Civil Air Patrol - Cadet Blog
Supper With Spaatz

The Spaatz Association is hosting their 8th annual winter dinner event in Washington DC on February 27th.  All are welcome to join TSA in honoring today's cadets and cadet program professionals. TSA's dinners have always been great fun, plus the proceeds go to their fantastic scholarship program. 

For details see www.spaatz.org//current/dinner.php.  Registration closes February 14th.

Send the Cadets to Encampment

One of my predecessors at NHQ is Lt Col Gerry Levesque. Some years ago he left his desk here and established the Sheldon Cadet Squadron in an inner-city Houston school. Today, it’s the second largest cadet unit in all of CAP, with 238 cadets. When you have such a huge cadet unit, you must be doing something right. 

In his spare time, Gerry likes going to encampment. He’s been to 48 of them. As the cadet corps gears up for encampment season, Gerry shared with me some stats about his squadron. Over the past seven years in his unit, the retention rate for cadets who have attended encampment has averaged 92%, while the retention rate for non-encampment cadets averaged 28%.

So according to one of the Cadet Program’s most successful leaders, encampment makes a real difference for cadets. If you have a leadership role in the Cadet Program, please do everything you can to help cadets attend an encampment this summer.

 

PS:  You'll find a list of all encampments that we know about at capmembers.com/encampment. To have your wing's encampment added to the list, please contact us.
To Analyze and Persuade

I don't believe the Cadet Advisory Council has ever adopted a formal motto for itself, but after reviewing their latest product, maybe "To Analyze and Persuade" would be a good one.

We're sharing this document (at right) with the cadet community because it is a superb example of a formal attempt to persuade. The topic is on naming the so-called "unnamed" achievements in Phases III and IV, but the subject matter is beside the point. Here's a document that's logical. It shows evidence that the council considered several different approaches to a problem, thereby boosting the council's credibility. It identifies clear criteria for a solution, helping us avoid making decisions based on personal opinion. A handful of good examples are offered in support of the main points. And of course, the document is grammatically coherent and looks professional.

Tongue and Quill connoisseurs may quibble about the format, but I'd rather see cadets show us clear thinking than be slaves to some pesky template.

And regardless what becomes of this specific proposal, I bet the cadets who worked on this project learned something about leadership.

If you're looking for an example of what a CAC can do, I'm pleased to point you to this document. Hats off to the principal author, C/Col Jeremiah Coogan of North Carolina and Middle East Region, who'll receive a NHQ Cadet Team Challenge Coin as a token of our respect.

Help Wanted - NHQ is Looking for a Project Officer
Greetings,

Gen Courter and I need your help.

She has a vision of a strong and dynamic Cadet Alumni Association to reach out to the roughly one million former CAP cadets floating around this country of ours and allow them to reconnect. 

Similar to a academic alumni association, a CAP Cadet Alumni Association would allow former cadets to keep in touch with each other, and perhaps serve cadet programs as a development and force structuring tool.

We are hoping to find a volunteer with experience in cadet programs and also has a stong business skillset to help create a structure and business plan for our alumni association.

Please take a look at the position description, and consider applying if you can help us out.  Note that this is an IAOD-type position, and you will need the permission of your CAP boss to participate.
 
Position Description for Cadet Alumni Association Special Project Officer


Background:  Approximately one million former CAP cadets live and work in the United States, representing an untapped resource with enormous potential.  Gen Courter’s vision includes a vibrant, active Cadet Alumni Association that would allow former cadets to reconnect with each other and CAP, while serving as a potential development and force structuring resource to help support current and future cadet programs operations.  A Cadet Alumni Association Special Project Officer will bring the necessary expertise to develop the framework and business plan for a vital and successful Cadet Alumni Association.

Position Description:  Reporting directly to the National Cadet Advisor, the Alumni Association Special Project Officer’s primary responsibility is to develop a framework and business plan for a CAP Cadet Alumni Association that meets the following criteria:

   1.  Allow CP Alumni to re-engage with CAP and their former colleagues through websites, electronic and printed media, periodic alumni reunions, sub-affiliation groups, etc.

   2.  Serve as a significant revenue stream to support current CP operations through tools such as paid memberships, planned giving opportunities, periodic direct appeals and the establishment of a CP endowment fund.

   3.  Serve as a CP force structuring resource by identifying CP alumni with time and resources to return to active CAP membership supporting CP.

This is a volunteer position designed to be performed by a current senior member in addition to their regular duties at their home unit.


Desired Qualifications:

1.  Senior or Master rating in CP

2.  Documented business management experience including creation of business plans and expertise in financial management in a nonprofit arena.

3.  Experience with academic or youth group alumni associations highly desirable

4.  Outstanding written and oral communications skills.

5.  Ability to coordinate complex projects and proposals with other volunteers and paid staffers.


Application Procedures:

Applicants should send a CV and cover letter to the National Cadet Advisor, Lt Col Ned Lee.  Email preferred: nedlee6@aol.com .  Applications should arrive by February 15, 2010. 

Questions can be directed to Lt Col Lee at the email above, or phone (408) 832-0917 (Pacific time).
 


Ned Lee
National Cadet Advisor

 
Application Procedure Clarifications

There have been some issues with individuals applying for NCSAs and Scholarships. 

NCSAs

1.       T-Shirt Size. If you cannot go to the second page for NCSAs because the application is requiring your T-Shirt size, please click on the “Modify Personal Information” link. This will take you to the front page of the View/Change My Information page.  From there select Personal Characteristics and you can change your shirt size.
2.       If you select IACE, you must fill out the supplemental section to be selected for IACE. Please review all instructions and questions before you begin to answer the questions. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.
 
Scholarship information
 
1.       Uploading files.  If you cannot upload your .pdf files onto the site, please start the application over and skip this step. You must answer every question in order to submit your application.  After completing the application, you can email your files to strupp@capnhq.gov .  
2.       Completion of the Scholarship application. To ensure that your application has been sent, log out of e-Services and the log back in and click on the scholarship application module. If you were successfully completed the application, you will receive the notice “Our records indicate that you have already submitted a CAP Form 95.” If you do not see this message, your application was not completed. All applications must be completed through the online application module.

3.  If you have not taken the SATs, please select the "1540 or less" choice.

 
Cadet Year in Review 2009

The Cadet Program is on the rise. Our membership and flying statistics are encouraging, as is the feedback we've received about curriculum resources published in 2009.

Knowing that the cadet community is always eager to take a detailed look at Cadet Programs issues and statistics, we offer this year end report. It highlights the nation-wide Cadet Program's accomplishments and challenges of 2009. I encourage DCPs and CACs to review this report and consider what we can do together for cadets in 2010.
Eaker Award Requirements

To qualify for the Eaker Award, currently cadets must complete Cadet Officer School, a Region Cadet Leadership School, or the correspondence course known as AFIADL-13.

The Senior Member Professional Development Program is phasing-out the AFIADL-13 course, thereby affecting the 2 to 3% of cadet officers who have typically followed that route to the Eaker.

It is not certain yet if  the OBC will count toward the Eaker Award. Therefore, we recommend all cadet officers plan to attend a RCLS or COS to satisfy the Eaker Award requirement. Moreover, the AFIADL-13 course will stop accepting new cadet officer students effective 1 March 2010. Cadets who are approaching the Eaker and are yet to fulfill the COS/RCLS/AFIADL-13 requirement should plan accordingly. The good news is that in recent years the RCLS program has exploded, and now cadets have about a dozen RCLSs to choose from.

We want to see RCLS continue to grow. Toward that end, we will propose a standardized curriculum in 2010 and redouble our efforts to help the volunteers who lead those schools.

Finally, a word about the new OBC program itself. This exciting web-based course aims to equip senior members with a solid foundation in leadership, and officership in particular. When OBC launches on 1 January 2010, cadet officers will be eligible to enroll and we encourage them to do so, but at this time OBC cannot be used to satisfy the Eaker Award requirements.

If you have questions about OBC, please visit the OBC home page or contact Bobbie Tourville. If you have questions about the Eaker Award, please contact the Cadet Team.
Drill & Ceremonies Videos

Thanks to our friends at AFJROTC and the Air Force's Holm Center, you'll find some outstanding drill and ceremonies videos available at capmembers.com/drill. These are the same videos found on the Air Force drill and ceremonies DVD that we sent to every squadron about 18 months ago. For your convenience, they've been broken down into chapters. Next time you're doing drill and ceremonies training, take a look at the videos and other resources available at the link above.

 

 

 
CAP Regulations: A Reader-Friendly Approach

Are CAP regulations easy to read? Can you quickly scan them and find what you're looking for? I can't.

Dozens of members have told us that they like the layout that's been used for cadet publications over the past couple years. Therefore, we're considering taking publication design a step further by recommending a new layout template for CAP regulations. CAPR 52-16 is due for an update in light of the upcoming switch to online testing. Perhaps that next edition  will use a more reader-friendly layout like the one you can download at right.

Download the sample (at right) and tell us if you think we're on the right track. If enough members show their support, we'll present the idea to the leadership.

Cadet Team Readies for "Learn to Lead"

 

“Learn to Lead,” which will replace the cadets’ current leadership text, launches on 1 April 2010, concurrent with achievement tests moving online.

Visit the "Learn to Lead" homepage to download an update on this project. Better still,Module 1 (chapters 1-3) and half of Module 2 (chapters 4 & 5) are available for your comment. If you have general comments about “Learn to Lead,” please leave them below. If you find typos, errors, or confusing passages, please email Neil Probst nprobst@capnhq.gov. 

 We’re excited about “Learn to Lead” because we think it will make leadership more fun and more challenging. 

 

 
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