Civil Air Patrol, Should I Sign Up?

[rudder30]

Hey everybody,
I am an aspiring high school student with dreams of attending the United States Air Force Academy. I will be entering my junior year of high school this Thursday, and am looking forward to the school year. I am in my third high school, as my father is in the Military.

I am an "A" student who will be finishing up my Private Pilots License this upcoming October. I have plans to do quite a few extra Curriculars this year, but then again, became interested in the CAP. I live about 9 miles from a Squadron and have shown interest. My question is, with me turning 17 in October, and with 18 scooting off to college, is CAP worth it? I am aware of the requirements Cadets need to meet to fly for the CAP, and I would be more than happy to fly for them. The experience would be great, I just don't want it to affect my academics or high school plan In a negative way. Would joining the CAP be more of a burden considering my age? Would it be worth it? Would I be a rarity amongst the cadets, being placed in elements of younger ones?

I appreciate the help.

[lordmonar]

Well....you can't fly for us until you are 18.

As far as how benificial CAP would be for in prepping you for the USAFA....I think you may be starting a little late.

Question......do you have any JROTC time? 

Here is the rub.

As a new member you will be at the bottom of the heap.....being led by 12 year olds.
With out any JROTC time it will take you a minimum of 24 weeks to be SSgt Level...where you actually start getting some leadership experince. 

I highly encourage you to look into CAP....it can be a lot of fun....but I also caution you about what you can really get out of it as far as forwarding your goal of going to the USAFA.  At this point in the game you may want to just focus on your SATs and grades.

[rudder30]

See thats the thing for me. I am part of a Military Family and am going to be starting my third high school this upcoming year. Overseas, I couldn't join CAP, and I was unfamiliar with the CAP my sophomore year and didn't have the time.

I'm trying to make time for Civil Air Patrol. If I do stay in until I get to college, that will give me about 21 months in Civil Air Patrol. I was offered to take JROTC in High School, but decided not to. Im only going to contact my local squadron if I seem to be managing my time with school and extra-curriculars.

Thanks for being frank

[RobertAmphibian]

Even though you won't be in the program for too long, I would do it. 21 months is more than enough time to become a cadet officer (Mitchell Award.) While it may or may not help you a great deal on the USAFA application, the knowledge and leadership experience you can gain in that time could very well be worth your potentially short cadet career.

One great cadet officer I worked with recently has only been in the program 18 months. He joined the program and promoted every chance he had, as well as taking every leadership position he could. I know he's been to an NCSA, staffed an encampment, along with various staff positions in his squadron. He's currently heading off to a military prep program after a very full (given he's been in under two years) CAP cadet career.

Basically, what you'll get out of CAP will depend on what you put into it, especially with a short amount of time in the program. Good luck!

[a2capt]

On the other hand, the Mitchell Award does get you a jump in rank at day one, as you'll already be ahead of the others. 21 months is an aggressive schedule, but not impossible. The biggest challenge, your chain of command is likely to start with those younger than you, and at that encampment you'll need to do, that most certainly will be the case.

With that, it's only the better part of a week, just suck it up and deal with it. Excel in what you do, and you'll end up setting an example rather than be someone else who's face they can get into during their week of pretend drill sergeant fun.

We've had two cadets in very similar situations join for about the same reason, and age ... and are well on their way to Mitchell now, and having a blast.  As well as winning the NCC Color Guard Competition for 2011.

[bosshawk]

Tony: I believe that the Mitchell gets you ahead in rank, if you enlist.  In going to an academy, the whole CAP experience is good background, but you still are a basic Plebe or Dooley or whatever other academies call them.  I have been an Admissions Rep for West Point since 1975 and have seen all sorts of young people enter with and without CAP.  I am currently working with a guy who has his Mitchell and he still has to qualify in every respect to get into West Point.  There are three aspects to admission to a service academy: academics, extracirricular activities(leadership) and athletics, with academics being by far the most important.

[lordmonar]

Paul,

As an academy admission rep.....how does CAP stack up as an extracirricular activity when compared with the Boy Scouts or JROTC?

[ol'fido]

We had a cadet from our squadron attend USAFA. He was also a Spaatz cadet. In talking to him, he said that his CAP experience had a couple of big advantages for him. One, he went in to the academy without it being a completely foreign environment after attending several encampments. Second, he had a leg up as far as basic D&C and C&C. Lastly, and most importantly, he said that because of his CAP experience, he was able to deal with the stress and the mental games much more easily than some of his classmates who had never been in such a structured environment.

My best advice for someone entering CAP that late in high school is to do as much as you possibly can. If you can afford to go to multiple encampments, go. Work the program as hard as you can and go as far as you can.

Don't worry about the "well, you'll be taking orders from twelve year olds". That is probably some of the best mental "toughening" you'll get.

[DakRadz]

Based on simply how the points for your application stack up, here's what my USAFA app let me do (with other information from a Colonel on an Admissions Board whom I spoke with)
Each box you check adds more points to your application, but I believe for BSA and CAP the point count per check is the same. The difference is the number of awards you can get points for.

i.e.
[ ] Boy Scout
[ ] Eagle Scout

or

[ ] Civil Air Patrol Cadet Member
[ ] Mitchell Award
[ ] Earhart Award
[ ] Spaatz Award
[ ] Civil Air Patrol Senior Member
(removed Eaker, and see RobertAmphibian's post below for additional)


Mind that this is USAFA. I doubt West Point and Annapolis give the program so many options (Annapolis does not, now I think on it).

[MajorPayne]

I am currently a sophomore in high school and joined almost three weeks before school got out. when i joined i was having a similar problem. that is i didn't know if as a sophomore if i would have the time. its all about the work load a schedual you have. but if you have even the slightest amount of time to do it i would because it is such an amazing program. 21 months is a long time and if you promote every 2 months you could promote almost 8-10 time if i am not mistaken. this would make you a cadet chief master sergeant or even a lieutenant.

hope this helped

[RobertAmphibian]

Based on simply how the points for your application stack up, here's what my USAFA app let me do (with other information from a Colonel on an Admissions Board whom I spoke with)

Where are you getting this from? I'm looking at the USAFA Candidate Activities section right now, and it lists Member, Officer, Attended Summer Camp, Mitchell, Earhart, Spaatz, and IACE/Leadership Staff College as boxes to check.

[DakRadz]

Aaaaaand I was wrong.

Alright, well I would still say that is a whole lot more than the BSA options.

It's been a few months since I had access to the USAFA Application, so I was off.

(On Member, I consider that to be Cadet- if you're a Senior Member, you're an officer, right? Regardless, that definitely can be used for someone who is only a cadet)