One thing that the Coast Guard Auxiliary has done in this regard is that "Fellowship" is considered one of the most important activities we perform. In my flotilla that usually consists of a cookout 2-3 times a summer and our annual banquet/change-of-watch. I think it does help give people a chance to bond with non-Aux talk. That isn't really to be found at all in CAP.
I realize this sounds like an excuse, but anyone suggesting getting together before meetings for dinner, etc., must have the majority of the membership living pretty close to the meeting location.In my wing, especially up North, where humans actually live, most of the members live 30-60 minutesfrom the location, and have to slog rush hour traffic to get there,
Quote from: Eclipse on September 07, 2017, 04:49:40 PMI realize this sounds like an excuse, but anyone suggesting getting together before meetings for dinner, etc., must have the majority of the membership living pretty close to the meeting location.In my wing, especially up North, where humans actually live, most of the members live 30-60 minutesfrom the location, and have to slog rush hour traffic to get there,Sounds like its time to startup a new Squadron.Yes, most of our members are probably a 15 minute drive, or less, to the airport.
Distance is far more common.
Quote from: etodd on September 07, 2017, 08:37:54 PMQuote from: Eclipse on September 07, 2017, 04:49:40 PMI realize this sounds like an excuse, but anyone suggesting getting together before meetings for dinner, etc., must have the majority of the membership living pretty close to the meeting location.In my wing, especially up North, where humans actually live, most of the members live 30-60 minutesfrom the location, and have to slog rush hour traffic to get there,Sounds like its time to startup a new Squadron.Yes, most of our members are probably a 15 minute drive, or less, to the airport."15 minute drive" only makes sense as a local reference. It doesn't equate to distance on a national scale. That's an important point, because I've never heard of a new unit being started with time as the primary factor. Distance is far more common. I worked 20 miles from where my Squadron met. Sounds close, right? Based on Google Maps, checked just a minute ago, if I left now, about 1630 local, I'd arrive at the meeting at about 1745. But I rarely was able to leave at 1630. For every 15 minutes I delayed leaving, I had to plan on at least an additional 20 minutes, not 15, due to increased traffic. When I reached a point on the route where more traffic came in, that went up to an additional 30 minutes for every 15 that I had delayed - I could have missed the bulk of it if I left earlier. And that was not including traffic variables. So, if I left work between 1700 and 1745, to go 20 miles, I was looking at arriving at the meeting between 1830 and 1930. No time for dinner with the guys. In fact, I'd be late. Add more Squadrons? I actually drove past one Squadron between work and my unit. But I didn't belong to that one, because the unit I belonged to was closer to where I lived, which was exactly 30 miles from work.
Most of the squadron's (and Wings) I've seen are white, white, white... and mostly pre-Gen-X... including pilots, air crew, cadets, leadership, SM involved in Aerospace/safety/transportation/ES... etc. A few years ago I noticed the same monoculture at NESA. To me, it looks like our current recruiting is already "targeted". And that targeted recruiting seems to somehow miss whole segments of our population who might be interested and who might bring some very interesting skills/viewpoints to our mix. What are other squadrons (and wings) doing to broadly appeal across generations and across ethnicities/cultural groups?
My unit is 7.1/6.9 miles away from my house, depending on the route I travel. Both currently show 16 minute travel time. Many of our members live further away than I.
My point? Make your unit an active, but well-balanced, one and one that your members will want to attend.
It depends on whether or not your unit is working well and includes all members in activities, and has reasonable expectations of participation to justify the drive, especially with the price of liquid gold these days.
The Group meetings are also about 35 (easy) minutes away, but those have a lot more value to myself as a SM, so I make a point to attend those whenever possible. That's where it seems like the action is locally. I wonder how much better recruiting and retention might be if we could get more people from the local units to attend Group meetings?
That's on >me< not an indictment of CAP, or some conspiracy against me personally to stifle my participation and progression.
I wanted to go zip-lining last weekend with my family, however my proclivity towards snacks and genetic predispotiontowards gigantism force me to be a spectator. Some things simply "are". Should I harbor ill feelings towards the cable installers for not putting in stronger cables, or Gaia for making cows so tasty?
As to your comment about Sats and Suns, when else are weekend activities supposed to occur?One a month is considered a best-practice, and is all but required in order to keep up with the expectations these days, especially on the cadet side.
Somehow thousands of members are able to maintain their religious obligations and still participate in weekend activities, and few even mention the conflicts these days because CAP is hardly the only conflict in people's busy lives.Most of the major religions CAP members would be a part of have alternative ways to services beyond "Sunday go to meeting". If Muslim members can attend encampments with few to no issues, surely Christians and Jews can find ways to do what they need to do, not the least of which is taking advantage of the presence of Chaplains when they are available.
But if they can't, no foul, but maybe CAP isn't an option, any more then for a cadet who has Boy Scouts or Future Farmers on a CAP meeting night. Life is choice. Make one, move on.
Team Rubicon has been looking very attractive to me as an alternative to CAP, but the reality is my life doesn't allow for me to be more then an edge player in an organization that generally requires deployment to other states. Business travel is one thing, but ES tourism simply isn't an option for me today. I'm not going to resent TR because they won't change for me.
Comments like "CAP outranks God", when a Unit CC is just doing his job, aren't cricket.
Does the same apply for CAP people and other ES workers helping in the South right now?
It's a very interesting thing to watch. I've only been in for 2 years, but have already seen a lot of the challenges locally. New people coming in being sold on the mission, then becoming disappointed and going away. Sometimes as rapidly as just a couple months. Others hopping around unit shopping, trying find/make a place for themselves.
However, while it's chartered as a Composite Squadron, in practice it's really a Cadet Squadron without things for SMs to do.
The Group meetings are also about 35 (easy) minutes away, but those have a lot more value to myself as a SM, so I make a point to attend those whenever possible.
If they do join (often despite misgivings), retention fails when they don't feel like they're making any progress in the local units.