On October 30, 2002, I officially relinquished command of Gretna Cadet Squadron. Although this decision was voluntary, it was an abrupt decision, so afterwards, I began to feel regret for making this decision. I also spent a lot of time thinking about things that I would have done differently if I could re-live the part of my life where I served as Cadet Commander. So, here are the top ten items that I would have done differently:

10. Plan more activities for the cadets. I've learned that cadets are most happy when they are active. I've also learned that you need to step up to the plate, plan the activity, and present it to the Senior Members. The Senior Members will not plan everything for you.

9. Looked at situations differently so that I could see the problem before it became a problem and was harder to fix. Most of the problems I experienced with cadets occurred once the situation was too complicated, and thus harder to fix. Because of this, some drastic situations had to take place, and I wound up having a couple of cadets transfer out of the squadron because of this.

8. Realized that even though it is proper to give your cadets a chance to do things before yourself, you still need to do activities also. Every time an activity occurred, I let the cadets do everything before myself out of common courtesy. But by the time my turn for the activity arrived, there was not enough time to participate. Because of this CAP became very dull. Realize that you need to have some fun, too.

7. Delegate more authority to more people. For most of my time as Cadet Commander, I found myself doing all of the work. Because of this, I got burned out by the end of my term. If I would have delegated a significant amount of the responsibility, it would have made my life a lot less stressful.

6. Got over my fear of those below me doing the job not as efficiently as myself. This ties in with number 7 because I always thought that I could do everything quicker and better than anybody else, so I would do the job. But then I learned that nobody else gets any experience in being a leader if this is the case. Let the item that needs to be done take a little more time, and one cadet will have a little more experience because of it.

5. Stop worrying about pleasing all of the people all of the time. I've learned that you can please some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time. I think that the time spent worrying about pleasing everybody could have been spent doing what was good for the squadron as a whole.

4. Been more organized. I often found myself in a situation where paperwork couldn't be found, which presented a problem. Although I had a file box system in place for myself, I should have kept it more updated.

3. Listen to the Senior Members. Instead of procrastinating some of things that the Senior Member's said, I would listen to their advice. I've learned that Senior Members usually have much more experience than you do, and most of the time, their advice is the best course of action. Now, I'm not saying that I would follow the Senior Members blindly, but I would take their advice more into consideration and revise it to fit exactly what I wanted. Also, take the time to thank Senior Members fairly often. Many cadets do not realize the sacrifice that they go through to make CAP fun for us, and by thanking them for what they do, they are willing to do more for the cadets.

2. Be in the room every time a cadet is being promoted. I've learned that one of the greatest aspects of being a Cadet Commander is seeing a cadet succeed under your influence.

And the Number One Thing I Wish I'd Done Differently as Cadet Commander:

1. Enjoy every day of being a Cadet Commander. I've learned that it is important to run each meeting to the fullest, because before you know it, you know longer have control of what occurs. Get everything done that you want to happen, but also step back and just enjoy the success of your squadron.