CAP Bureaucracy

I attended my first CAP senior meeting today. A grand total of five of us showed up, including myself - not yet a member. Actually, it was six for a while, but this is out of a total of 24 senior members in the squadron, so it seems like a pretty low number anyway. And I am the youngest one in the room - by a long shot.

Being a non-member, much of the material we covered went over my head. We discussed the CAP online tools for scheduling flight time and recording "missions". I understand the computer aspect of it, but still will need to become familiar with terms like "flight release officer" and other Air Force-related jargon. As an aside, I am fairly comfortable in a military setting. I worked as a civilian for the navy for two summers, and had I not gotten married right after college probably would have joined up. Still, when you start getting into the system, there's a lot of learning curve (and a lot of paperwork - even in the digital age).

Not much to say about the meeting itself, but I think I need to just join up to really get into it. It is, after all, a volunteer organization. If I can help out, that's great. If it turns out that it's not a good fit, then we move on. My professional background as a project manager screams out (using my inside voice) at the inefficiency that any bureaucracy fosters. And to listen to some of the older guys, you'd think they were being forced into indentured servitude. It may be a cousin of the Air Force, but it's still supposed to be about public service, education, and - yes - even a bit of fun. But some of these guys could really suck the air out of the room...

The meeting did, however, give me a stepping stone to the next level. I will go visit with the squadron commander tomorrow to pick up the official paperwork and fingerprint card. Then, next week, I'll get it all filled out and submitted. On the other hand, I also found out that I need to shift my point of reference when stating the number of hours of my flight time. While in training, and still to this day, I count my total time (including instruction). Now, though, the emphasis is on PIC time, which obviously is substantially lower (by about 40 hours). Whereas I originally thought that I had enough hours to begin some of the pilot training, this is not the case. So, more flying is in order...

We also discussed some of the introductory FEMA courses that will be required, uniforms, and some basics about Specialty Tracks. These are the "professional development" paths that you can follow as part of promotion. Wait, FEMA? Yes, since CAP is used in search and rescue as well as in disaster situations, members need to be familiar with things like incident command structure and inter-agency communication. Cool.

On my way...