July 5, 2025

Capt. Arnold O. Gobbel
Columbia Composite Squadron
South Carolina Wing

No obituary

Had a chance to discuss gliders with a member of region staff at a recent wing conference. He was very positive that the glider program would be back. The working group is considering all options for ensuring the glider program is safe and effective for all. Yes, new gliders are high on the list of considerations. The three that we most recently saw are all down for significant maintenance. Two were delivered for maintenance just days before the freeze.

Gliders are a great opportunity to get cadets more orientation flights and really teach the love of flying. A day of glider operations is also more visible to the community where they are flying than a Cessna. Many former cadets who are now active duty pilots credit CAP gliders with making them better pilots.

Quote from: CAPJOE on June 17, 2025, 02:10:57 AM

Quote from: Hippidy on June 16, 2025, 12:17:16 AMokay finally got our three new Navy Blue Tactical Caps set up!

Are those on Vanguard or aftermarket?

Aftermarket...specifically Amazon!

Your unit commander rejected your next rating in AE because why exactly?

There's no prohibition in them taking or participating in these classes and training events; however, they would not earn credit for their completion within CAP (i.e., they could take a FEMA class and keep that on their FEMA/NDEMU profile).

It's up to the Unit Commander and Activity Director, really.

A Cadet Sponsor Member might regularly support unit activities, to include instructing classes or assisting with skills-based training, such as color guard. Maybe they staff an Encampment. Personally, I would not deny their attendance in a Training Leaders of Cadets class; it would only make them better. I would ask, if they're doing all of these things and taking all of these classes, why they are not a "full Senior Member."

I've had several CSMs in the past within my squadron. One of them always said they he wanted to just help out, but eventually he decided to switch over to SM and started completing all of the training classes like TLC and the old SLS. Another CSM wanted to just help out; and despite being at nearly all of our activities, he just didn't want to hold rank and didn't want to take further training (he left when his two sons left after graduating high school). A third CSM just wanted to help out and chaperon and get some benefits of some of the activities we got to do (like Chinook rides); he would regularly participate in squadron activities but did not want any add-on responsibilities or training requirements.

Piggybacking off NIN here... as I have the burden of constantly having to explain this one during TLC Basic...

Your unit's QCUA metrics do not directly align with your unit's individually-established training plan, unit goals, and monitoring data.

Here's how it works (in a nutshell):

• It's July 15. You bring in new cadets.
• Your Cadet Great Start program intends to graduate them 8 weeks later, exactly 56 days from now, on September 9.
• This places your new cadets outside of the "achieved their first promotion within their 56 days of joining CAP" prior to September 1 (on which a new QCUA period starts), not because they didn't promote within 56 days, but because they didn't promote by the time the system looked at the data to see if they had promoted. It also messes with your % of cadets with GES, % of cadets with Wright Brothers, % of cadets with Encampment, and % of cadets with O-Flights.
• National has said they are not going to adjust the data capture. Units need to plan around their QCUA metrics.

It really is the epitome of it is what it is.

If your goal is metrics, then you need to plan your cadets may join CAP date around an approach that ensures your metrics will be met, weighing in all of your QCUA items to see how it best balances out.

If your goal is cadets/numbers, then go for whatever will provide the largest return to your recruiting process and retention plan.

If your goal is quality of training/experience, you should probably be targeting a cohort model that aligns with a regimented training structure and avoiding trickle-in additions to your roster.


Don't forget: removing individuals from the roster also has an impact on your QCUA metrics, for better or worse in some cases. Removing someone who hasn't had their encampment or their Wright Brothers will probably help you in those metrics; but removing someone who has their O-Flights will hurt you in those areas.

If you aren't looking at your data, and you aren't planning around data to some level, you're probably missing something somewhere. Don't let data metrics drive your entire program, but also don't be blind to what the data is telling you.

Last I knew, the free version of Adobe Acrobat allows you to place a signature file on a document.

Vanguard is is selling just a plain old dark blue ballcap.  I went to a local cap store, matched the color with a nametape, and sewed on name and rank.

Didn't have to pay FedEx shipping 

QuoteThis is the usual argument against the cohort approach, however I've seen the success of cohorts convert a lot of non-believers. At least for cadets, I don't know about senior member recruiting.

Channelizing new members into clearly defined recruiting windows isn't specifically "turning people away."  If your recruiting engine is properly tuned, you'll have a flyer for your next open house, you'll get their contact info, and you'll stay engaged with them until the next window.

As I have said before "When you make CAP 'easy come' it becomes very easy to make it 'easy go' as well."

My deputy commander for cadets, who was very against the cohort concept, said the same thing "What if they don't come back?"

My response "Then how interested in CAP were they in the first place?"  Some of the most "sticky" cadets I've seen over the years were those that did come back.

If you build your pipeline & advertising program correctly, the vast majority of prospective members will show up to your Open House and join "in the window."  After we started doing it for awhile, we'd join 12-16-18 cadets at a crack (22 once) and infrequently had someone show up in between cohorts.  And if we did, we gave them the nickel tour, got thier contact info, and stayed engaged with them until the next event.  Some joined, some did not.

The important thing to remember is that units doing cohort recruiting do this to benefit both the member and the unit.  The member gets properly inculcated into the "ways of CAP" with a dedicated training cycle with other members and the undivided attention of their training cadre and mentors,  while the unit gets the benefit of not having people slide thru the cracks and have to chase members individually who are on various "weeks" of training.

Quote from: Hippidy on June 16, 2025, 12:17:16 AMokay finally got our three new Navy Blue Tactical Caps set up!

Are those on Vanguard or aftermarket?