I am unsure of when these are needed or if they are really needed at all. I have looked at the knowledge base and didn't see an answer. Some activities in our past we have them for but not for everything. Thanks for you help!!
For activities where credit can be applied towards advancement, it's nice to have something.
It's nice to give it as an official acknowledgement too.
It really depends on the activity.
Encampments, NCSAs, most "major" PD activities all post up in eservices.
Finds, mission sorties, DR-Vs, conferences, need substantiation and should have PA's.
So if it is going to get a ribbon or promotion or qualification it needs a letter correct then? O-rides?
Again, which one?
O-Rides? For cadets or as pilot?
Cadet o-rides are in eservices.
Quote from: Eclipse on December 29, 2013, 10:08:46 PM
Encampments, NCSAs, most "major" PD activities all post up in eservices.
For students almost all PD is tracked in eServices. When I was Wing PD I made sure to issue participation letters for instructors and directors as that is not tracked and is required for Level IV and V.
Back in the day, units used to publish travel orders for trips and activities outside of the regular meetings. These served as de facto participation letters. I still have copies of about a dozen of these. These went away in the early '80's to the best of my knowledge. I don't know if they were universal across the program or sort of a local practice. Somebody that likes to go back and read old regs or some of the guys on here that were in "in the day" would know.
As has been put out there, a lot of this stuff is now tracked in eServices. Some is also put out in PA's by individual wings.
I don't see anything wrong if a unit chooses to put out letters of participation. I think that if a unit chooses to publish participation lists for various activities outside of their regular unit meetings it would be an outstanding tool for their unit history program.
There are activities that aren't tracked anywhere in eServices, but still need to be documented. A quick look at the various SUI tabs will show several items that can very easily be documented with a PL.
Participation Letters are good for verification of member attendance at conferences or courses that could count for professional development purposes.
As a former Personnel Officer, Admin Officer, and Squadron Personnel Officer I found that Participation Letters (and Personnel Authorization) letters were pretty important documents when it comes promotion and professional development requests as well as unit inspections.
I wrote and requested participation letters for various events such as Wing conferences, cadet competitions, service activities, training exercises, and professional development activities such as SLS, TLC, CLC, etc.
Sure, an activity report or CAPF 11 will suffice, but how often are such documents are not required and even fewer are sent to the participants? Having the Activity Director send a copy of the PL to the CC, Admin Officer, or each individual member takes hardly any time and is a good addition to a member's file.
Such a letter is great when it comes to documenting a members "active participation" in our organization and serves as proof for professional development awards.
Having a letter indicating you attended two Wing conferences for Level III or stating you served as an instructor for an SLS or served on the organizational staff for a Wing Conference as required for Level IV makes such awards/promotions much easier to approve.
The same goes for having copies of Personnel Authorization letters indicating which members serve on the finance, promotion, and awards committees. These are very important for SUI and Self Assessment inspections.
It takes 15 minutes for the Admin/Personnel Officer to write up one of these letters; and they are priceless when it comes to the amount of grief or last minute scrambling come promotion or inspection time.
My first year running the FLWG PA Academy, I gave out participation letters. Just one letter with everyone listed on it for simplicity. I haven't done in subsequent years because we also print up a certificate of completion for each participant, so it's redundant.
The organizers of Wing Conference always put out a list of participants (or, rather a list of people that have registered and paid, I'm not sure it's cross referenced to the check in list.) I can see that being useful for documenting participation for PD awards. I also have a PA workshop as part of the conference and will issue letters stating a members participation upon request in person at the workshop if they need credit for the PA specialty track training requirement.