and my CAP ID is 130xxx !

That all tracks. I joined in 83 and mine is 115xxx. I have friends here who joined in the mid/late 70s with 110s from the rolled over.
My cadet CAPID was "000910349... SIR" (I remember rattling that off).

[fyrfitrmedic]

I originally joined in 1979. I had a CAPSN and somewhere along the way CAP switched to SSNs along the way. My membership lapsed for about a year and I rejoined in early 1995. When the changeover to CAPID took place I received a 18xxxx series number. When the change was about to take place, I inquired as to whether there was any provision to use the old CAPSN numbers. The reply I received was rather testy, bordering on the uncivil if memory serves.

[NIN]

I joined in 1993 and my CAP ID is 130xxx !

That all tracks. I joined in 83 and mine is 115xxx. I have friends here who joined in the mid/late 70s with 110s from the rolled over.
My cadet CAPID was "000910349... SIR" (I remember rattling that off).

I learned my CAPSN standing in front of the first Lieutenant Colonel I'd ever met,  in the encampment inprocessing line,  with 100+ cadets behind me. I didn't know I had a CAPSN until that minute (I was so new,  my ID card hadn't shown up yet,  nor had my unit gotten the new MML. The encampment had "the latest and greatest" MML, FedEx'd from Maxwell the day before). In the days before passwords and PINs, a 14 year old memorizing a 6 digit number under pressure wasn't a good thing.

"798207, ma'am!"

[BuckeyeDEJ]

I have the coolest number, though there's a pattern in it. It's all 13s, starting with a 11. Just sayin'. And I have had three ID numbers in CAP — the first was also CAP-generated, since I didn't have an SSN at the time. I still remember it.

[SARDOC]

My original join date was November 1992. my CAPID is 10XXXX

[N6RVT]

My original join date was November 1992. my CAPID is 10XXXX

People think I should have a 100XXX number because my join date was 1974, but I didn't see a reason to maintain membership in the auxiliary of the military service I was already part of.  So I had a 2+ year long gap in service (the length of time for National to TOTALLY forget you ever lived), coming back in 2005, and I have 480xxx now.

If I had a number before 1980 I have long since lost track of what it was.

[JohhnyD]

My original join date was November 1992. my CAPID is 10XXXX

People think I should have a 100XXX number because my join date was 1974, but I didn't see a reason to maintain membership in the auxiliary of the military service I was already part of.  So I had a 2+ year long gap in service (the length of time for National to TOTALLY forget you ever lived), coming back in 2005, and I have 480xxx now.

If I had a number before 1980 I have long since lost track of what it was.

I joined in 1972 - member # 742NNN, rejoined in 1998 #256NNN

[Lord of the North]

I joined CAP in California in 1966 and was given ID number of 10096678

Converted to SSAN when the change over happened.

Had about a three year break in service and then rejoined in 1994 in Washington Wing and was give ID number 181545.

Yes I'm OLD!!!

[Pinecone]

So, I was a Cadet about 1969 - 72.  Then a Senior Member from 79 - to about 82 or 83.

Should I get a number based on my previous membership? Or a new sequence number?

And NO, I would not have ANY idea of what numbers I might have been way back then.

[SarDragon]

You will likely get a new number, since the CAPSN at that time was SSAN. They didn't get into the current 6-digit numbers until much later. You master file is still under your SSAN, though.