Hi all,
About me: Army LTC (hence the user name); Signal Officer (25A); private pilot with ~600 hours multi, single, IFR; commercial glider; British and German glider licenses with aerobatic ratings; Basic and Instrument ground instructor tickets from FAA. Stationed in Germany.
Essentially, I have no experience as a member in any capacity of any previous CAP unit (That's not exactly accurate, but for sake of simplicity it works). I have recently assumed responsibility for the Cadet Flight located where I am stationed.
*I did not bring the books with me that come with the binder you receive with new membership. What are they, and where are they to be found as PDF's?
*If you could contribute to a list of the "top ten things I need to know/figure out first," what would you suggest?
*I have done a bit of recent recruiting and will have a very inexperienced/junior group of both Cadets and Senior members. What advice do you have for the first several weeks of training?
It looks like minimum time in grade for the first promotion(s) is eight weeks. I'd like to develop a training plan with a couple of eight-week cycles to help my cadets make progress in a timely fashion.
I obviously have not arrived where I am in my Army career without being able to find appropriate manuals, but we learn that stuff in school(s) and the real world over the course of years. Now, I have a big hill to climb and am looking for real-world, rubber-meets-the-road advice on which part(s) of the elephant to eat a bit at a time. (No more clichés, promise.)
Thanks in advance for your thoughtful advice and input.
Terry
http://members.gocivilairpatrol.com/cadet_programs/ (http://members.gocivilairpatrol.com/cadet_programs/)
Here is the cadet programs site.
Here (look for the link on the left side there) you will find the cadet programs library which will have most of the texts,
as well as a program called 'cadet great start' which you should really take a look at.
The aerospace texts I think are downloadable from inside e-services.
Also further down the left side of that page, "Forms Publications and Regulations" link will show you CAP's regs, which you may need to reference as you go.
Sounds like you may be overseas? There might be some special considerations related to that... I'll let others who know more answer those.
Top Ten:
1. Squadron (flight) meetings need to be fully scheduled without a ton of down time. Boring meetings make bored cadets. Bored cadets quit. Hands on, interactive activities. 20 minute or so attention span on any single activity (for the most part).
2. Cadets sit in lectures and do homework all day at school. Guess what they dont want to do at CAP in their "free time".
3. Do some drill and uniform inspections. But don't do them for 2 hours. 20-30 minutes per week is probably ok for about a maximum. Use AFMAN 36-2203 for drill, not the Army FM or Navy stuff.
4. USE cadets in the leadership/staff structure, particularly use phase 2 cadets in the NCO role, and phase 3 cadets in the CGO role. /EXPECT/ them to carry the burdens of those roles, and release them to do so, with supervision. CAP is a leadership lab, they should be trying to lead. Not a lecture lab where they just watch.
5. Do service activities (other than squadron meetings) once a month or so, if you can. That is a lot of work though, so do as much as feasible.
6. Keep up with all the administrative hooplah. Share the load, recruit some other adults to help you. Approximately 1 senior member for every 6 cadets is probably about right.
7. Discipline and focus on customs are fine, but remember it's not basic training. It should still be relaxed enough that it's fun, and learning can take place. Check out the excellent CP implementation guide in the above referenced library section! This is where senior supervision comes in... use your senior cadets to set the temperature of the unit, but you have to watch them or they may get a little crazy with it.
look i'm fresh out of time, but there's a good start on a top 10.
you do those and you'll be off in the right direction!
I am prior army, I am slalom a prior cadet... The best way I hand found is to keep your military bearing, and make it a military structure without the unnecessary yelling that some NCOs tend to take too far. Cadets do enjoy for the most part a military structure or they wouldn't join. Also remember that the majority of what we have learned in the Army is wrong in USAF.
What I have learned about working with cadets is to try not to treat them as cadets treat them like adults. They tend to work better than that.
When it comes to cadet and composite squadrons, it all starts with the cadets, the bulk of your membership will likely be cadet, and they won't feel as welcome or as important if their senior membership is not fully intent on seeing them grow.
Now I have never had any experience with over seas squadrons, so I won't weigh in on regulations or anything of the sketch, I don't want to steer you wrong there. Good luck, and drive hard... Also don't forget about Es training, even if your not able to perform it overseas, the training is always good, and cadets tend to love it.
Things to tackle first (from my experience taking over a cadet program):
1. Compliance. Make sure the unit you're assuming is in compliance with regulations and programatic directives. Are the finances documented? Are all the requisite personnel positions and committees both filled and properly documented (Finance committee, membership committee, safety officer, testing officer, etc.)? If you flip through the SUI guide, are you in compliance with all of those things? Is all of your real property on record accounted for? How about cadet and personnel records? Are cadets promotions properly recorded to date? Are testing materials properly secured? Etc. This may take time to assess and then square away errant issues, but it is of the utmost priority. Nothing will shut a unit down faster than this stuff. Attendance, recruiting, funding, activities, etc. is all secondary to compliance.
2. Assess Your Command & Employ it in accordance with its capabilities. Find out who knows what & which cadets and senior members have what experience by talking to them. Also find out what they want to be doing. Match their capabilities and desires with your new command's needs; in other words, re-arrange the staff positions as you evaluate these needs vs. wants & skills. Delegate as much as possible. I learned that lesson the hard way. One tip that can help with delegating: Make every senior member an Assistant Test Control Officer (TCO) on record. That way, any SM who is free can help proctor/organize/inventory/grade tests when need-be.
3. Tackle the Cadet Program training schedule. Sit down with your cadet staff when you do this, to make sure that you're not planning what you think is a high-speed, super-kewl rocketry weekend when none of the cadets have any interest in rocketry. The Training Leaders of Cadets (TLC) materials and CAPR 52-16 have good sample schedules to start from. I began by plugging in the mandatory monthly components (physical fitness, testing opportunity, safety briefing, character dev. discussion) and then adding from there with the time that was left. Try to keep it dynamic, but within the abilities of your instructors. Make sure senior cadets are getting plenty of opportunities to instruct. Make sure somebody is evaluating their instruction to help them become better at it.
4. Recruiting. Part of the old adage of "build it and they will come" is that if you have a high-speed program, you will naturally attract new members. But running an open house and manually pumping some new blood into the unit certainly helps too. I found the best resource for this is the Cadet Great Start and pipeline recruiting method. Cadet Great Start has online and printed/bound materials available for free from CAP NHQ. Basic premise: pick a firm date for an open house; stop accepting new joins until that date > promote the heck out of the open house with advertising, word-of-mouth, flyers, incentives for cadets to bring friends, etc. > hold open house, distribute join packets, and inform everyone if they want to join, they can do so next week only > take your round of new cadets and start a training program to get them to C/Amn, run by C/NCO's and one C/Officer, which they can now do together > rinse & repeat the cycle as many times as necessary/able annually.
5. Funding. Assess your needs and wants. What things does the squadron lack? What things would it be really nice to have? How much would those things cost? What should be your budget for next year? Will what you have in the bank now cover that? Once you determine both your baseline budget as well as a list of "nice-to-haves", you can determine your fundraising goals and approaches. Maybe if all you need is office supplies and a new printer, you can talk to local office supply chains for in-kind donations. If you need cash, figure out where you can fit a fundraiser into your existing annual schedule and go from there. Look for opportunities to reduce existing expenses (like through in-kind donations or grants).
Good luck! CAPTalk will hopefully be a good resource for you to ask questions, get ideas, and use as a sounding-board.
Quote from: LTCTerry on August 27, 2012, 08:04:52 AM
It looks like minimum time in grade for the first promotion(s) is eight weeks. I'd like to develop a training plan with a couple of eight-week cycles to help my cadets make progress in a timely fashion.
Great Start should pretty much have you covered here. I'd caution you against building a program based on cadets promoting every 60 days though... beyond achievement 1.
The first promotion for cadets can be less than the 56 days mandated for all other achievements, as long as they meet all the requirements.
SM books can be downloaded from the CAP University site.
If you are taking over an existing unit, do a Self Inspection to find problems.
Make sure that all items on your unit inventory is in your inventory and that the numbers match.
ALCON,
Thanks for the detailed, thoughtful, and useful input. It will make a difference.
The Great Start looks like, uh..., a great start! :)
None of my participating Cadets have any experience at all beyond attending meetings last year. No records exist of the one test they took. No advancements of any kind have taken place.
I have recruited three additional Seniors and five Cadets. We'll work our way through the Great Start program over the next several weeks. Once we've made some progress, I'd like to try a bit of a recruiting program and do another Great Start in early spring. That would give me two waves of Cadets six months apart. Some of the first wave will have made progress beyond they initial training, too.
What are your thoughts regarding online vs. paper testing?
v/r
Terry
Quote from: LTCTerry on September 06, 2012, 07:35:53 AM
I have recruited three additional Seniors and five Cadets. We'll work our way through the Great Start program over the next several weeks. Once we've made some progress, I'd like to try a bit of a recruiting program and do another Great Start in early spring. That would give me two waves of Cadets six months apart. Some of the first wave will have made progress beyond they initial training, too.
It sounds like you've got a pretty... great start on it, especially with getting three more seniors.
Quote
What are your thoughts regarding online vs. paper testing?
All cadet testing is supposed to be online. Paper is only supposed to be used if a cadet cannot access the online testing for some reason or another.
Quote
Quote
What are your thoughts regarding online vs. paper testing?
All cadet testing is supposed to be online. Paper is only supposed to be used if a cadet cannot access the online testing for some reason or another.
...except for the milestone award tests (wright brothers, mitchell, earhart) which are paper only.
all the other tests should be online (although there is a paper option I would discourage it, unless there is a REALLY good reason/exception).
Thanks to all for the input. The Cadet Great Start program worked nicely. I will be promoting five Cadets this week. We'll actually do a ceremony a week from tomorrow so I have time to arrange some press coverage. I hope that will produce another wave of new Cadets. I will be handing out three two-year Red Ribbons, so you can imagine how glad I am to have gotten a handle on what's going on. In general I'm not a fan of a new rank every eight weeks, but some of my Cadets are easily mature enough to hit the next rank right at eight weeks after waiting patiently for the first promotion.
I'm really excited with what we've learned so far. I now have access to the Cadet Promotion Application, so that's speeding things along.
I've gone from being the one of one Senior Member to being one of five.
Lots of useful info here at CAPTalk.
Terry
QuoteI've gone from being the one of one Senior Member to being one of five.
win.