cadet schedules

[Daniel]

Bonjour Captalk,

My squadron is small so when I was put in the position of Flight Sargeant it meant that I wasn't bridging the gap between flight commander and the cadets, I was bridging the gap between the squadron commander and the cadets. So I started basically doing the job of the NCO, making the chain of command work.

In doing so I was soon planning the 2-hour meeting for the cadets. Which was fine until a week ago, the recently-resigned-commander-soon-to-be-DDR-officer said that I need to be adding more to the schedule. (e.g. DDR and aerospace) and these things aren't just 'thirty-minute-to-an-hour' activities he wants them to be the majority of the meeting for that night. Which would mean my entire system of bear essentials for the cadet program (studying/testing, drill, formations, and pt.)

So I need some example schedules from well-established squadrons. Cause I'm leading with an unlit candle in a dark cave.

Thank you,
Daniel

[Eeyore]

Our schedule:

1st Tuesday: UOD BDU's, 1st hour - Mentorship (Alternating between Aerospace modules and Leadership Chapters every other month), 2nd hour - Aerospace Education activity

2nd Tuesday: UOD BDU's, 1st hour - Testing, 2nd hour - D&C

3rd Tuesday: UOD PT, 1st hour - CPFT, 2nd hour - Pocket class and team-building activity

4th Tuesday: UOD Blues, 1st hour - Character Development, 2nd hour - Review Boards for those promoting and D&C for everyone else, Last 15 minutes - Promotions and awards

DDR is done once a quarter during one of the D&C hours, Safety is usually on the 2nd Tuesday at the beginning of the meeting.

[Nick]

Take a look at the figure on page 12 of CAPR 52-16.  I think the 13-week quarterly schedule is a great way to make a simple and consistent schedule.  I tweak it slightly to work for my squadron, but it's a very nice framework.

On the DDR subject -- in my opinion, that's a great subject to be worked into moral leadership (aka character development).  It's not something that needs its own slot in the schedule.

[Seabee219]

Hi, I am DCC of my Squadron and a good thing to do is sit down with staff and hash out a good training plan and stick to it. Do not forget to bring ideas and activities into the meeting time. If you stay with what you plan all the time it does get boring. You can have an ambulance crew come in and teach stretcher classes, have the air force come in and do things.  Keep things interesting.  In my first year I went from 15 cadets to over 35.  Seems like you have the go to attitude to make things better, good luck to you.

[DC]

My unit's schedule:

Week 1 - Uniform: BDUs
1st Period: Testing, cadets not testing Flight Time
2nd Period: Leadership

Week 2 - Uniform: PTU
1st Period: PT and CPFT for the cadets that need it
2nd Period: Phase Leadership Seminar

Week 3 - Uniform: BDUs
Entire Meeting: Aerospace or ES

Week 4 - Uniform: Blues
1st Period: Character Development
2nd Period: Flight Time and Promotion Boards

We don't have any specific time set aside for DDR, but it does appear in Character Development every so often, and the Flight Staff are welcome to pick a DDR topic for a pocket class.