Leadership and the Cadet Leader in Civil Air Patrol

When I joined CAP, I was not quite sure I knew what I was getting into, or what I was going to get out of it. After a while, the program really had put it's hooks into me; I wanted to be a part of it and do well as a member. Now, looking back, I am grateful for the time I was in the Cadet Program. It gave me focus during a period of my life when having focus was crucial. The most important thing I gained from being in the Cadet Program was the ability to develop as a leader.

Let's look at leadership, real leadership.

The road to my becoming an effective leader is one full of successes AND failures: for it is the tale of trial and error; humiliation and validation; discovering and learning. Hopefully, I can help shorten that road for some, by passing along some of the things I learned/witnessed in CAP and in the rest of my life. It is critical to use your time in CAP to learn to be an effective leader.
The following is both a story and a lesson. I'll try to relate some of the concepts behind good leadership and provide an event, some from CAP some not, that directly illustrates what I am talking about. It is important to remember my days in the cadet program are from another era, so some things will seem out of step with what is the norm today.

"A leader is responsible for what his subordinates do or fail to do....."

It all started when I attained the grade of 'buck' sergeant (three stripes). Frankly, being a SGT went to my head. This was because of two reasons:

1) I now out-ranked some of the knuckleheads (A1C's) that were harassing me....

2) I felt I had it made.

Being a sergeant was easy, or so I thought. No more policing details and doing grunt work. Tell 'em what to do and reap the benefits. Hey, just show up and that was it, right? Wrong! The new DC for cadets (I'll call him Lt Rick) had other plans for me and all of the other NCO's. He was military and saw what was going down.

Lt Rick convened a meeting of all the NCO's and promptly informed us that from then on, we were fully responsible for all that occurred within the squadron. He said "don't bother the officers with your problems; we were to solve our problems on our own." Lt Rick knew that the NCO corps was the backbone of the unit, and that if the unit was to perform, the NCO's had to see to it.....

"There are two kinds of failures: Ability and Motivational...."

I was assigned as a Squad Leader and my brother was the Flight Sergeant. This was my first leadership position.
My first challenge, as a leader, was one Cadet Cannon. Cadet Cannon had problems arriving to meetings on-time and, more glaringly, had a sloppy appearance:

Scuffed boots, a smudged-up/un-ironed uniform, missing/incorrectly placed insignia, and..... not the most positive attitude.

My brother and I took the easy route on this:

We felt it our duty to "counsel" Cadet Cannon about his uniform and attendance.

"Counseling" meant spending about 45 seconds brow-beating him for not ironing his uniform, not shining his boots, and being late. None the less, every week, Cadet Cannon was usually late, and usually looked like crap. And every week, Lt Rick had Cadet Cannon's Squad Leader and Flt Sgt in the Front Leaning Rest Position while he queried us as to Cannon's situation. (editor's note: remember this is from a bygone era when it was perfectly normal for seniors to provide cadets with upper body strengthening exercises)

We would tell Lt Rick:

"Sir, we can't get through to him.....Do you want us to go to his house and do it for him?"

Statements like that earned us more time to develop our muscles. Unfortunately, we did not listen to what Lt Rick had to say about getting Cannon squared away. Lt Rick would ask if we had taken the time to find out what the issues that prevented him from being on-time or having his uniform up to speed. Did we properly demonstrate to Cannon the proper way to shine his boots or how to place his insignia correctly on his collar? These questions would fall on deaf ears. We felt it was Cannon's job to know how. Our lame excuse was that we were busy; we had "other cadets to worry about, too." Hey, he had the Leadership Lab book, right?

Shortly thereafter, Cadet Cannon was no more, he simply stopped coming to the meetings.

Some time later, I found out that Cannon was the only boy (and I think the eldest) in a house full of girls, and therefore had a lot of responsibilities to take care of prior to coming to the meetings. Additionally, he would get harassed by some of the neighborhood bullies en-route to the meetings, sometimes getting into scuffles.

He was afraid to tell us this during our "counseling" sessions.

Here was a cadet who wanted to be in the program and endured a lot of crap to be there. What was his "reward" for this effort? An IDIOT for a leader! If I could meet Mr. Cannon today, I would sincerely apologize to him for letting him down so miserably.

Ability failure is where one tries but fails due to lack of knowledge.

Motivational failure is where one fails because he knows how to do a task, but chooses not to do it; or chooses not to learn how.

All Cannon needed was some help. He had the motivation, but I, as a so-called 'leader', failed to provide him the ability he needed to get squared away. Looking back, if I could have a squadron full of Cadet Cannons', we would have been un-stoppable......

"A Leader is not afraid to make a decision"

An FAA radar approach control facility, Autumn, 2001:

Sept 11th had changed everything. No longer was there business as usual in the FAA. The business of moving air traffic in a safe, orderly, and expeditious manner was now being joined with the task of monitoring our skies for hostile aircraft.

One day that fall, a VIP aircraft was inbound to an airport inside restricted airspace. The aircraft had failed to properly provide advanced notice of its arrival. Because of this, there was a strong possibility it would be significantly delayed getting clearance into the airspace. Realizing this ahead of time, the aircraft informed the Air Traffic Control facility of the situation. The aircraft spoke to the supervisor (via a secure link) and inquired about getting authorization for entering the airspace with the VIP. The supervisor had the ability to independently verify the validity of the VIP (and therefore let them enter in a timely manner without encroaching upon security protocol), but, he chose to defer the decision to higher-up. (ed -- passing the buck) Eventually, higher HQ verified the VIP and gave authorization. Why did the supervisor balk at making the decision? Simple:

He was trained to manage, not lead.

Managers don't make waves; they don't make any decision that could put their career in jeopardy. They sit on the proverbial "bomb" and hope it does not 'blow-up' on their watch. They almost always take the safe way out.

The supervisor had the means to verify the VIP's authenticity to let it land without circumventing any procedures, yet, doing this would be making a decisive decision at a critical moment; something he would not risk doing.

There's more to this concept.....

Fort McCoy, WI. July, 1985:

I was a young, newly appointed, rifle platoon leader serving in an Infantry Battalion. We were in the field for our Annual Training (AT). The company's officer corps was brand new. This was our company's first AT under a new CO and new Platoon Leaders. The CO was an artillery officer, new to the infantry. The NCO corps had been around for a while and was not looking forward to dealing with green officers.....

Our company was at an assembly area waiting to move to our position in the battalion's defensive line. There was a leaders meeting with the CO, XO, 1SG, and the Platoon Leaders. The CO stated that at 2000 hours, we would jump off and start the movement to our final positions. This would get us into the area before it got dark. He then stated that he would be heading to battalion HQ for a meeting and would return NLT 1930 to lead the movement. The XO asked the CO:

"Sir, should you not return by 1950, should we leave with out you?"

The CO replied:

"I'll be back by 1930, don't leave...."

The XO continued:

"I understand that, sir, but battalion wants us in position before dark. Do you want us to leave if you are not back by 1950?"

"I'll be back...don't leave....."

Needless to say, 1930 came and went with no word from the CO. After some time, the 1SG looked at the XO with the look of "LT, it will be dark soon, you'd better think of something quick...."

At 2000, the XO informed the 1SG and the Platoon Leaders that the company would move out ASAP. The company subsequently arrived a little late, but, there was enough light to get everything squared away properly.

At 2045, the CO arrives at our area and promptly demanded to know why we did not wait for him back at the assembly area.......

The XO made a decisive decision based upon the situation at hand. The order from higher HQ was to be in place before nightfall. It did not say that you were to wait for late commanders or any stragglers. The XO decided that the mission dictated that he move the company, in spite of what the CO wished. The XO did the right thing. The XO's decisive action was well received by the 1SG and the others.....

End of Part I

from part II - During this same time at Ft McCoy, I had my own leadership challenges to deal with....