Capt Arthur E. Woodgate, Editor

Feedback and Trust

I thank you for sharing this feedback with me and the Group III Staff. We are here to serve you, not dictate to you. Please help us serve you better.

Lt Col Owen Younger, Commander

Tertia semper primoris

CAP's Non-Discrimination Policy

CAPR 36-2 requires that commanders at all level brief members once a year on CAP's non-discrimination policy. The Acting National Commander's memo on this subject is attached. Please read this communication, follow its advice, and feel free to ask if there's any part of it that you do not understand.

The Civil  Air Patrol is committed to creating a level field for all, no matter what differences might exist between individuals. All that matters is that CAP members have joined to serve the community and help the Civil Air Patrol achieve its national and local objectives. As members of the team, each one of us has a role to play, and none of us is less important than the others.

Capt Arthur E. Woodgate, Editor

A Change of Duty

Capt Arthur E. Woodgate, Editor

Open Group III Staff Positions

Capt Eric Martin, CS

My Little Treo Trick, 19-20 January

1st Lt Ferril Ford, Kittinger Phantom SS (and Capt Arthur E. Woodgate)

Lt Col Brooks Cima, DES

Group III Patch Available

Are you on Group III Staff? Wear the Group III Staff patch proudly. At $5.00 each, they are a bargain and show your commitment to Group III and the CAP program. (Click on the image for a larger view.)

Group III Coins Available      Our mint has delivered a batch of new Group III Commemorative Coins, and you may own as many as you wish, for $10.00 each. They make wonderful gifts for your loved ones ... or even yourself. (Click on the images for larger views of the obverse and reverse.) To purchase either Group III Patches or Group III Coins, please contact Maj Laurie Lancaster - laurielancaster@yahoo.com

Maj Laurie Lancaster, FO

2d Lt Don Gulliksen, HGO

Cutting the High Cost of Hosting a Website

A few years ago, many people thought that the Internet was a passing fad, doomed from the start. Therefore (or so they reasoned), all they had to do was wait and it would go away.

Folks, that's not how it was, and it's a good thing that these doubters didn't hold their breath. The Internet has grown at a much faster pace than many thought possible, and has spawned a whole galaxy of (profitable) businesses totally dependent on it. We, in the Civil Air Patrol, have a membership that, for the most part, would find it extremely difficult to function without the Internet. And, if your squadron wants to make its mark, you've got to have a unit website.

I've heard two main objections to having a website. These are:

1. We have no one on staff capable of designing it, coding it, and maintaining it.

2. Hosting a website is too expensive.

The answer to question #1 is easy. Your Group III ITO will be happy to design you a website that you can populate with your data. It will be simple to maintain, attractive, and useful. Just ask and it'll be yours. And if you don't know how to maintain it and upload the pages, I'll be glad to show you. But you've got to make a date and come to Dripping Springs, TX, the self-proclaimed Gateway to the Hill Country, near Austin.

Now, moving right along, let's deal with question #2. It's amazing how much you learn by signing up to and following the threads in a professional listserv. Recently I learned that Dreamhost – http://www.dreamhost.com/ – has a free-for-life deal for hosting non-profit organizations. And CAP, by definition, is non-profit, since we're all volunteers. Just contact them and ask them.

If you have any more questions, or would like some help, please contact me. As the webmaster, my e-mail address is at the bottom of every page on this website.

Arthur E. Woodgate, ITO

1st Lt Vanessa Smith, PDO
 tx438pdo@yahoo.com

Mesquite Blacksheep Raises A New Voice...

Capt Arthur E. Woodgate, Group III PAO

Texas Wing Winter Encampment, 26-31 December

CAMP SWIFT, TX – Texas Wing had held many encampments before, but this one was special – and also innovative. No, they didn’t teach anything different, nor was the routine altered significantly. The differences lay below the surface, unnoticed by the cadet basics who, the same as those who had come before, suffered the stress and tumult of what – to them – seemed like ultra fast, barely organized chaos.

The seeds for the changes introduced this time had been planted months – even years – before, when the top cadet leadership began to argue in favor of a cadet-planned and cadet-organized encampment, not just a cadet-led activity. This cadet dream became a reality with the 2007 Winter Encampment. The participants came from all over Texas Wing, as well as from other Wings as far as Colorado and Florida, North Carolina and Vermont.

Starting in September 2007, the selected Cadet Commander and his cadet staff had started assembling the many administrative and logistic details that would be needed to run a successful encampment. They had done this on their own, and that is what they unveiled on the first day of encampment. Following the usual curriculum was not difficult, since they had worked many previous encampments already, and they had the hands-on part down pat.

Were the cadets successful? Yes, they were. Were they perfect? No, they were not, but few human endeavors ever are. The cadet basics, unaware of what was going on, had no idea that this particular encampment would test not only them, but also their cadet leaders. And, overall, both trainees and trainers succeeded admirably.

The cadets were not without supervision, but the adult participants were designated as “mentors” rather than supervisors. These adults were given the specific job of advising, counseling, and avoiding any unsafe activity, leaving the implementation to the cadet leaders themselves.

There were some areas that, through necessity, needed adult-only leadership and action. The Chaplain, for instance, could not be substituted by a cadet. The medical officer, given the specialized training required, also needed to be a licensed adult. The range officer had to a certified instructor himself, and no cadet can achieve that rating. And public affairs, by CAP regulations, had to be in the hands of a qualified adult. But these were the exceptions, not the rule.

In conjunction with the basic encampment, Texas Wing ran an Advanced Training Squadron (ATS), using a curriculum designed to train the trainers of tomorrow. Cadets who had already attended a basic encampment – and had demonstrated a desired level of proficiency and maturity certified at the squadron level – were gathered in a squadron divided into two flights, with each flight divided into two sections.

The ATS participants got a first-hand view at the complexities hidden behind the simple routine of the cadet basics’ daily life. The study and understanding of this view was their homework, which they needed to describe, practice and suggest improvements to. In the process, they were required to maintain a very high level of achievement themselves.

“A leader cannot lead from behind” was said and repeated often. If the cadet basics did Physical Training (PT), ATS students had to do “Extreme PT” in order to reach a higher level of strength, agility and endurance. It was the same with learning. If the cadet basics had to study their lessons as individuals, ATS students had to figure out how to motivate others to carry out a given task. The leadership effort required increased as the given tasks became more demanding and complex.

The Basic Encampment progressed just like any other, enjoying the usual dry weather than comes with early winter in Central Texas. The National Guard facility used for this encampment is set in a pleasant wooded campus, but the buildings were showing their age. In some, the heating didn’t work, so they couldn’t be used for billets, given the weather at that time of year. However, there were enough working buildings to house all, an arrangement far better than operating out of tents.

As he did during the 2007 Summer Encampment, Chaplain (Maj) Ron Whitt offered a short devotional in the evening, just before lights-out. This was one of the few opportunities for relaxation given to the cadet basics. A number of ATS students, who had been cadet basics themselves a few months before in the summer encampment, also chose to attend this voluntary activity.

As always, within a very short time, the members of each flight developed a sense of belonging, and learned to trust each other. The spirit of team work became commonplace, as cadets relied on one another to do the right thing. Some were not up to the high level of accomplishment required of them, but they got help from those around them. This is how enduring friendships are made, and then kept through the years. This is how the team finds its optimum level, and helps the underachiever rise to that level.

Centuries ago, the military started the tradition of Dining In, in full dress uniform, under the most trying of circumstances, even in the wilderness, as a reminder of who they were, and what they needed to accomplish, a ritual held in the valued company of their peers. The Dining Out came later, when spouses were invited and some of the harsher aspects of the proceedings were toned down. The encampment’s Dining In came on the last night, and it broke the ice for many, consolidated friendships, and gave confidence to all. They were united in singleness of purpose.

Click here to see the action and hear the sounds of the 2007 Texas Wing Winter Encampment, as created by C/2d Lt Stephen Miller and the Cadet PAO Team. This 15-minute production is in Windows Movie format. This file is 132MB in size; you might want to download it and play it locally, otherwise it'll take a while before it loads enough of it so it can play.

Throughout their stay at encampment, the cadets had practiced their drill and ceremonies daily, preparing to pass in review in front of the reviewing officer, Wing Commander Col Joe R. Smith, and the Encampment Commander, Col R. Frank Eldridge. This always comes at the end of encampment, at noon of the last day. As usual, the cadets did just fine as they filed past the reviewing stand in good order, while their parents watched them proudly from the side.

In some cases, parents had brought tender children to the encampment, yet a mere six days later returned to retrieve them – and found them turning into young men and women. Strenuous activity, heavy tasks, difficult choices have that effect on young persons. Best of all, as they started on their way home, each one thought that the experience had been beneficial. This was a new point of view for many, conceived in their new-found self-sufficiency.

Capt Arthur E. Woodgate, PAO Mentor

The 2007 Texas Wing Winter Encampment in the News, 26-31 December

CAMP SWIFT, TX – The Cadet PAO Team wrote six articles describing what it was like to be at the encampment "at the receiving end." Unless they deal with a major disaster, CAP news are not all that popular with news editors, but this time the papers were charmed by the guileless prose that the cadet PAOs produced. And they published the story.

It is revelatory that although excellent images accompanied each article submission, most papers chucked the pictures and kept the prose – I'm sure it was a matter of space availability, and the words were the best part. Many newspapers run an online extract of the paper, and these show up easily in a Google search. Some of the others that only publish a paper copy have the courtesy of sending the paper to us.

• San Marcos Record - Day 1 – If the link at left fails, here's the saved copy.

• San Marcos Record - Day 3.– If the link at left fails, here's the saved copy.

• San Marcos Record - Day 5.– If the link at left fails, here's the saved copy.

• Tyler Paper - Entire series – If the link at left fails, here's the saved copy.

• Wilson County News - Day 1 (others may appear later) – If the link at left fails, here's the saved copy.

• Targeted News Service - Waco

• And, on 4 January 2008, our very own CAP National News Online, whose editor chose to group all photos under one heading, and present the articles in the plain and candid garb of only their words, paid the young authors the ultimate compliment – publication on a national vehicle:

  • Texas cadets end year with busy Winter Encampment - the entire series, words only.

  • Photos document full range of Texas Wing Winter Encampment activities - the photos (with captions).

• HighBeam - Day 1 -

The second installment came in the mail last week (click on the image at right). I am delighted that the cadets' work is getting published so widely, but then again I don't find this all that surprising. The principles of the job are still unchanged – quality sells.

Capt Arthur E. Woodgate

Honor Cadet List, 2007 Texas Wing Winter Encampment, 26-31 December

(Photos: 2007 Winter Encampment Cadet PAO Team)