Is anyone else having trouble with renewing their IC1 rating?

[Big_Ed]

I have been an IC 1 since 2008.  I am very active in commanding, wing and group level, actual and practice SAR missions, often, multi-agency missions.  The activities I've directed have always been accident free and have received great press.

I have followed every directive, regulation, ICL, proclamation etc to obtain a renewal for Incident Commander One yet I'm told "it's a national thing, no ones are being renewed".

Has anyone else heard of this?

[SoCalMarine]

I haven't heard of anything like that. I believe you should talk to the people in charge on the national level who can give you an answer. You should talk to either Col Desmarais or Col Norris. If you need, I have their contact info.

[Big_Ed]

Thanks!

I was talking to my wing DOS a short while ago.  Apparently this is a NER thing.  My qualification runs out on the 30th of June.  I'm going to give it a couple more days to see if he can make some progress.

I appreciate the offer; I may very well take you up on it.

[SoCalMarine]

Huh that's odd. I don't know why a region would stand in the way of a national badge and the requirements set forth by national. Anyway, just let me know.

[Phil Hirons, Jr.]

There was an ES meeting at the last NER Conference that I believe all NER ICs were asked to attend. Ltc Ghiron, NER ES, outlined new qualification / re-qualification procedures for IC3, 2 and 1 including region approval.

[Big_Ed]

I was invited to attend but I couldn't get off from work to attend the conference.  I asked him in October for notes and a copy of the draft supplement but have yet to see anything in writing.

I preach "customer service" to my squadron commanders and staff constantly, with pretty good results.  Perhaps I need to refocus my attention?

Thanks, I'll post my progress here.

[Big_Ed]

update **

As of noon, Wednesday, still no progress on my renewal.

Still attempting to resolve the situation through communication but frustration level is starting to rise.

[Phil Hirons, Jr.]

Huh that's odd. I don't know why a region would stand in the way of a national badge and the requirements set forth by national. Anyway, just let me know.

Region is the approving authority for IC1.

(1) CAPFs 101 for level 1 ICs must be approved at the region level or higher, by the commander or the commander's designee. CAPFs 101 for all other IC levels must be approved at the wing level or higher, by the commander or the commander's designee. It is not necessary for formal review boards to be held to determine if a member should be qualified in any IC level, but commanders should exercise discretion and reasonable judgment in assigning these qualifications as they require great trust and levy great responsibility on the members being designated as ICs.

Paraphrasing from the NER Conference ES Meeting.

We changed from IC to IC 3 to 1 with out defining 2 and 1. Following the SQTRs an IC3 need only to log 2 missions as an IC2 trainee then rinse, lather and repeat for IC1.

Personally I think the Wing CC should be able to approve at least IC3s.  As I understand it a 3 should be able to run your basic ELT mission, a 2 a state / county level search / DR mission and the 1's are for things like Katrina or the Gulf oil spill.

I'm an IC2 and currently have no interest in IC1.

[Big_Ed]

I think what bothers me the most is the lack of communication.  Between my group commander, wing DOS, wing commander, no one can lock down anyone to state whether or not if approved.  No returned phone calls or e-mails - nothing.

"Because I said so" is just poor leadership and customer service.

I have IC'd a couple of higher profile events.  It just find it frustrating that I'm to encourage my fellow members to seek training and qualifications yet my efforts are ignored.

Perhaps something in writing (another ICL  ) or supplement to 60-3?

There - I'm done now, for a while. 

[Tubacap]

Hey now,  I return all forms of communication   There currently is a supplement pending at the Region level, and am still working through the other levels of communication for renewal.

[Big_Ed]

Sorry about the sentence structure.

I meant that my group cc, wing cc and wing DOS have not had their communications returned with any concrete results.

My bad, please accept my apology.

Ed

[a2capt]

So, right after it expires, you'll see a plea from higher HQ saying something along the lines of not enough people are pursuing these ratings ... ;-)

Kinda like responding to a mission and never getting a reply, only to see the resources people putting out yet another page asking for more of exactly what you responded to.

[Patterson]

Wow Col Ed,

A certain disservice to your many years of running missions that far exceed the understanding of those that should push the approve button on your request.

So, all IC's were ordered to Region.  Did they offer reimbursement of travel costs?  Seems like you may be getting punished for having to work that day so your family could eat and live in a house.

Remember when those in leadership positions were the CAP Officers that worked themselves from Lt to Colonel over the course of decades, were masters of all three CAP Missions and truly were professionals. How many CAP Corporate Officers have been in less than 5 years?

[davidsinn]

Remember when those in leadership positions were the CAP Officers that worked themselves from Lt to Colonel over the course of decades, were masters of all three CAP Missions and truly were professionals. How many CAP Corporate Officers have been in less than 5 years?

I can proudly say my wing commander is not one of those. He was a cadet, is a member of the Spaatz club and gets "it".

[FW]

Huh that's odd. I don't know why a region would stand in the way of a national badge and the requirements set forth by national. Anyway, just let me know.

Region is the approving authority for IC1.

(1) CAPFs 101 for level 1 ICs must be approved at the region level or higher, by the commander or the commander's designer. CAPFs 101 for all other IC levels must be approved at the wing level or higher, by the commander or the commander's designer. It is not necessary for formal review boards to be held to determine if a member should be qualified in any IC level, but commanders should exercise discretion and reasonable judgment in assigning these qualifications as they require great trust and levy great responsibility on the members being designated as ICs.

Paraphrasing from the NER Conference ES Meeting.

We changed from IC to IC 3 to 1 with out defining 2 and 1. Following the SQTRs an IC3 need only to log 2 missions as an IC2 trainee then rinse, lather and repeat for IC1.

Personally I think the Wing CC should be able to approve at least IC3s.  As I understand it a 3 should be able to run your basic ELT mission, a 2 a state / county level search / DR mission and the 1's are for things like Katrina or the Gulf oil spill.

I'm an IC2 and currently have no interest in IC1.

Without knowing the details, I do have some questions.

Did NHQ approve a region supplement to 60-3?  Was the supplement published?  Are there defined requirements added to the SQTR's?  Is there a published procedure for review before approvals are given which are in the spirit of the reg?

Also, why are qualifications ready to expire?  Has it taken that long for an approval to be considered?  If so, this says much about how we're doing things in CAP.   I'm all for having the most qualified members becoming Level 1 IC's but, IMO, we need to be a bit practical.  We also need to be more considerate to the applicant.  Members work hard for these ratings and deserve quick responses to applications.

[Persona non grata]

This kind of stuff is irritating to me. Work to obtain a rating and have to fight to keep it.  I have come across an IC who did not  know the difference between m AC call sign and GPS coordinates while conducting a ELT search. Basically some goof signs off on them as a IC3(NO JOKE) We must keep in mind that volunteers pour countless hours of their time into this organization and they only form of pay they want is to actively particle in our missions.   When it comes to peoples qualifications and interest in the mission we must maintain effective communication at both ends of the chain of command.  CAP as a whole has a lot to learn about maneging and leading a volunteer force.  I know the frustration first hand, I am in the North East. We will always have ups and downs but unfortunately we loose too many good people in ours downs.

[cap235629]

I have a different problem.  While I was working on IC3 my trainee status time expired before I was able to complete my last mission.  Now we can't place me back into trainee status....

[Big_Ed]

Did NHQ approve a region supplement to 60-3?  Not to my or my leadership's knowledge Was the supplement published?  Not to my or my leadership's knowledge Are there defined requirements added to the SQTR's? no Is there a published procedure for review before approvals are given which are in the spirit of the reg? no

Also, why are qualifications ready to expire? I have been seeking a renewal for a month   Has it taken that long for an approval to be considered?  All other mission ratings are approved at the wing level.  The only rating region is involved in is the IC1.
[/quote]

Well, it's over.  My wife and I were reduced to IC2s without as much as a returned phone call or e-mail.  Then again I'm hundreds of miles from NER HQ "out of sight - out of mind".  After 33 years of service, following the "rules", I expected a little better customer service from the leadership at the "highest" echelons of command.

I attended a squadron meeting last night and was urging their ground team leaders to seek training opportunities to eventually become ground branch directors.   This morning, I'm wondering why I even bothered.  Oh yea, I remember; "The mission comes first" or something like that.

Semper Vigilans

Thanks for the concern.

[Tubacap]

Ed,
I agree wholeheartedly with you on all accounts.  In regards to your IC1 expiring.  My bluetooth is on currently .  The one thing I can say is that your IC1 technically didn't expire today, just the training status took over for some reason in the system.  If you look in your qualifications, you are still an IC1.  I'm not entirely certain why the 101 doesn't reflect that. 

Col. Weiss,
I agree as well.  Ed had definitely followed the procedures established within PAWG and his approvals I believe were taken care of promptly.  The only pending one is at the region level, and this has been a consistent issue as there is no written guidance from NER regarding this procedure.  This comes out of the recent rewrite of 60-3 to approve IC1s at the Region and not Wing level.

Will
DOS - PAWG

[Tubacap]

Done