Excellant Response, and I concur with your statement. When I was a Squadron Commander back in the 80's, the Cadet Program was far superior than AFROTC. I have no issues with the Cadet program as long as a competant Senior Squadron Commander is running the program.
My concern is this breed of wanabees that make the problems the CAP program is now experiencing. You are correct in bad-apples being in every organization, but it seems like these bad-apples (or nuts) are running the program. These are the idiots that make CAP have a bad name.
Also, as a pilot with over 10K hours, if my airplane went down, I would rather have a CAP aircraft and ground team be homing in on my ELT beacuse I know that true volunteers are dedicated to the cause; however, with all that being said, I still believe the CAP program (not Cadets) needs to be restructured under a more civilian control.
A uniform does NOT make the person, the 'person' makes the uniform! Rank and Uniforms in the Senior Program need to be removed! Some will disagree with me on this, but this is why we are looked at as a wanabee Air Force program.
Keep the Military as is. Make all volunteer programs that assist Military Organization civilian. This way, you weed-out all the wanabees that just want to wear a Uniform and be cool.
Thanks for your response. It was well Stated!
A formal member and retired military police Article |
Name - Retired Military, Formal Member 06:53:03 03-31-08
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 Wrong Conclusion |
This message is in response to the "Concerned, Retired Military Member" who left the message previous to this.
OK, look, I don't dispute the fact that there are some "bad apples" in Civil Air Patrol. Every corporation has its bad apples who set a bad example try to ruin it for everybody. No doubt about that !
We'll start with the Chaplain program; I have never seen a Chaplain "teach religion" to any cadet. They seem to convey what is right and what is wrong in a non-religious manner. Examples might be "cheating", stealing", "killing" "getting pregnant while a teenager", "bad friends and influences", that's all !
When a pilot dies in an accident, they give their blessings in a "non-denominational manner" as I notice in my wing emails.
As far as cadets, beleive it or not, IF YOU WERE TO TAKE AWAY THE UNIFORM, YOU WOULD DESTROY THE PROGRAM.
I see you seem to favor ROTC ? and that's an excellent program ! But take "JROTC" who claim they are "the real thing"....THAT'S FALSE !! We beat JROTC hands-down in just about everything !!!:
1. Quality of our Cadets (drill, uniforms, military discipline, etc.).
2. Special activities !! JUST LOOK AT OUR WING AND NATIONAL ACTIVITIES, JRTOTC DOES NOT EVEN CLOME CLOSE !!
3. EMERGENCY SERVICES: Go to a JROTC detachement, and ask to see their squadron airplane and ask to speak to their trained pilots. When an airplane goes down, who does the AIR FORCE AFRCC CALL ??? (AND THAT'S THE TRUE AIRFORCE WE'RE TALKING ABOUT)...THEY CALL CAP !! NOT ROTC, AND CERTAINLY NOT JROTC. Our pilots and CADET GROUND TEAM MEMBER ARE OUT THERE, MANNING MISSION BASES, COMMUNICATING WITH PILOTS, RELAYING MESSAGES AND STATUS TO POLICE AND STATE SEARCH & RESCUE AUTHORITIES, MARSHALLING DEPARTING AND ARRIVING AIRCRAFT !!
The next time an aircraft goes down, hmmmmm, let's dispatch a college ROTC or High School JROTC detachement and see what they can do ??? Just this week, an F-16 went down in Arizona, WHO DID THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE CALL AND ASSIGN A MISSION NUMBER TO ????? CIVIL AIR PATROL !! WE COMBED THE AREA WITH AIRCRAFT AND CADET GROUND TEAM MEMBERS AND HELPED FIND THE PILOT WHO DIED !!
Another "Joke" that I found was on the JROTC website, where it says "If you are not interested in learning about the military and are just interested in learning about aerospace, you may want to contact the Civil Air Patrol"....THE PERSON(S) WHO WROTE THAT ARE TRUELY HAVE A PROBLEM !!! Yeah, the next time time a military fighter goes down, let's go ahead and dispactch a JRTOC unit and their adult leaders (who are retaied military) and plan and coordinate an entire Search & Rescue operation !!
I don't mean to be a an jerk, but come on guy, look at the facts ! Again, I admit there are squadrons with some bad apples. We have our share of "assholes" just like every corporation in the US does, and it's to weed them out or fire them as we don't get paid to do our job !! When the get caught or can't be tolerated any further, they are asked to leave. Yes, I agree, CAP does have some senior members with weho do not deserve to wear the uniform or be next to Cadets, and I'm sure every squadron does their best to get rid of these people !! BUT GIVING A BAD NAME TO THE ENTIRE CAP FOR FAULT OF SOME BAD APPLES, IS NOT RIGHT....
I AM ALSO CONFIDENT THAT YOU ARE WELL AWARE OF THE FACT THAT A "GOOD PORTION" OF COLLEGE ROTC CADETS AND AIRFORCE ACADEMY CADETS ARE EX-CAP !! AND I MEAN A VERY, VERY GOOD PORTION !! MAYBE YOU SHOULD DO SOME RESEARCH ON HOW MANY CAP CADETS GO ON TO ROTC AND THE AF ACADEMY (OR OTHER ACADEMIES) VERSUS HOW MAY JRTOC GO ON TO MILITARY OFFICER CAREERS !! YOU'LL BE SURPRISE...
LET'S STACK UP A CAP CADET COLONEL (SPATTZ AWARD) SIDE BY SIDE WITH A SENIOR JROTC CADET, OR EVEN LET'S LOWER THE STAKES, A CAP CADET CAPTAIN SIDE-BY-SIDE WITH A SENIOR STUDENT IN JROTC....I THINK YOU'LL NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE AND FAST ON WHO'S WHO !!
Please re-exam your thinking !! You're not all correct !!
full Article |
Name - A Long Time Member of CAP - Arizona 12:02:24 03-20-08
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