I come seeking the help of those before me.
I am currently Deputy Commander for Seniors of a fairly new squadron. Last month our Deputy Commander for Cadets was out for a month because of work committments.
At which point I spent the month handling the cadets as I am one of only two seniors in our squadron that has been in and active for more then 3 months.
I was just reassigned to Deputy Commander for Seniors as our new seniors are saying they will leave if they don't receive training.
Today our Squadron Commander advised me that our Deputy Commander for Cadets is being transfered for 5 months to Colorado for his job.
I am going to have to step back over and handle the cadet side with no one to cover the senior side.
By the way. The other senior that is more then qualified to handle senior programs can't get off work before 6:30 so is always 45 minutes late to meetings
Any suggestions how I can provide training for both cadets and seniors without short changing either.
Tell the squadron commander that he is going to have to directly take over one or the other of these programs and that he needs to decide where to put you (assuming that no one else is available for either job).
While my squadron was pretty strong on the senior side, when I was squadron commander I never had a deputy for seniors that was really willing to run that side of the house (plenty of people willing to do the other real jobs on the senior side though), so I had to do it myself. Thankfully, I had a great DCC so it wasn't that big a deal.
With a new unit, you have to make some allowances for not having enough qualified people to staff every position CAP would like to see staffed.
Well, if your cadet side is well staffed with Phase III or IV cadets, you should have no problem giving them the space they need to run the cadet program with minimal supervision.
As for running a senior program at the same time, it's doable, but you have to know what your objectives are. Who are your senior members? Are they all primarily engaged with CP? Are they all pilots? Is your squadron very ES-focused? If they're coming to regular meetings expecting training, you'll want to establish a quarterly training schedule for the seniors, just like the cadet staff and senior CP leaders prepare for the cadet program. Spend a week making calls to people at your squadron or Group HQ or wherever to rope in instructors/teachers for various classes. If you have a lot of different types of seniors, schedule a break-out session where aircrew can get together, squadron commander and his or her staff can meet, etc.
Without a schedule, running a senior program is hard and you'll likely lose a lot of interest fast. Nothing bored me more than attending a squadron where the monthly meeting (yes, monthly for senior members) was a 20-people sit in a big circle, and we just go around the room and see who has something to ramble on about. The finance officer announces how much money we have, the comm guy mumbles about what radio problem they're having this week, the IT guy says some new thing on the website is working, the commander announces some dates for wing training and then we all eat donuts (no joke) and go home until next month. That's unacceptable. So have a quarterly schedule, what training will be accomplished at each senior meeting, and rope in various people to teach. It won't be as much work to supervised and implement as cadet training, since you hopefully won't have to guide and supervise adults as much. Hopefully. ;)
Good luck.
I have a monthly training schedule for both cadets and senior members we meet weekly at the same time as the cadet side.
All my cadets are Phase 1 cadets I have 12 C/AB, 10 C/Amn and 1 C/A1C.
As for my seniors I have 1 Nurse, a CFI, an ASL Interpreter, a Glider Pilot (other Senior with experiance), a retired cop and a member I have no clue what they do.
The Squadron Commander wants the Senior side to be ES heavy, and wants to get a fully qualified GT from the Senior side before training the cadets.
Quotewants to get a fully qualified GT from the Senior side before training the cadets.
Good luck with that.
Whatever you do, don't ignore the cadets. Go to your group or wing and ask for assistance. They can help and usualy are more than glad to. They casn probably send a trained ES person out to do your training. Good luck. If I can help, let me know.
It sounds like you don't have the resources for a full-blown senior program. You have 23 brand new cadets, who are going to need a lot of hand-holding. You need to set priorities for the squadron, which will probably include putting your senior GT on hold until the cadets are squared away.
As for the seniors threatening to quit, let them go. As the saying goes, if they're not part of the solution, they're part of the problem.
I'm having a similar issue with the seniors of my squadron. I'm not worried about the cadet side because I have a good Deputy Commander in charge of the cadets. But ever since I took over as commander, some of the seniors have been a problem. Especially the pilots. Under the previous commander, it was turning into a flying club, the cadet were basically pushed to the side, but they endured.
With the exception of the 2 seniors besides myself that work with the cadets, most of the seniors are the do-nothing types. They don't come to meetings. They don't want to do any training. They all let their Form 5's expire, but they keep complaining about not having a plane. I've told them the reason we don't have a plane anymore is because they wouldn't fly it. The plane was taken by wing during the previous commander's administation. Now he's causing all kinds of trouble.
Quote from: FLCAP 268 on January 13, 2010, 02:01:27 AM
By the way. The other senior that is more then qualified to handle senior programs can't get off work before 6:30 so is always 45 minutes late to meetings
Maybe you could have combined ES training during the beginning of the meeting until the other senior can arrive to work with the seniors. The seniors are "adults" and should be able to work together following a lesson plan using ES training guides and Powerpoints.
In my opinion, its the cadets who need your help more than the adults. As they advance, they can be mentored to assume more responsibility for parts of their training. For example, assign each an aircraft to research and report on it to the other cadets. It can reveal leadership potential. Let several of them choose and conduct a different hands on activity from the AEX books. etc
Another source could be to ask cadet officers from another squadron to help (although that may not be an option for you).
What I'm saying is that if you must choose then the cadets are my priority.
Justin Are you talking about PD training (Level 1, CPPT, OPSEC, and EO) or training in the duty performance areas?
Quote from: FLCAP 268 on January 13, 2010, 02:22:37 AM
As for my seniors I have 1 Nurse, a CFI, an ASL Interpreter, a Glider Pilot (other Senior with experiance), a retired cop and a member I have no clue what they do.
The Squadron Commander wants the Senior side to be ES heavy, and wants to get a fully qualified GT from the Senior side before training the cadets.
You'd be better off getting a UDF team together first. I presume that they don't have (m)any quals at this time; UDF would not only be easiest to achieve in short order, but is much more likely to be called out in FL than a full GT. It is also much less expensive for the required equipment for each member.
Once you have all that under your belts and are hungry for more, then a full GT makes more sense, and your members will have had much more time to accumulate the additional equipment.
You can train your Cadets in UDF at the same time as you train your SMs as well - I don't get your Sq/CC's insistence on having a fully qualified GT of SMs before training the Cadets.
If you need any help from the Wing level, hit me up.
I'm thinking an issue with cadets may be one of a few things, but the main ones could be age (new cadets, 12-14 years old), and simply a SM-centric commander.
OK so email from the SQ/CC today.
I will remain as Deputy Commander for Seniors. He is assigning the SM who is always 45 minutes late to the Cadets. I will continue to train the seniors in ES and only assist with the cadets as needed.
He will be rotating SM's to the cadet side. If the seniors want the Training for ES they will have to agree to serve at least one meeting a month on the cadet side.
Quote from: USAFaux2004 on January 13, 2010, 05:25:50 PM
I'm thinking an issue with cadets may be one of a few things, but the main ones could be age (new cadets, 12-14 years old), and simply a SM-centric commander.
I have cadets all new ranging in age from 12 - 18
I don't care what anyone does, if you don't have an basic foundation of training for new cadets, you will fail.
Read: T-Flight.
Quote from: Stonewall on January 13, 2010, 06:35:59 PM
I don't care what anyone does, if you don't have an basic foundation of training for new cadets, you will fail.
Read: T-Flight.
Agreed.
QuoteOK so email from the SQ/CC today.
I will remain as Deputy Commander for Seniors. He is assigning the SM who is always 45 minutes late to the Cadets. I will continue to train the seniors in ES and only assist with the cadets as needed.
He will be rotating SM's to the cadet side. If the seniors want the Training for ES they will have to agree to serve at least one meeting a month on the cadet side.
What a lousy situation. Totally not your fault and your part of the solution I know, but I feel sorry for your cadets.
Must be fun knowing that your important enough to be assigned the officer who is habitually late and his assistant's who have to be forced to work with you.
Why are you guys a composite squadron anyway?
Agreed. Here's how I would have done it:
"Full time" dep CC for SMs takes over cadets; Sq CC takes over SMs. Spend all your extra time looking for a cadet guy
(or)
Beg group for help.
The cadets need a full time leader. Anything else and it'll fall apart quicker than an Alka-2. There will be no cadet program within a month and no cadets within three.
Along the lines of a couple of good Phase III and IV cadets, if you don't have any in-squadron is it possible that you could sway one to transfer in from another squadron to be your C/CC?
I'm thinking starting as a Cadet Squadron would be best for this unit. A great number of new cadets need guidance from Senior Cadets or Seniors who have been cadets.
Even if you have a cadet squadron, the senior members still need to be trained.
I had a similar situation once while serving as a D/C of Cadets. What worked in that squadron was having the senior members join the cadets for for the first hour of the meeting.
In that situation, the cadets actually asked for it and the senior members took full advantage because it exposed them to the cadet program, promoted it, and provided some training that senior members wouldn't normally get.
It anchored the squadron, got people working together and even got both sides working on Aerospace Education. The other best part was that it promoted cadets and actually generated a ground team and other ES training.
Also, if the guy that's late still wants the deputy commander for senior slot, then assign him an assistant to provide leadership and mentoring to the other senior members until he gets there.
Hey All,
Thanks very much for the feedback.
the Cadet Training Schedule saved my 4th POC last night. Character Development for cadets and GES for Seniors.
By the time Character Dev. was over the new DCC (SM thats always 45 mins late do to work) was there, and I was able to continue on with teaching the seniors for the full 2 hour meeting.
Talking with the SQ/CC the other Senior is being assigned DCC and I will remain as DCS. We have talked to the other seniors and they are willing to help out on the cadet side weekly until the DCC can get there.