The SAR EVAL mission in Bloomington went extremely well. It was the largest SAR we’ve yet had at 147 members participating. Several areas received an outstanding rating including the Shelbyville Ground Team and Ground Ops (were Lt. Col. Seymour and Capt. Reynolds were stationed from our unit). Overall the mission received a satisfactory rating which means the Air Force believes we can accomplish the mission when the time arrives.
184th.com
We have a new domain name: 184th.com.
We have acquired this domain for our future plans to move to our own server and
stop using the Geocities service. For now we have set up www.184th.com to forward to our website on Geocities. In the
future the 184th.com address will serve as our main address when we
move to a new server. When that happens we’ll let you know but until then you
can use either www.184th.com or www.geocities.com/cap12184 to get to our website.
Military.com currently has an
online analysis that will determine which great military general of our past
you most match in leadership style based on how you respond to questions
pertaining to a series of scenarios presented to you
Try for yourself at: http://www.military.com/ResourceContent/?file=lpm_fd.htm
Visit the NASA website to get
your name added to a compact disk of names going to Mars on the 2003 Rover
mission. There is no cost for this and NASA currently has over 1.8 million
names on file. You can learn more and add your name here: spacekids.hq.nasa.gov/2003. After you have submitted your name you can
print out a neat certificate commemorating the event.
Captain Reynolds will be giving a public affairs seminar at the National Boards on Saturday, August 18th. The seminar has been listed in CAP News May 2001 issue and in the National Board fold-out piece mailed to all CAP members. The seminar is listed in these two publications as Develop a Squadron Website to Enhance Public Affairs. At National Boards the PowerPoint is titled Squadron Websites as a Vehicle for Internal and External Public Affairs – you’re not in the wrong room same seminar! To keep track of this seminar and the National Boards in general visit: http://www.capnhq.gov/conference/pages/nb/nationalboard.html
We wanted to let everyone know that a “Summary of Wing/Region Support” document should be circulating with different support areas to volunteer for the National Boards. Areas include transportation, airport duties, communications, and public affairs. Our wing coordinator is Captain Karen Weinkle. If you have questions or would like more information you can contact her at: weinkle@venus.net
Read the
184th Report with a Handheld Device
In January we mentioned that you could read the 184th
Report with any handheld device that supported AvantGo. We have updated our
site with a new Mobile Edition page. This page
will serve as the introduction to anything relating to mobile content available
on our website. For instructions on how to add the 184th Report to
AvantGo visit our instructions page: http://geocities.datacellar.net/cap12184/pda_directions.html
If you haven’t signed up to take the FEMA ICS course then signup online at http://www.fema.gov/EMI/enroll.htm
I am going to write a series of articles for the 184th
report. My first one deals with
recruiting and retention. Now before
your eyes glaze over, read the intro by General Fogleman again. He hits on what I have been preaching about
for years – TAKE CARE OF YOUR PEOPLE.
Without troops to command, you cannot accomplish any mission or
task. Another aphorism that I have is –
“It is no fun being in charge of no one”. If you do not take care of your people, then someone else
will!!! From what I have been reading
in the CAP News and in the e-mail newsletters, it seems like a lot of squadrons
and wings have this problem. What is
the solution? Where do we start to rectify
this dilemma?
I believe that the total
solution lies with, are you ready for this… the Commander. Who is this Commander and what has he done
to the troops? It is a proven fact that
the Commander sets the tone, the attitude, the esprit de corps for the
organization, whether it is a Flight, Squadron, Group, Wing, Region or National. It does not matter where the leader
(Commander) in the chain is. They can
be a cadet or senior. The person
(Commander) above you sets the attitude that you have for you and your
people. In the real world they call
this the trickle down effect, you know poo-poo rolls down hill!!! If you are over the age of six and reading
this then you have experienced this effect.
So how does this apply to
me, you are asking? Civil Air Patrol is
based on the military command structure.
We teach and train people to be leaders. We have a Chain of Command structure just like the military. If you do not believe this, look in the CAPM
20-1. What is lacking in all the
manuals and regulations though, is how do I take care of my troops?
Let me give you an example of
the Caring Chain of Command for taking care of your people:
New Cadet ----------------- Commander:
makes sure everything is right on
the application so that it is processed without delay. Makes sure that everyone else in the chain
“takes care of the New Guy”(non-gender based).
Takes the blame when something goes wrong, after all the Commander is in
charge.
Cadet Commander and Deputy Commander for Cadets: introduce the new cadet to
their staff and give an orientation of the cadet program. What is expected in
the program and how to wear the uniform.
Flight Sergeant/Cadet Commander: works with the cadet to teach them how to
drill.
Supply Officer: looks for uniforms and supplies for the new cadet.
Personnel Officer: makes the Personnel File and ensures all the
proper paperwork is in place.
Testing Officer: makes sure the proper test is administered and records results.
See how this works? See how
many people are involved, just at the Squadron level, in taking care of this
new person? Everyone does their part in
getting a new person into the system so that they can succeed. That is what you really want, for that
person to succeed. If they succeed,
then you succeed. Now, what happens
when one of these people does not take care of the new cadet? Remove one and ask yourself the
question? Lets say the Flight Sergeant
does not teach him how to drill. A few
months later the cadet decides to go to encampment. Can you imagine how this cadet is going to feel after two days of
intense heat from an encampment Flight Sergeant!!! If he does not quit by the end of the week, he will quit within a
couple of months. Why – because someone
did not take care of their troops.
Now, what does this have to do with recruiting and retention? Everything… If someone walks in and wants to
join and they see just a few people in uniform or no uniform, standing around,
no organization – they are going to say I am not wasting my time here. Your recruiting opportunity just walked out the
door. Lets say they looked beyond those
things and joined anyway. In a few
months they are going to walk out the door because no one cared enough to hold
their hand through a transition period.
There goes your retention effort.
Just because you can get someone, does not mean that you are going to
keep him or her.
Command leadership is not about being a hard-ass. One of the most important attributes that a
leader can have is caring about his people.
Caring is just good common sense.
It is treating people with dignity and respect. It is knowing what your missions are and
guiding your people in the right direction to accomplish the missions. Taking care of them along the way. Providing guidance, nurturing, consistency
and the most important – is setting the example so that they have someone to
look up to. Leadership is not knowing
all the answers, leadership is knowing where to go to get them!
Recruiting and retention is not
rocket science. Although rocket
science, through Aerospace Education, can help you retain a recruit, it is about
taking care of the people entrusted in your command. The choice is yours, be a dynamic, supportive, responsible leader
and succeed or be a dull, self-centered individual and fail.
Here are few more quotes to reinforce my opinions:
Leadership is not magnetic personality--that can just as well be a glib
tongue. It is not making friends and influencing people --that is flattery.
Leadership is lifting a person's vision to higher sights, the raising of a
person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond
its normal limitations.
Peter F. Drucker
American Management Consultant, Author
Management works in the system; Leadership works on the system.
Stephen R. Covey,
American Speaker, Trainer, Author of ''The 7 Habits of Highly Effective
People''
True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the
enrichment of the leaders.
Townsend, Robert
American Businessman, President of Avis
The opinions expressed here are those of LTC Mark E. Ashcraft and do
not represent those of Civil Air Patrol or Shelbyville Composite Squadron, for
feedback e-mail me at ltcmark@yahoo.com
Changes to Website: On the Links page: National HQ History page link added
CAP Forms page link added
New Professional Development page
Awards: 1st Lt. Kris Copes – CLC Graduate
Capt. Jeremy Reynolds – CLC Graduate
1st Lt. Matt Skeens – SLS Graduate
New Files: Squadron Website as an Interactive Tool – Word file
AF CSAF Officer Reading List – Word file
AF CSAF Enlisted Reading List – Word file
10 Propositions Regarding Airpower (complete text) – Word file
Sun Tzu “Art of War” (complete text) – Word file
ECI Catalog (complete) – PDF file
Get these files and others like it at: http://geocities.datacellar.net/cap12184/files.htm
July 5: Blue’s
Drill
Testing/Book Time
LD Class
Announcements
July 12: Blue’s (BDU for Cadets)
PT/PT Testing
Admin
ML Class
Announcements
July 19: Blue’s
Inspection
Drill/Flight Time
Review Boards
ES Class
Announcements
July 26: Blue’s (BDU for Cadets)
Inspection
Drill/Flight Time
AE Events
Safety Briefing
AE
Announcements
Other Events
July 14-21 – Type A Encampment – Camp Atterbury more info
July 22-28 – Region Staff College - Grissom
July 28 – WG Staff, CAC (CAC Elections) - Grissom
August 16-18 – National Boards – Cincinnati
August 25 – WG Staff, CAC – Grissom
September 15 – CN Orientation – TBD
September 29 – WG Staff, CAC, Commander’s Call – Grissom
October 20 – Flight Clinic – Purdue University A/P
October 27 – WG Staff, CAC – Grissom
October 27 – Communications Class – Grissom
November 3-4 – CD Training – TBD
November 24 – WG Staff, CAC – Grissom
December 29 – WG Staff, CAC, Commander’s Call - Grissom
For more dates or additional information visit the Indiana Wing Calendar
Visit the Shelbyville Composite Squadron website at: http://geocities.datacellar.net/cap12184
*************
DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in the 184th Report do not reflect the official views and/or position of the US Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force, the Civil Air Patrol or any of its Regions, Wings, Squadrons, and/or Members. In addition, links or references to individuals or companies does not constitute an endorsement of any information, product or service you may receive from such sources.
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