How often do we tell cadets that it’s okay to fail, because sometimes we learn more from our failures than from our successes? The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Cadet Program is based on idea that cadets need to fail in order to grow and develop.

Nevertheless, there is one place where we seem to forget that lesson, and it usually happens right around the time a cadet earns the General Ira C. Eaker Award, our second highest cadet achievement.

I was a cadet from 1996 until 2006, earning the Eaker Award in 2002. I traveled to the United Kingdom in 2003 for the International Air Cadet Exchange, advised the National Board as a member of the National Cadet Advisory Council, and served as Cadet Group Commander for the 2005 Ohio Wing Encampment. In general, I like to think that I had a pretty successful “career” as a cadet.

I also failed the comprehensive exam for the General Carl A. Spaatz Award, our highest cadet achievement. Three times. (For those non-CAP folk out there, you only get three shots at the Spaatz.) Continue reading →

Cadets progressing through Civil Air Patrol’s Cadet Program will eventually complete the Mitchell Award, earning the coveted rank of Cadet Second Lieutenant. Some of these cadets will go on and prosper in the upper ranks of cadet officership. But many are infected with “Billy Mitchell Syndrome”, a severe condition which prevents further growth as a cadet. Sufferers of Mitchell Syndrome are unmotivated to promote and often remain at the same rank for years. They can infect other cadets with Mitchell syndrome by proxy by failing to be a good example. The ultimate outcome is usually fatal, with the cadet either leaving from boredom, or failing to grow further.

If you’re asking why a cadet would want to stop promoting after earning such a coveted award and new rank, the reasons are usually found with the promotion requirements for Civil Air Patrol (or CAP) cadet officers. After many years of exhaustive research – complete with schematics, test tubes, exploding chemicals, and Tesla coils – I have conclusively determined that one specific aspect of cadet officership is most responsible for Mitchell Syndrome: the Staff Duty Analysis.

Continue reading →

On 18 February 2004, I reported to the Infantry Training Brigade at Ft. Benning, Georgia, home of the Infantry, fire ants, and bad food. Fourteen weeks and a wake up later, I pinned on the crossed-rifle insignia of a U.S. Army infantryman. My CAP experience assisted me with basic training and beyond in ways I hadn’t anticipated, and it didn’t help in ways I thought it would. In this article, I’ll share some of the things I wish I’d known before I signed up.

Continue reading →

Leadership is not for the faint of heart. Being a leader means more than receiving salutes and getting a special parking space reserved just for you; it also means making difficult decisions and facing intense loneliness.

Now, before we go any further, leadership also brings indescribable (if not always tangible) rewards. After all, if leadership were nothing but one sacrifice after another with no respite, few people would even consider stepping up.

But make no mistake: Being in charge means being responsible. This responsibility can be difficult to deal with on several different levels.

Continue reading →