The Doldrums: Those low points of your CAP Career

[Major Carrales]

The Doldrums: Those low points of your CAP Career

At various times, and in most CAP officer's CAP Career, there comes those low points.  Either a disillusionment or otherwise trying circumstances that make you question your membership in CAP.

The question:

How do you "pull yourself through" these times to continue in CAP?

[Black Knight]

You just think of all the good things that have happened. Thats what I do

[Майор Хаткевич]

Identify the reasons to stay. This hits most cadets who stick around by their 3rd or 4th year. Some stick it out, others turn in a 2b.

[Black Knight]

Identify the reasons to stay. This hits most cadets who stick around by their 3rd or 4th year. Some stick it out, others turn in a 2b.

Im in my 2nd year and most meetings, I wanna quit, but I decide not too. Cadets never respect me. Im getting ticked off about it.

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

I, as many people on CT know, am going through one of (if not the) lowest points of my CAP career right now...having hit a wall with a promotion and being met with the deafening sound of silence in response to my requests for information.  I won't belabour the point here, as information is readily available in other threads.

I have left CAP twice before.  In both instances it had to do with politics/GOBN and my inability to brown-nose.

Why did I come back?  Encountering someone in CAP who told me how much an officer with my skills was "needed" and that "real reforms" were underway at the highest levels that would dilute, if not eliminate, the GOBN.

Both times I was wrong.

Was für Quatsch ist das!

So, at this stage I am doing some real soul-searching.  Unlike when I first joined CAP in 1993, I am not a young man any more.

As I see it, I have several options:

As a poster on my ninth-grade maths teacher's classroom wall said, "say nothing, do nothing, be nothing," let my membership run out and that's the end of it.

Take some of the suggestions offered in good faith by other CT colleagues about going over the heads of those who put up the wall I've run into; after all, what have I got to lose?  If someone threatens me with a 2B, I can either say "tell it to my lawyer," or tell them what they can do with their 2B, their GOBN, and CAP in general.

Grit my teeth and accept that I am not likely to see any more promotions or decorations for however long I remain in CAP, except for maybe clasps to my RSR, and then once I've cobbled together 20 years, put in for "retirement."

Option 2 seems the most attractive, even though it is kind of a "nuclear option."

[Private Investigator]

Identify the reasons to stay. This hits most cadets who stick around by their 3rd or 4th year. Some stick it out, others turn in a 2b.

Im in my 2nd year and most meetings, I wanna quit, but I decide not too. Cadets never respect me. Im getting ticked off about it.

Cadets are in a total different situation than Senior Members. For the Cadets hopefully you have good Senior Member mentors. With Cadets when you get a Cadet Commander who wants to "BFF" only their crowd, others feel neglected. Being Cadets the whole tenager / young adult thing tends to get confusing. The most important thing is have fun.

Now for Senior Members it is a whole different can of beans.

[Private Investigator]

How do you "pull yourself through" these times to continue in CAP?

It use to be all about ES for me, then it was CP and in between stints as a Commander. Now I am more interested in AE activities. 

[Critical AOA]

How do you "pull yourself through" these times to continue in CAP?

The same way you do in your real career and life in general. 

[Eclipse]

Being involved in the whole of CAP, not just treating the mission like a menu, is a good way to insure that
you've always got something going on.  CAP is very cyclical during the calendar year, and if you don't find yourself involved
in whatever the "thing" is for your unit / wing in a given month or quarter, you might find yourself with nothing "fun" to do but still saddled with staff work or other drudgery.  Get behind the curve on that and you might find yourself never doing anything "fun".

I've seen units that basically shut down in December for the holidays, and also in the summer when a lot of members are at encampments and other activities.  That's not fair to those members who don't have / care about the holidays, and may not be going anywhere over the summer.

Also, being involved in projects or activities with longer-term planning and goals, like encampments or major SARExs can also give a creative outlet to offset some of the less exciting things about CAP service.

There's also the little victories - meaningful meetings, little learning or teaching experiences that you come away with a new
skill or idea but don't take long to master, etc.

And leaders who appreciate and don't waste your time is probably the #1 thing - no one minds hard work that brings
results, but few will tolerate sitting in a dark room watching Shorty's videos about icing boots when the organization doesn't utilize those and no one in the unit flies.

[jeders]

I haven't posted lately because of one of these doldrums. I've had to tackle this problem a few times in the past, and as Eclipse said, being involved in the whole CAP is what got me through it. These problems were almost always because of local issues, and I was able to re energize myself by going outside the unit.

However, in December I finally decided to not renew my membership, I packed up all of my CAP stuff, and I refocused my energies elsewhere. I still remember CAP fondly, and I may still go back later this year, but not until the current squadron commander is gone. As Eclipse also said, local leaders that waste your time hurts the membership more than anything, well almost. Local leaders who waste your time and then blame you for the wasted time hurt members more. Unfortunately, when you've got ineffective group leadership and the squadron commander has his head up the group leaders 4th point of contact, there's very little that a local member can do but hit the dusty trails.

[FW]

The Doldrums: Those low points of your CAP Career

At various times, and in most CAP officer's CAP Career, there comes those low points.  Either a disillusionment or otherwise trying circumstances that make you question your membership in CAP.

The question:

How do you "pull yourself through" these times to continue in CAP?

Joe, I have had quite a few of those "low points" over the course of the last 45 years or so.  As a cadet, I just left; college and career a more important priority.  As a senior member, I just found new ways to contribute.  CAP, to me, is an amazing organization.  Volunteers have many reasons to bond (and I do mean bond) with the mission and their fellow members.  I just keep in mind why CAP is "in my blood" and go on with a smile on my face and, in my heart.

[johnnyb47]

I'm 3 years in.
I haven't received much by the way of decorations yet... a couple of achievement awards and a Unit Citation is about it. (not that I think I deserve more)
I'm not really looking for it. Promotions? Well I'm up for captain in a few weeks as far as TIG goes. If I get it... I get it.
The value and reward for me is in the work I get to do with cadets. Mentoring, teaching, guiding and then watching them succeed.

I get thanks and genuine appreciation from cadets for what I do.... and that works for me.
Heck even some senior members seem to be pretty OK with me.

The trick was to look for what I wanted (a chance to mentor and guide the leaders of tomorrow) and balance that with what I needed to feel accomplished.
I'm not trying to trivialize rank/grade or decorations in CAP but if a cadet makes a career choice based partially on my guidance or a group of cadets succeed at a CAP event or activity, partially because of my assistance, why do I need a ribbon or a title when I already have; "Thank you, Sir. You've really helped me/us a lot."

That's what works for me. I'll come back in 5 years or so and let you know if it still works though I think it'll still be the same.

[Eeyore]

I've been a member since '97, usually my low points are caused by boredom in a duty position or duty area. I've found that drastically changing my focus within the program reenergizes and reengages me.

Hit a low point while working in cadet programs, refocus to emergency services or an administrative support function.

Learning something new and different that broadens your horizons in CAP is usually a good thing.

[Eclipse]

To add a little more...

If you aren't actively engaged in at least one thing in CAP that involves why you joined, fix that ASAP.

Pilots don't mind balancing the check book when they are flying lots of hours, Comm guys with plenty of toys don't mind doing inventories, and ES people with cool missions or interesting
training on the calendar don't mind having to deal with an SUI, but if all you do is the latter in those statements, it's just an unpaid job with little satisfaction.

[Walkman]

^ This.

I joined for two reasons: 1) to be a part of the larger military family and 2) ES work. My original unit was a compiste that pretty much only had cadets and no ES. I work in advertising and so I was PAO. I did a solid job as PAO, but hardly any ES work at all. There just wasn't anything going on in that area. I got bored watching cadets drill & PT.

My new unit is in a wing that's heavy into ES, both training and missions (I just got my first Find ribbon!). I made the decision to not work as PAO and asked if I could be ESO, which was welcomed by the CC. I'm much happier now that I'm doing what I wanted to do in the squadron and my day job doesn't bleed over into my CAP time.

The same way you do in your real career and life in general. 

CAP is my escape from the lows of everything else right now.

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

CAP is my escape from the lows of everything else right now.

That's how it was during my first six years of CAP service.  I was single, living alone, and when I wasn't otherwise engaged with work/church I was doing something for CAP.

I was in a great squadron...not because it was so outstanding in itself; in fact, it almost folded once after the guy who would be my commander for five of those six years took command.

He and I, together, built it up from being barely a Flight back to a functioning unit.

I went from being a SMWOG to a Captain in those six years, to having a Senior rating, to qualifying as Observer, to being Deputy Commander.

Maybe I just got lucky first time out to land in a unit with people I connected with on so many different levels, especially socially (doubly hard for an introvert like me).  They weren't just my CAP colleagues, they were my friends, and I don't say that about too many people.

Why did I leave?  I got married, and I moved.

My former CC finally left CAP a couple of years after I moved...because he was sick of all the Bravo Sierra/GOBN, and this was from a Major who had (as I said) built up a unit, commanded it for around eight years, had several well-earned CommComm's, and in no small part mentored a very shy then-young man to sink his teeth into what CAP had to offer.

Again, maybe I just got lucky first spin of the wheel.

[Devil Doc]

I, as many people on CT know, am going through one of (if not the) lowest points of my CAP career right now...having hit a wall with a promotion and being met with the deafening sound of silence in response to my requests for information.  I won't belabour the point here, as information is readily available in other threads.

I have left CAP twice before.  In both instances it had to do with politics/GOBN and my inability to brown-nose.

Why did I come back?  Encountering someone in CAP who told me how much an officer with my skills was "needed" and that "real reforms" were underway at the highest levels that would dilute, if not eliminate, the GOBN.

Both times I was wrong.


Was für Quatsch ist das!

So, at this stage I am doing some real soul-searching.  Unlike when I first joined CAP in 1993, I am not a young man any more.

As I see it, I have several options:

As a poster on my ninth-grade maths teacher's classroom wall said, "say nothing, do nothing, be nothing," let my membership run out and that's the end of it.

Take some of the suggestions offered in good faith by other CT colleagues about going over the heads of those who put up the wall I've run into; after all, what have I got to lose?  If someone threatens me with a 2B, I can either say "tell it to my lawyer," or tell them what they can do with their 2B, their GOBN, and CAP in general.

Grit my teeth and accept that I am not likely to see any more promotions or decorations for however long I remain in CAP, except for maybe clasps to my RSR, and then once I've cobbled together 20 years, put in for "retirement."

Option 2 seems the most attractive, even though it is kind of a "nuclear option."

was ist das Unsinn, den Sie sprechen von

[Garibaldi]

As I may or may not have stated earlier or in the past, I re-joined CAP as a SM in 1993. I missed it, to be honest. I was very active up until 2006, when things at my former unit became untenable. Long story short, one SM tried to run roughshod over the entire command structure in order to get her own way, and ended up...well, story for another day. I'm really not supposed to know the details. Suffice to say, I was one of her roadblocks to "success" and ended up transferring my membership back to WIWG for a time, then coming back on a trial basis, then quitting altogether less than a year later. Six years later, I rejoined AGAIN and brought back the ES program from the dead. When I left, the cadets were very excited about the program, having had very little to lean on in the time I was gone. Training got done, morale improved, and the ground team academy was resurrected. I left them in very capable hands and even got a couple of SM captains trained as GTLs. I've been inactive for the last couple months due to financial hardship, but as soon as I am able I will be back in the groove.

CAP, as was stated earlier by Walkman, got me through low points and provided me enough highs to last me a good long time. To paraphrase Sheldon Cooper, in an ever-changing world, CAP has been the single point of consistency. If my life were expressed as a function on a four-dimensional Cartesian Coordinate system, CAP, at the first moment I joined, would be 0.0.0.0

[Storm Chaser]

How do you "pull yourself through" these times to continue in CAP?

By being a catalyst for change.

I agree with most comments made so far. It's true that CAP can almost be like a full-time job, but without pay. Unless you're doing fun things, in addition to all the required staff work, you're going to get burned out.

I, for one, am the kind of person that is constantly seeking new challenges. I look for voids and try to fill them. When I see something I don't like, I try to come up with solutions, not problems. I also know when to pick my battles. But most of all, I try to do things that interest me, in addition to the things that need to be done and no one else wants to do.

While I have faced challenges (and, yes, also frustrations) from time to time, I haven't encountered some of the obstacles that others have on this board. I think that is due to the fact that I'm constantly trying to help others and make things better. I also don't wait for others to solve my problems (not to say that I don't accept help, because I do).

The bottom line is that I work with CAP because I believe in the organization and have fun doing what I'm doing. I strongly believe that when you want something to change, to improve, you have to do what you can to make it happen.

[Critical AOA]

To add a little more...

If you aren't actively engaged in at least one thing in CAP that involves why you joined, fix that ASAP.

Pilots don't mind balancing the check book when they are flying lots of hours, Comm guys with plenty of toys don't mind doing inventories, and ES people with cool missions or interesting
training on the calendar don't mind having to deal with an SUI, but if all you do is the latter in those statements, it's just an unpaid job with little satisfaction.

Absolutely! 

Unfortunately many commanders don't understand this very salient point.  They don't mind assigning these types of ancillary tasks to members but then don't put in any effort to ensure that the member's wants are being taken care of.  Yes these tasks must be done but no one joins CAP to do them.