I have been selected to serve as a TAC officer at the Texas Wing winter encampment. Any advise from anyone who has been a TAC officer? This is my first time as a TACO but not my first CAP encampment.
Thanks
JROB
1. You are not in the chain of command.
2. Failure / struggling is part of the experience for new leaders, let it happen.
3. Make sure you fully understand the expectations of the encampment commander and other commanders in the TAC chain.
4. Make sure you understand and heed the RST.
5. See #1
The best advice I can give you is to remember that you are not there to take control of the flight.
By all means, call out any safety issues you see, but remember to let the Flight sgt. and Flight commander do their job, that's the only way they'll get the experience.
Otherwise, just keep an eye out and a level head, and the job is easy.
Oh and make sure that if there is an issue, you follow the chain and report it to the Chief tac, instead of the encampment commander or XO... We had an issue with that a few years ago.
Otherwise just have a blast, TACO is probably the closest you can get to experiencing encampment as a cadet, as a Senior Member.
contact the other TAC's and the Chief TAC for *YOUR* encampment.
The role, responsibilities, and boundaries for TAC change from one encampment to another...
Really good advice from someone in another wing might be really bad advice for your encampment, in your wing...
Check out your encampment's training manual, if you can get your hands on it,
it will have a job description for you (TAC)
as well as for the cadet staff members you will work closest with (flight commander and flight sergeant)
that will help you understand the split in roles and responsibilities at the flight level
Keep your people safe, and Have Fun!!!
The opportunity cost for a senior member at encampment is way too high to not enjoy every minute of the week.
See also the previous thread on this very topic: http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=2140.0
And the TAC officer's Closet: http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=252.0;all
But remember, it's not YOUR flight. It's the flight to which you have been assigned.