Well, within the next 10 months I will be travelling to England for a week. Earlier tonight while trolling youtube for CAP related videos I discovered several videos of the ATC ( British CAP ). The thougth that immediately came to my mind was, " now THAT would be interesting to visit a Squadron there...".
Notedly I got this crazy idea just a few minutes ago, and was wondering if you had any input on wether or not this would work out. I know there is IACE for this type of thing, but I couldn't help but wonder about ATC. I am a 15 year old C/MSgt ( soon to be C/SMSgt ). Would I be restricted by my age and or rank? Is it even allowable in the regs for me to attend an ATC meeting?
What might complicate matters more is that after the week in England I will be traveling to Moscow, sleeping literally a mile from the Kremlin. If I even were allowed to attend an ATC meeting in England I would most likely have to attend out of uniform.
My reasoning behind this is a little scenario in my mind where a Russian official is searching my bag and finds US military style uniform. I get halted right before leaving the airport by two guy's with AK's and get more or less interrogated by them as to why I have it with me. ( It is also my assumption that the Russians, as well as us Americans still have weary feelings towards eachother. )
Does anyone have information on if i'm actually allowed to do this? Also even If I am, should I not attend because of the uniform issue? ( Please keep in mind that this is just a crazy idea I got not even half an hour ago.)
You could certainly see about visiting as an individual. Remember that you may not wear the CAP uniform out of the country without permission from NHQ.
And my fellow Russians would doubtfully think that a 15 year old spy brought a dress uniform with him...
I will definately talk to my squadron about this next meeting, but to get permission from NHQ I assume I would have to first get permission from squadron, then wing ( my state has no groups ) etc...?
I have some connections in the ATC. Depending on where you'll be, I may be able to get you a hook up. PM me, let me know.
I'd suggest leaving the uniform in the US, however, based on your itinerary and the current rules regarding uniform wear outside the US by Civil Air Patrol members.
There is a Status of Forces agreement which comes into play about when and where US uniforms can be worn in foreign countries. Since CAP is not covered by the SOFA, leave the uniform home. Contact the ATC well before you leave to get pertinent information, when do they meet, what they do, do they want visitors, If they're on a RAF base do you need special permissions to enter, etc.
Considering that even IACE doesn't wear the CAP uniform...leave that idea behind.
Moved to what would seem to be a slightly more appropriate section.
What they said about going through your chain-of-command. Should be able to find nearest unit here: http://www.raf.mod.uk/aircadets/
I wouldn't even bother trying to pursue the uniform issue. Contact the unit ahead of time and see what appropriate civilian wear you should have. Have fun on your trip. I'm hoping to get stationed in Mildenhall once I get through basic training and my tech school, so I was actually just checking out the ATC and the possibility of visiting them. That id of course on the condition the Air Force stations me their, and I have no idea yet of what the likelihood of that is. I just no I have a chance of getting stationed their. Personally I'm surprised their is no oversees squadron there.
Well, I've found a squadron where I will be at: ATC Sq. 2124, Bristol Airport. I've looked at the ATC website and found the adress but found no information regarding a meeting time, phone number or contact. Aditionally it noted that no " post " could be sent to the address. I found a squadron webpage on, what I take to be a Birtish Facebook called Bebo. But its last activity was 98 weeks ago and also held no pertinent information. Finally I found a phone number on a remote knowledgebase. However it had no time of meeting or contact name. The page again noted, that no one may answer the phone unless it rang during "parade hours". I assume this would be what they call their meeting time. Does anyone know of a website with ALL of the pertinent information together on one page? Because I've spent upwards of an hour searching for one and have only managed to pile together an address and a phone number with no meeting time or contact. Any help would be much appreciated! And thanks for all of the advice to those who have already assisted me! :clap:
http://www.aircadetcentral.net/forums/
Thank you Sir.
Have fun on your trip!
You may also wish to check out Skywatch Civil Air Patrol, if they have a meeting in your area. They don't have a cadet program, and their missions aren't the same as ours, but they do aerial searches.
http://www.skywatchcivilairpatrol.org.uk/
http://www.skywatchcivilairpatrol.org.uk/units.html
Sounds like good advice on leaving the uniform behind, BUT, if you intend on visiting some of those foreign units, you will want to have some trading material like squadron, wing, and CAP patches/decals so you can come home with some cool stuff.
Enjoy your trip!! :clap:
Cheers,
As a former member of the Air Training Corps and a squadron commander of 198 Hinckley Squadron I can say this. Cadets and adult staff would be more than happy to have a member of the Civil Air Patrol visit.