Air Force Base Augmentation Program

[RiverAux]

Chaplains are already augmenting on a regular basis, but that is the only OFFICIAL program.   By OFFICIAL, I mean an actual program that someone has thought through on both the CAP and AF side of the house.  That is a bit different than some of the other things that apparently have gone on in the past that were based more on local personal relationships than any sort of national drive for an augmentation program. 

[DNall]

There was at one point an MOU w/ Recruiting Service to easilky assist them. it wasn't widely used though & honestly it was just a lot of paperwork to get reimbursed for a couple bucks in gas to get over there, and of course the unknown that they'd direct kids over to us & we'd give them a chance at our guys when it's time.

[RiverAux]

Just wanted to point out a new story from the CG Aux on their activities in training enlisted recruits for the CG: http://www.teamcoastguard.org/2007/Mar/A070312/index.htm
Among the things Auxies are doing there:
- working with the training center's recruit band
- small boat handling training
- giving tours of the center to the public
- training recruits in basic seamanship
- teaching personal finance
- filling in for pastor for Sunday services

I know someone will say "We're CAP, what CG Aux does is irrelevant because they are so different."   Yes, the details of what CG Auxies are doing for the CG may not always be directly applicable, but the fact that a military service lets their civilian volunteer auxiliary be directly involved in providing basic training for new recruits should serve as a fine example of the sort of thing that civilian volunteers CAN do and be TRUSTED to perform. 

[LtCol White]

Just wanted to point out a new story from the CG Aux on their activities in training enlisted recruits for the CG: http://www.teamcoastguard.org/2007/Mar/A070312/index.htm
Among the things Auxies are doing there:
- working with the training center's recruit band
- small boat handling training
- giving tours of the center to the public
- training recruits in basic seamanship
- teaching personal finance
- filling in for pastor for Sunday services

I know someone will say "We're CAP, what CG Aux does is irrelevant because they are so different."   Yes, the details of what CG Auxies are doing for the CG may not always be directly applicable, but the fact that a military service lets their civilian volunteer auxiliary be directly involved in providing basic training for new recruits should serve as a fine example of the sort of thing that civilian volunteers CAN do and be TRUSTED to perform. 

I think its VERY relevant. As I have said in other threads, we need to go to USAF more and ask "How can we help you?" There are many areas that can be open to our assistance and it is being done every day by units around the country. Unfortuantely, in many cases if we don't offer, they won't ask.

So get out there and work the PROPER channels and offer up! You'll be surprised at how fast they will accept.

Remember, USAF loves people who follow the proper chain.

[Tubacap]

I recently investigated augmenting an ANG band.  After sending it up both chains of command, the CAP leadership said that it was entirely possible. The situation was to augment the tuba slot until a replacement was found.  The ANG did not accept the offer with the unofficial reason of filling a slot with someone who was working for free would jeopardize the slot.

This was with the ANG not AD AF, so I don't know if funding situation is different elsewhere, but I would think it would be. 

Food for thought.

[DNall]

That's kind of the point... If we can provide an matrix of assistance that allows them to save money (ie cut excess) & redirect it at more important priorities, isn't that what CAP is all about? You know like fly these missions in a Cessna cause it pushes the savings to combat power, all do our part, etc.

Yes I would anticipate resistance in some cases though based on just such a concern.

[SAR-EMT1]

I recently investigated augmenting an ANG band.  After sending it up both chains of command, the CAP leadership said that it was entirely possible. The situation was to augment the tuba slot until a replacement was found.  The ANG did not accept the offer with the unofficial reason of filling a slot with someone who was working for free would jeopardize the slot.

This was with the ANG not AD AF, so I don't know if funding situation is different elsewhere, but I would think it would be. 

Food for thought.

Not exactly sure how it would jeapordize the slot. You are AF- Aux, you wear the AF Uniform - though for the band you might have to spring for Mess Dress.  -  It would be an ideal augmentation assigment. - Either on a continual or temporary basis.

( I minored in Trombone  )

[DNall]

Cause if they can get volunteers to do the work for free, then they can't justify to the govt why they should keep paying someone to do it & maybe we should take a wider look at your dept. It's a can of worms that's going to scare a lot of people responsible for units.

[RiverAux]

I think having someone volunteer to fill in a temporary vacancy is a LOT different than volunteering to take over the slot full time.  I very much doubt that more than a handful of CAP members would ever volunteer enough to actually full an existing slot on any organization chart. 

Dumb move by the Air National Guard. 

[DNall]

Obviously you've never worked in a federal budgeting process. The theory is if you can find a volunteer part time/temp then maybe if you work a little harder you can find 25 to rotate & share the one full time positions for a period of time long enough that you don't need this position fully funded for the year. Any unit commander is going to worry about that for a moment before they proceed. They wouldn't take your help if it meant backing down their people from full time for instance, that would be a problem for them in the budget to keep all their folks. Where I think they are more apt to use you is where it helps control excessive overtime or asking for paid outside help, and when they may find themselve sin a surge situation where they are short handed or over loaded with work all of a sudden & you have a pool of volunteers they've kept trained & ready.

[RiverAux]

I work in government and we would look upon putting an unpaid volunteer in that slot for a few months while we tried to hire someone new as a very efficient use of resources. 

[DNall]

As would I & any logical person on the planet, which congress is not (take your pick on logical or on the planet - the hot air floated them away a long time ago).

Seriously though try to see it from the other side... here you are trying to figure out how to save every penny, you got this division or whatever saying they just can't fight a war or defend the state w/o exactly 4 tuba players, 3 just won't get it done, the whole fabric of the universe will unravel. So you say fine okay we'll pay for it. Then they end up one short & rather than it being a all fired a national emergency they just fill it with a volunteer for a few weeks, turns into a few months. They get by with three when they have to & have the volunteer fourth when they really need it. So here's you again looking critically at this & saying, "You know what, I think you can get by on three paid slots, and you're to be commended for using volunteers to save critical resources (meaning do some more of that)." You can see how that has the potential to happen right? And how commanders who have to make those budget requests have the legitimate right o be concerned about it, however unlikly it may or may not be?

[RiverAux]

Oh, I see how that sort of thinking can happen, but the reality, as most of us agree, is that no CAP member is a real threat to any AF or Air NG slot. 

I think you are forgetting that military units are organized in a pretty standard fashion and are authorized a certain number of people based on their unit type.  A band is authorized their 4 tuba players and that one band where a CAP guy sat in for a few months is not going to lose a tuba slot since you would have to change the standard organization for Air NG bands and reduce them ALL by one tuba. 

If we were talking about a civilian slot this argument might hold more water, but we're not.   

[ddelaney103]

You might be right, the slot wouldn't go away.  The money, that's another story.  If they can change the color of the money that's set against the slot, they'll use it somewhere else. 

Just because they have a slot, doesn't mean they have to fill it, or can afford to.

[SAR-EMT1]

BUMP
Just thought Id dust this off, see if it went anywhere.

[Skyray]

BUMP
Just thought Id dust this off, see if it went anywhere.

Well, thank you for the explanation.  I augment on a Coast Guard station two days a week doing the administrative work preceding the issuance of a Maritime Event Permit, and I have a friend and fellow Auxiliary member who is an Orthopedic surgeon and augments at the base sick bay doing sick call.  Early on in my Auxiliary career I augmented as a watch stander at the Air Station command center, but that job died when they realized that I didn't have a secret clearance.  Now that the Auxiliary has a comprehensive background check, I have the clearance, but the air station is forty miles away through rush hour traffic.  Anyway, I have a lot of interest in this subject, and it did a stealth number on me.

One of the advantages to augmentation from the AD side is continuity.  Frequently the guys I work with are unfamiliar with the AOR (area of responsibility) and since I have lived, boated, and flown in this area for thirty years, I have local knowledge and can fill them in.  I also provide procedure continuity as the personell are rotated in and out.  Currently I am engaged in writing an Access program to keep track of the Marine Events, of which we licence about a hundred and fifty a year, and provide notice of no permit required to about another thirty.  I work with a CWO-2, a senior chief (E-8) and a first class petty officer (E-6).  It is almost embarrassing the way they keep telling me how much they appreciate my effort.  Just as a "gee-whiz" the Sector command sent me to a week long Access school sponsored by SouthCom.  The protocol was civilian clothing, so they didn't have to worry about my no longer strictly military appearance.  If it had been uniforms, I would have been uncomfortably hot, since the only Auxiliary specific uniform is the blazer.  They need other hot weather uniforms, but they don't have them yet.  I work in the office in "working blue" which has gone out of style for the AD but is authorized for the Auxiliary until current stock wears out. (They are cutting us some slack because we buy our own uniforms and they are expensive.)  I have two copies of the "ODU" uniform, but because I work with a previously broken back, the combat boots that go with that uniform take me about thirty minutes to get on without assistance.

Interesting to read that Bac Si Kach is working as a tour guide.  I need his schedule so I can drive up and take his tour.

[RiverAux]

I haven't seen any new stories about using CAP on AF bases (you better believe I would have brought it up here!), though the CG Auxiliary recently had a member in the Persian Gulfhttp://www.auxadept.org/navigator/2007SUMMER.pdf as part of the Coast Guard artist program.  You'll note that this same issue has a story about CG Auxies helping train new CG recruits at their main training center.

Its stuff like this that gives me hope that at some point in the future the AF will open its eyes to the possibility. 

[Skyray]

We have a comprehensive program at ISC Miami (Intergrated Support Command Miami) with qualified Auxiliarists serving as firing range coaches.  I qualified because my DD-214 has pistol and rifle expert on it, but I know for a fact there are ways to qualify that don't involve prior service.  Worst thing about the program is that they always start the shooting shifts at seven a.m. and the base is an hour away from my house.  I took my meritorious service commendation after the first iteration and moved to a job that reports a little later in the day.

[SAR-EMT1]

BUMP

Has anyone anywhere seen any strides in this area over the last few months?

[afgeo4]

I think having someone volunteer to fill in a temporary vacancy is a LOT different than volunteering to take over the slot full time.  I very much doubt that more than a handful of CAP members would ever volunteer enough to actually full an existing slot on any organization chart. 

Dumb move by the Air National Guard. 

Seriously... didn't know ANG was unionized.