meeting night schedule-with a twist

[brasda91]

We have always dedicated each meeting night to a particular area of study.  PT night, AE night, ML night, etc.  Does anybodies squadron try for more of a variety on each meeting night?  Instead of devoting an hour to two classes on a mtg night, what about having :20 minute classes and offer the major subjects each meeting night?  You know, have es, safety, ae all on one night?  We all want our seniors to be productive and feel like they are contributing to the organization.  If you only have one subject a month, do your seniors feel like on their off nights, that they could have been doing something other than CAP, because they just got to sit around at the meeting?

[Pylon]

I guess I'm confused.  I think you're talking about a cadet squadron here, but I don't understand why you're worried about seniors sitting around feeling left out or not helpful?

If I don't have Moral Leadership that week, I wouldn't expect the MLO to show up and hang out for 2 hours and then go home.  If I don't have AE that week, I don't expect the AEO to be there.   I do expect my Leadership Officer, myself as DCC, and a handful of other important people to be there all the time - but that's because they have duties to do each week. 

Additionally, if you only have a small number of seniors who are coming to meetings but find they have nothing to do simply because their subject area isn't being taught that week, then something is wrong.  There should be plenty of work to spread around.  Testing, paperwork, personnel records, SIMS entry, activity planning, Form 50's, handyman work around the squadron building, supply organization, ad nauseum.


As for our cadet meetings, yes -- we address more than one subject per week.  Example of our last quarter schedule:  http://ny408.org/cadetschedule.pdf

Our meetings pretty much follow a similar format every month, with variances for special activities (like open houses, off-site activities, etc.).  I have the schedule in Excel format, and you can download my boilerplate/template Excel sheet for this here.

To keep things sane, we keep our monthly minimums stuff (moral leadership, safety, PT, testing) on the same week and at the same times.  Then we fill in the remaining blocks with whatever we need to meet the training goals we've set for that quarter.  Occasionally when we need it, we may do an entire evening for one purpose (model rocketry building workshop, or an open house or something), but most often, our evening is divided into two main blocks.  Sometimes one of those two blocks is further subdivided to accommodate something short like the safety briefing.

[Eclipse]

You'll note that his signature indicates he's in a >COMPOSITE< Squadron, which means that there is supposed to be a full program for the Senior Members as well, not just having them show up to support the cadets.

I notice in your response you don't seem to have anything for the seniors to do, either.

The lack of a full senior program is what kills a lot of units.

There should be some compelling training or activity every week for everyone in the unit.  Whether they are combined activities or separate depends on where yo are in your cycle.

One of my most successful units runs a full aircrew and ground team / UDF cycle from Jan-April, then runs missions or related training in the summer, catches up on needed tasks and related activities into the fall and before you know it, its time to restart things.

The next year they shuffle the instructors a bit and those that have already "done it" get proficiency time and tasking.

This is in addition to the first meeting of the month being an "all-hands" general briefing night, and one night a month being a staff-only meeting.

[Pylon]

You'll note that his signature indicates he's in a >COMPOSITE< Squadron, which means that there is supposed to be a full program for the Senior Members as well, not just having them show up to support the cadets.

I notice in your response you don't seem to have anything for the seniors to do, either.

The schedule I posted is for the Cadet Program and is labeled cadetprogram.pdf.  They are not the squadron's schedule.  You'll notice they say right at the top "Quarterly Cadet Meeting Schedule".  I'm a Deputy Commander for Cadets, and so my planning and focus is on the cadet meetings.

I do agree with you that having a senior program is really important, but by and large, nobody implements it like that.  I'm really of the opinion that the senior program ought to be run like the cadet program:  Weekly meetings or bi-weekly meetings, with a pre-arranged training schedule and following quarterly training objectives just like the cadets.

But I would not plan these on the same schedule table.  Just make a separate table for seniors.  A composite squadron may only perform a few activities together (maybe safety, maybe a formation, maybe announcements).  In ours, we do nothing together.  The seniors do not wish to participate with the cadets, and do not wish to stand in a formation.  The safety briefings really need to be on separate topics (mostly aircrew amongst the non-CP seniors), and so those are held separately at different times too.  Makes sense to have separate scheduling tables.

However, National is pretty clear in CAPR 52-16 how cadet meetings are supposed to be structured and requires pieces to be implemented at minimum monthly.  National gives suggested meeting set-ups and schedules, provides topic material and even some class outlines for the cadet meetings. 

There are no such materials for the senior program.  There are no such requirements for the senior program, except a minimum 15-minute safety briefing.  Since National has left so much to the imagination, and without so much suggested structure as the CP, is it any surprise that most senior programs don't follow this format?

[MIKE]

I notice in your response you don't seem to have anything for the seniors to do, either.

The lack of a full senior program is what kills a lot of units.

This is why Composite Squadrons need to be separate entities.  They have two CDs for a reason.

[Eclipse]

There are no such materials for the senior program.  There are no such requirements for the senior program, except a minimum 15-minute safety briefing.  Since National has left so much to the imagination, and without so much suggested structure as the CP, is it any surprise that most senior programs don't follow this format?

Sadly, no.

And then unit commanders wonder why their units collapse, or worse, just fade away.

There's another thread about meeting monthly, seriously, I don't know how anyone could expect
a unit, or its members, to have any sort of readiness, qualifications, or esprit-de-corps without a structured plan for training, tasking, and follow-on activities.

[Pylon]

Sadly, no.

And then unit commanders wonder why their units collapse, or worse, just fade away.

There's another thread about meeting monthly, seriously, I don't know how anyone could expect
a unit, or its members, to have any sort of readiness, qualifications, or esprit-de-corps without a structured plan for training, tasking, and follow-on activities.

I agree 100%.  But as I pointed out, as a Deputy Commander for Cadets, I have dozens of resources at my hands on how to structure meetings, including sample schedules and suggested classes in the CAPR 52-16, dozens of class outlines and lesson plans in half a dozen publications, mandatory classes and things we must do every 30 days, a cadet staff handbook, and then some.

A Deputy Commander for Seniors would have nothing from national to even suggest to him or her that a weekly meeting schedule with training would be beneficial, let alone how to do it.  No suggested meeting formats, no handbooks on how to lead and manage other senior member volunteers, no things that the seniors must do every 30 days except for a 15-minute briefing.

Want to beef up the senior programs nationally?  Build a handbook.  Throw them a bone.  Give them some stuff to work with.  (I don't mean you personally... I mean CAP NHQ ).  Otherwise, with everyone left to their own devices, we end up with senior programs which vary wildly in quality, style, format and effectiveness... and many squadrons with hardly any senior program at all.

[brasda91]

If I don't have Moral Leadership that week, I wouldn't expect the MLO to show up and hang out for 2 hours and then go home.  If I don't have AE that week, I don't expect the AEO to be there.   I do expect my Leadership Officer, myself as DCC, and a handful of other important people to be there all the time - but that's because they have duties to do each week. 

Additionally, if you only have a small number of seniors who are coming to meetings but find they have nothing to do simply because their subject area isn't being taught that week, then something is wrong.  There should be plenty of work to spread around.  Testing, paperwork, personnel records, SIMS entry, activity planning, Form 50's, handyman work around the squadron building, supply organization, ad nauseum.

I expect all my seniors to attend all meetings, if they do not have other priorities, every week.  The majority of my active seniors have less than 1 year in CAP.  They are still learning themselves.  I'm trying to get my cadets and a few seniors caught up on UDF because I'm the only one qualified to teach.  I can't work with the cadets and help teach the seniors their job at the same time.  If I can provide a schedule where the seniors are giving a class every night, then they are being productive.  Yes I am working towards my Dep for Cadets running with the program, but he is still learning himself.