The Doldrums: Those low points of your CAP Career

[SamFranklin]

I think part of the answer is in recognizing that CAP is not a "career." That distinction may seem a small matter, but it's an important one because it can affect your underlying attitude toward your CAP service. I think a lot of good, hard-working CAP members experience the doldrums because they think of CAP as if it were a career.

[Eclipse]

I think part of the answer is in recognizing that CAP is not a "career." That distinction may seem a small matter, but it's an important one because it can affect your underlying attitude toward your CAP service. I think a lot of good, hard-working CAP members experience the doldrums because they think of CAP as if it were a career.

A lot of people literally spend as much or more time on CAP then they do in their professional lives, and for many their professional careers have be influenced significantly by CAP membership.

How else do you refer to something which has significant responsibility and authority, a role in saving lives and shaping futures, administrative and participation requirements on par with any
corporate or military role, can keep you away from home for days / weeks at a time, and can burn hundreds of hours a year without really even trying?

[Eeyore]

ca·reer  [kuh-reer]
noun
1. an occupation or profession, especially one requiring special training, followed as one's lifework
2. a person's progress or general course of action through life or through a phase of life, as in some profession or undertaking
3. success in a profession, occupation, etc.

I don't know, CAP kind of sounds like a career to me. Granted, it's a secondary career that doesn't pay a salary.

[Eclipse]

Over the past ten years or so, there have bee three "unofficial" reunions of cadets from the 40's to 80's. Those attending ranged from a former National Commander, to cadets that never turned senior. Of about 60 that attended, the majority were no longer in CAP. In talking to them, the reason they weren't intrested ranged frm the politics at Wing, Group Squadron level, the GOBN, to lack of activities other than spoon-fed training that is useless in any duty they were interested in. One woman told me she attnded a training session only because she had to drive three other Seniors to the meeting and decided to sit in even if she wasn't member. She said she knew more about the training subject than the instructor, and she had been out of CAP for almost ten years.
Can you imagine what might be the results if National send out postcards to the last known addres of former members asking why they dropped out of the program and would they be interested in rejoining? Put that Vanguard money to good use

Honestly, I would guess not much would come of it, for one thing, "GOBN" is in the eye of the beholder, and is used as a blanket excuse for a lot of "I didn't get my way" issues.  How many
do we see here on a regular basis where the perception is far from the reality.  And if the same politics existed from the 40's to the 80's, that is more then likely because the organization
is manned and run by human beings, which is not likely to change.

Everyone wants to do only what they think is important, clock their promotions to the day they are eligible, get a new decoration for "showing up" every quarter, and only be involved in
training and activities they feel is important.  The members who can break out of that and understand what CAP is, and how / why it "works" are generally more interested in "team" and less
interested in "me", understanding that things tend to even out on the mean, and that most troublemakers and poor commanders burn themselves out and move on to ruining other organizations.

If CAP is viewed purely on the "enjoyable way to kill an evening" level, then the minute its gets sporty, people leave.  If it is viewed as a vocation, you ride out the bumps, eat the occasional
undeserved crow, and wait for your turn. 

I've met plenty of disgruntled members, current and former, but the most "interesting" discussions are the ones where I know all sides of the story, yet people continue the pretense that
they were guiltless in their situation. I have also met plenty of people who either benefited, or propagated the GOBN, and even the worst offenders got to where they were / are through
a whole lot of hard work and tenacity.  When you're on their team, they are "good people" or "misunderstood", when you are off their team, they are "too political" or "are clueless".

[Private Investigator]

Moral of the story is that while things might look bad now, everything moves in waves.  Highs come with lows, and you might just need to work through the lows to return to that upswing.

Everyone should pace themselves. The highs and lows is just how everything is. Sometimes your a hero, other times your a zero. (happens all the time in law enforcement)

[Storm Chaser]

I think part of the answer is in recognizing that CAP is not a "career." That distinction may seem a small matter, but it's an important one because it can affect your underlying attitude toward your CAP service. I think a lot of good, hard-working CAP members experience the doldrums because they think of CAP as if it were a career.

A lot of people literally spend as much or more time on CAP then they do in their professional lives, and for many their professional careers have be influenced significantly by CAP membership.

How else do you refer to something which has significant responsibility and authority, a role in saving lives and shaping futures, administrative and participation requirements on par with any
corporate or military role, can keep you away from home for days / weeks at a time, and can burn hundreds of hours a year without really even trying?

I spend many hours in CAP. In any given month, I have an average of 8 meetings. I also participate in an average of one weekend activity a month, including being away from home for at least 6-8 weekends and 1-2 weeks out of the year. And many more hours spent at home doing admin/staff work. However, I don't consider CAP a career, but a volunteer organization. While it may feel like work sometimes, I don't work for CAP, but provide a volunteer service. I am committed to CAP, but can still walk away at anytime if I want to.

I'm a full-time Software Test Engineer and a part-time Air Force Reservist. Those are my careers. I realize that there are people here that spend way more time doing CAP service than I do. Maybe they feel this is a career for them. I'm not going to argue how people feel about their service to CAP. But the fact remains that CAP is not a profession or trade. Most don't get paid for their service to CAP and still need to have other ways to provide for their financial needs.