IronMaiden
Member
Sounds pretty cool, but there's something about taking orders from kids younger than me that would keep me away from CAP.
thanks for the info!
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Civil Air Patrol.
- Thread starter Mmlz
- Start date
Sounds pretty cool, but there's something about taking orders from kids younger than me that would keep me away from CAP.
thanks for the info!
Well, it's partly kind of like the Boy Scouts mixed with the US Air Force and then add on top of that the fact that CAP is in charge of 85% of all inland SAR operations in CONUS.
Don't they want people with previous flying experience to join the Aviator program in the Navy?
The Navy could really care less. They are going to spend millions of $$'s on your training either way.
I thought I'd share some first hand (outsider) observations of Civil Air Patrol. For the record, the first 47 years of my life I've not been involved with them at all. A retired Navy helo pilot who flies 777s with United Airlines asked me to coordinate a tour of HST for the Charlottesville, Virginia CAP squadron. That was a month ago.
I will tell you that I've conducted many, many tours over the past 25 years at all age and education levels. I enjoy conducting tours, especially with youth groups and veterans' groups. Usually you get a small percentage of participants who are interested and the rest act like a bunch of sullen spoiled kids, regardless of age. Some of the worst are government staffers.
Having been a Boy Scout Assistant Scoutmaster, I've seen the declining fitness of youth over the years. This is a documented fact. I've also been embarassed at the declining appearance of many of the adults who volunteer. Unfortunately since they are volunteers, you have to take what you can get. Most of them provide great service, but they don't help paint a positive role model image.
The CAP kids who went to Truman were squared away, they didn't try to wander off or steal anything (not always the case), and asked many intelligent and informed questions.
Last Saturday night I spoke at the Virginia CAP encampment Dining In after their 8 day summer camp at Ft. Pickett, VA It was a formal request for a Navy speaker to talk about Naval Aviation and life aboard a carrier. It was sent through the normal PAO channels. They offered to pay for all travel expenses or fly the speaker in via light civil air, depending on where the speaker came from. They couldn't find anyone on the active side of the house to give the presentation, even though any person with a set of wings and a deployment under their belt could have spoken with authority. (Pretty sad, because recruiting and telling the Navy story should be a core competency of anyone wearing the uniform). It rolled to me on the reserve side of the house.
So, I spent about three hours pulling together pictures of Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard aircraft (Naval Aviation) and flight deck / action shots of Sailors supporting Naval Aviation. Most pictures came from the AW website.
There were 150 kids plus about 35 adults in the audience. The cadets ranged from 12 years to 21 years old. I pretty much expected the group to be similar to what I had observed in the Scout program. I was wrong.
There are about 650 cadets in CAP Virginia. The 150 at Camp were selected to attend. Not everyone gets to go, and as such, the standards appeared to be much higher than your typical camp.
Every kid there knew how to wear their uniform, and wore it with pride. Every kid had military bearing and a respect for adults far beyond what I typically see on average. They were having fun and enjoyed being at camp. With extremely few exceptions, they appeared physically fit.
I sat with a table of Senior Cadets, ages 17-20. All were either still in high school or attending college. On average 6-8 of the 150 attendees in the last two years have gone to a service academy. Two had departed earlier in the week to start USAFA. Three of the rising seniors had been to either USNA or USAFA Summer Seminar earlier this summer.
About 50% of the CAP cadets will pursue some sort of military service, either enlisted or officer program. When 73% of all Americans age 18-24 fail to meet enlistment standards (for academic, criminal, drug, physical, medical, or social reasons (i.e. racial tattoos, multi piercings, etc), programs like CAP are a pretty damn good return on the small investment the military provides in the form of fly overs, static displays, instructor support, speakers, etc.
Are they ridiculously "gung-ho" at such a young age, with little real-world experience? Probably. But I'll take motivated over too-cool-for-school any day of the week.
I was also impressed to learn that a significant percentage of overland SAR events are coordinated or conducted by Civil Air Patrol.
I did find it interesting that there was a high percentage of home schooled kids in the bunch. Not sure why.
My two cents.
I will tell you that I've conducted many, many tours over the past 25 years at all age and education levels. I enjoy conducting tours, especially with youth groups and veterans' groups. Usually you get a small percentage of participants who are interested and the rest act like a bunch of sullen spoiled kids, regardless of age. Some of the worst are government staffers.
Having been a Boy Scout Assistant Scoutmaster, I've seen the declining fitness of youth over the years. This is a documented fact. I've also been embarassed at the declining appearance of many of the adults who volunteer. Unfortunately since they are volunteers, you have to take what you can get. Most of them provide great service, but they don't help paint a positive role model image.
The CAP kids who went to Truman were squared away, they didn't try to wander off or steal anything (not always the case), and asked many intelligent and informed questions.
Last Saturday night I spoke at the Virginia CAP encampment Dining In after their 8 day summer camp at Ft. Pickett, VA It was a formal request for a Navy speaker to talk about Naval Aviation and life aboard a carrier. It was sent through the normal PAO channels. They offered to pay for all travel expenses or fly the speaker in via light civil air, depending on where the speaker came from. They couldn't find anyone on the active side of the house to give the presentation, even though any person with a set of wings and a deployment under their belt could have spoken with authority. (Pretty sad, because recruiting and telling the Navy story should be a core competency of anyone wearing the uniform). It rolled to me on the reserve side of the house.
So, I spent about three hours pulling together pictures of Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard aircraft (Naval Aviation) and flight deck / action shots of Sailors supporting Naval Aviation. Most pictures came from the AW website.
There were 150 kids plus about 35 adults in the audience. The cadets ranged from 12 years to 21 years old. I pretty much expected the group to be similar to what I had observed in the Scout program. I was wrong.
There are about 650 cadets in CAP Virginia. The 150 at Camp were selected to attend. Not everyone gets to go, and as such, the standards appeared to be much higher than your typical camp.
Every kid there knew how to wear their uniform, and wore it with pride. Every kid had military bearing and a respect for adults far beyond what I typically see on average. They were having fun and enjoyed being at camp. With extremely few exceptions, they appeared physically fit.
I sat with a table of Senior Cadets, ages 17-20. All were either still in high school or attending college. On average 6-8 of the 150 attendees in the last two years have gone to a service academy. Two had departed earlier in the week to start USAFA. Three of the rising seniors had been to either USNA or USAFA Summer Seminar earlier this summer.
About 50% of the CAP cadets will pursue some sort of military service, either enlisted or officer program. When 73% of all Americans age 18-24 fail to meet enlistment standards (for academic, criminal, drug, physical, medical, or social reasons (i.e. racial tattoos, multi piercings, etc), programs like CAP are a pretty damn good return on the small investment the military provides in the form of fly overs, static displays, instructor support, speakers, etc.
Are they ridiculously "gung-ho" at such a young age, with little real-world experience? Probably. But I'll take motivated over too-cool-for-school any day of the week.
I was also impressed to learn that a significant percentage of overland SAR events are coordinated or conducted by Civil Air Patrol.
I did find it interesting that there was a high percentage of home schooled kids in the bunch. Not sure why.
My two cents.
Red Pilgrim
New Member
I turn 21 in December. Is it too late for me to join this?
I think it would be an awesome opportunity for me to learn more about aviation and get some flying time before I actually go into the Navy.
I think it would be an awesome opportunity for me to learn more about aviation and get some flying time before I actually go into the Navy.
nzachman
Yeah, well. The Dude abides.
You may join at any age; however, the cutoff for the cadet program is 18. There are many opportunities available to senior members (21+) that may spark your interest. www.gocivilairpatrol.com
Do what I did and try and get the position as the Aerospace Education Officer. Not only will you get to learn about aviation, you also get to pass on that knowledge with cool classes. Don't worry about your lack of knowledge, it is pretty much just arts and crafts time once a month.