I have a question for any one who knows. Can a Cadet be an AEO before they reach the grade of Cadet Captain?
Quote from: jadyncarlston on September 13, 2015, 03:45:55 PM
I have a question for any one who knows. Can a Cadet be an AEO before they reach the grade of Cadet Captain?
Have you looked at CAPR 20-1 or asked your chain of command first?
C/Maj Kiss, CAP
Yes. You are not required to have any particular grade to be the AE cadet.
I would strongly recommend that you base the workload of an AE cadet based on their level of experience and not assign them full responsibility as an AEO if they have not made it that far in the program. Technically, Cadet Aerospace Education Officer is an "officer" position, so a C/TSgt would not be an AEO, but an AENCO, which really isn't an official CAP term; however, this is still common in many squadrons.
Our squadron's AE Cadet is a C/SrA who helps the SM AEO. He doesn't have the full duties of a Cadet AEO, based on the guide, but he can still hold the primary responsibility for aerospace activities on the cadet side as directed by the SM AEO. He is listed on our organizational chart on our website as "Aerospace Education Cadet." When he promotes to C/SSgt soon, we will change this to "Aerospace Education NCO."
You have to know the limitations of the cadets in your squadron and try to fill slots as they are needed, not as they are openly available. Not every position in the cadet program needs to be filled, but they can be tweaked to serve your squadron's capabilities. If someone isn't qualified or isn't ready to take on the full responsibilities of a position, give them a supplemental/assisting role instead of the complete job. This provides relief to others in higher up positions while giving the lower-level guys some responsibility to prove themselves in the program.
By the way, the Cadet AEO is recommended as any cadet officer, not just Cadet Captains.
Excellent points there from Skyhornet. Couple of thoughts to add:
The care and feeding of volunteers is an art and science. "Feeding" cadets a balanced diet is important to their development through the program, so if you have a cadet who has a strong taste for AE (or ES, or Color Guard, you name it) it is important to make sure that they understand that any collateral assignment as cadet AE guru (or cadet ES NCO/Officer) is their dessert, not their main course, and that they need to keep eating the balanced diet of the five core elements of the program (Leadership/AE/Fitness/Character/Activities). They need to know that if they start lagging in performance and progression, they will lose the "dessert" to motivate them to focus on the "main nutrition". I have seen a few cadets over the years who were a bit manic over only one element or the other, and who abandoned the whole-cadet approach with disastrous results in the long term. We are NOT a robotics club, nor a track team, nor a flying club exclusively.*
Also FYI, you can appoint them via Eservices, which will show up to their credit on their permanent record. Pick: Personnel/Duty Assignment/Assign Cadet Duties. Then, in "functional area" pick "Officer Support" or "NCO Support" as appropriate, and select the "cadet aerospace ed officer" position. When it comes time for them to apply for scholarships and selections, Wing, Region and National HQ/CP will be able to see that permanent record of additional duty (CAC service is another example) which would be to their credit.
V/R
Spam
Quote from: TheSkyHornet on September 14, 2015, 03:30:30 PM
Yes. You are not required to have any particular grade to be the AE cadet.
I would strongly recommend that you base the workload of an AE cadet based on their level of experience and not assign them full responsibility as an AEO if they have not made it that far in the program. Technically, Cadet Aerospace Education Officer is an "officer" position, so a C/TSgt would not be an AEO, but an AENCO, which really isn't an official CAP term; however, this is still common in many squadrons.
Our squadron's AE Cadet is a C/SrA who helps the SM AEO. He doesn't have the full duties of a Cadet AEO, based on the guide, but he can still hold the primary responsibility for aerospace activities on the cadet side as directed by the SM AEO. He is listed on our organizational chart on our website as "Aerospace Education Cadet." When he promotes to C/SSgt soon, we will change this to "Aerospace Education NCO."
You have to know the limitations of the cadets in your squadron and try to fill slots as they are needed, not as they are openly available. Not every position in the cadet program needs to be filled, but they can be tweaked to serve your squadron's capabilities. If someone isn't qualified or isn't ready to take on the full responsibilities of a position, give them a supplemental/assisting role instead of the complete job. This provides relief to others in higher up positions while giving the lower-level guys some responsibility to prove themselves in the program.
By the way, the Cadet AEO is recommended as any cadet officer, not just Cadet Captains.
+1