“False Militarism”: This school of leadership correctly observes that cadets want to be challenged, to be elite, and to feel like the Military. The way to make them feel elite, then, is like the Military - make them feel stupid, and use fear/intimidation tactics break cadets down, then build them back into the image you want. Lots of push-ups are a definite plus.

“Social Activities”: This school correctly observes that cadets often stay in CAP because of the friends they make, so CAP should be a place to meet, greet, have fun, and learn about aerospace. We should all sit around and have a picnic while looking at a model of the solar system.

For a Cadet or Senior who was exposed to False Militarism, and decides that it’s wrong and mean, Social Activities can be appealing. After all, retention, teamwork, and camaraderie are all good things. Cadets who get yelled at quit. Why not skip the bullying, and jump right to the fun stuff? Dances, Banquets, Parties are good activities. Want competition? We’ll have Mini-Golf and Laser Tag. Want Aerospace? We’ll take a week-end trip to visit an Air Force Museum, with plenty of fun along the way.

The problem is, real camaraderie is developed through shared experience. Yes, Encampment, Drill Team, and ES are all tough and take hard work, but it’s through that adversity that real friendships develop. The Leadership Laboratory even goes so far as to say that the lack of a common core of experience is the greatest barrier to communication1. Social Activities completely throws out what False Militarism correctly observed: Cadets want to be challenged, to be elite, and to feel like the Military. It throws out the idea of standards - that in order to best “The Best”, Cadets have to actually be good at something, and that takes work.

Social Activities is just a reflection of what cadets already have in high school - friends, dances, and a few things to learn. I would hold that in order for a program to succeed it needs something different and better than what they already have. In fact, that comes very close to definition of the term Esprit De Corps. I have met more than one person that will talk for hours about how great CAP is, how it changed his/her child, but they don’t realize why. Every school has social activities; CAP offers something different (a military environment and aerospace) to learn. CAP also offers the discipline, teamwork, leadership, organization, and time-management skills to learn and master anything else. To give up on high standards in the name of “not being a bully” is to throw the baby out with the bath-water.

Sure we have fun; but we find the ELT First!

So far we’ve covered a few bad ideas about leadership. Next time, we’ll start to cover the good ones. Until then, if you have a comment or thought, please drop me an email.