i've lost all faith in local CAP

[DWilkins]

Cadet,  I understand where you are coming from but I also understand and agree with much of the advice you have received.   First, quitting anf starting a new squadron is bad precident.  You will face this situation many times in your future whether in the military or in business.  More of life is spent working with less then perfect leaders then with perfect leaders.  Second, be paet of the solution.  Make the best of a bad situation and help your young cadets as much as YOU can.  Working with cadets is a very fine line for seniors and balancing leading with guiding.  It does not always work well.  If you feel compelled, seek respectful advice from your Wing CP or other squadrons.  They will know details and background of your situtation way better then anyone here.  Maybe your Cadet Advisory Council rep could seek some advice about how other squadrons work. 

Nobody here is trying to portray you as anything...just making a call based on a few words on a computer screen.  Remember, the adults are not getting paid to work with cadets, they are volunteers.  As such, give them a break.  They are not purposely trying to make you miserable. 

Don't cop out, look for some help from your area and try your best to improve the situation.  If you find that you can't deal with it, then it is your responsibility to excuse yourself from serving and quietly leave.  If the situation is really that bad, it will eventually correct itself as the cadet membership drops.  I'm not saying that is good, but it will eventually right itself. 

Remember, if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.  Hard to hear I know, but it is the hard truth. 

[Luis R. Ramos]

Lordmonar,

... have lost all faith in the squadron entirely, and it's beyond recovery. i'm seriously considering quitting, and no other squadron is nearby. What should i do?

It seems to me in the very last line he asks for help. He may have said he wanted to quit, but that is despair talking after he has tried everything he could think. Somerimes you say stuff that you do not really mean when you despair. You guys put him in the defensive.

Instead of the help he needed, you guys tarred and embarrased him. This may work in the military for recruits who are not performing up to par, but guess what? CAP is not under fire.

You call yourselves "leaders of young men?" Then you should have recognized the syndrome of despair, for Pete's sake!

Flyer333555

[Eclipse]

I think it is amusing that a couple people are saying we should have "offered advice", but don't say what that advice should have been.

[Extremepredjudice]

Maybe you should reread my post. ;p

Go up the chain, and a link to the complaints reg.


To the people that have been saying "that's life".

I agree, but he is still a teenager,(he can quit! He can give up on one thing, at his age, it can't hurt) it isn't a job,(so he isn't tied to the situation cause he make his living there) annnddd he can help change the leadership.

[caphornbuckle]

I think it is amusing that a couple people are saying we should have "offered advice", but don't say what that advice should have been.

If this is referred to me then my answer is probably because I had no useful advice for this cadet at that time.  But I'm also not telling them to suck it up and move on either.

It's a matter of guiding these kids in the right direction.  It shouldn't be like it was in the past.  Who cares how it was WIWAC.  Things change and we should take our experiences as senior members who were cadets and keep from making the same mistakes our senior members did.  Simply saying "My Senior Member treated me like crap when I was a cadet so I should be able to do it as well" is not the point we should be making.

My advice to the cadet now is to not use CAPTalk to ask for advice.

[DakRadz]

"My dad sayin' quit that team and, you'll be a quitter for the rest of your life"

Country music holds all answers.

He's gone, by the way. I think we can let this one die a natural death.

[Extremepredjudice]

"My dad sayin' quit that team and, you'll be a quitter for the rest of your life"

Country music holds all answers.

He's gone, by the way. I think we can let this one die a natural death.

I quit once. Does that mean I will forever quit everything? I think not.

The reason I quit said thing(not CAP at all): I felt that the leader was an idiot, and was a creep. Guess what I found out, he molested kids... So was I wrong to quit?

[Dracosbane]

I have one piece of advice that may or may not help the OP. 

Sometimes, there are things going on that cadets aren't privy to in the program.  There are members, both cadet and senior who have their own ideas on how things should be run.  Those ideas don't always mesh, and thus you can either compromise and work with each other to make things better, or wait and see if time and change happen naturally and things can be made better later.

Drill is required for promotion in the cadet program.  If your senior members are not allowing for drill, nor are they ensuring the drill tests are being administered especially under the new leadership books, they need to be informed of this error and shown why they should allow for drill and ceremonies and not just told they should be allowing time for D&C because you want to drill.  (I'm not saying this is your reasoning, it's an example.)

Be the best example of leadership and followership you can be for your fellow cadets and senior members alike.  Do what you can to provide your squadron with a good example and help your subordinates along the path.  Things will change and be different.