Abbeygurl4 Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Anyone have experience with the Civil Air Patrol? I was looking into it for my 13 yo ds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besroma Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Our family hasn't participated, but we know quite a few children of our friends who have. The unit was in NC and they only had positive things to say about it. We were quite impressed by the level of responsibility they expected from them, and by the stories they told of their experiences with CAP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjand6more Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Anyone have experience with the Civil Air Patrol? I was looking into it for my 13 yo ds. My nephew just returned from encampment with CAP. He has been involved for a little more than a year and he loves it. He is 14. His unit seems to be very active. He has taken lots of training stuff and has increased rank quickly. He has had a VERY positive experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
higginszoo Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 My older ds has been involved for a little over a year and is his squadron's flight sergeant. My little guy is anxiously waiting for his twelfth birthday so that he can join. Dd tried it but decided not to join. It's a great for leadership and discipline, and they get science and physical fitness as well. My ds's favorite part has been the state encampments. He went through Cadet Basic Training in December and then went back this summer to staff (he was in the kitchens and worked hard, but loved it). I was a cadet as a teen and enjoyed most of it (I wasn't a big fan of the marching ... there's lots of marching, but I was willing to do the marching to get to do the fun search and rescue and flying and rocketry stuff). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyndiLJ Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 As Margaret mentioned, our son Matthew has been in Civil Air Patrol for a year. He is highly motivated, and wanted to be part of this group for several years, and hopes to use it as a path to earning his pilot's license before graduating high school. He is just entering 8th grade. This has been one of the best things any of our kids have been involved in. Matt has grown so much this past year, and I see the leadership training and organizational skills that are encouraged coming into play every day. He has had five rank advancements, which is a lot, and has been very diligent with the curriculum. I see him carrying himself differently, and gaining confidence in addressing adults and others. Matt is a quiet kid, and while not shy he has always lacked confidence in this area. The curriculum they use is terrific, and is heavy on the sciences for aerospace and technology. Any youth will gain a lot from moving through it. The cadets also explore many, many areas of aviation, and are able to explore different careers to see if it is a fit for them. There are numerous camp opportunities, including ones that focus on a variety of aviation areas such as manufacturing, flying, etc. There is even a cyber security program for those cadets who are interested in computers, which our son is going to try and participate in when old enough. I highly recommend Civil Air Patrol to anyone whose child is interested in it. It is similar to Scouts in that it has advancement opportunities and group activities along with a curriculum to use, but is for those kids for whom camping is not a big draw. I wish I could find something similar for all our kids, but alas...none of the others are the military type! Haha! Warmly, Cindy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Running the race Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 As Margaret mentioned, our son Matthew has been in Civil Air Patrol for a year. He is highly motivated, and wanted to be part of this group for several years, and hopes to use it as a path to earning his pilot's license before graduating high school. He is just entering 8th grade. This has been one of the best things any of our kids have been involved in. Matt has grown so much this past year, and I see the leadership training and organizational skills that are encouraged coming into play every day. He has had five rank advancements, which is a lot, and has been very diligent with the curriculum. I see him carrying himself differently, and gaining confidence in addressing adults and others. Matt is a quiet kid, and while not shy he has always lacked confidence in this area. The curriculum they use is terrific, and is heavy on the sciences for aerospace and technology. Any youth will gain a lot from moving through it. The cadets also explore many, many areas of aviation, and are able to explore different careers to see if it is a fit for them. There are numerous camp opportunities, including ones that focus on a variety of aviation areas such as manufacturing, flying, etc. There is even a cyber security program for those cadets who are interested in computers, which our son is going to try and participate in when old enough. I highly recommend Civil Air Patrol to anyone whose child is interested in it. It is similar to Scouts in that it has advancement opportunities and group activities along with a curriculum to use, but is for those kids for whom camping is not a big draw. I wish I could find something similar for all our kids, but alas...none of the others are the military type! Haha! Warmly, Cindy Cindy gave a great description. My son is in a squadron. He's been a member for two years. It has been a great experience for him. He has had to stretch way outside his comfort zone. My son's favorite part has been the aviation component. We also have a local glider squadron, and he has the opportunity on a weekly basis to learn to fly a glider. Through CAP he has developed an interest in Emergency Preparedness. He did all his CPR/AED training, finished CERT training, and took advantage of numerous other opportunities. He has also gone to Encampment and Non-Commissioned Officer school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 I'm interested as well, although ds is only 8, I think he would love this sort of group and I've only heard good things. Our closest group is about 40 minutes away iirc. Something to look forward to it seems! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltahotelfoxtrot Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Abbeygurl4, CAP is a great program with a long proud history. I am sure people’s experiences are going to vary from squadron to squadron but overall I would recommend it. I was a 1LT at the Pope AFB Squadron in North Carolina. Like a few people have mentioned CAP has a few different focuses. The aerospace education is a great experience, our cadets would do model rockets, JROTC style classes, and they got to do orientation flights where they would go fly in CAP airplanes with some of the adult members of the squadron. I mostly focused on the Emergency Services part of CAP, kind of like a flying volunteer firefighter. Our interested cadets learned how to use direction finding equipment to help located downed aircraft, basic life saving stuff like CPR training etc. I am going to encourage my DDs and DS to do it when they get old enough since they won’t be able to do a more traditional JROTC experience like they would in public school. I would recommend going to your nearest squadron and try it out for a couple visits to just see how your DS likes it. Their website is also very informative and helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyndiLJ Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Cindi, how often does your squadron meet? Once a week? I sure wish you were closer than 65 miles away! Yes, Margaret, they meet once a week on Thursday nights from 7-9 pm. Matt is also in their Honor Guard and they meet for an hour beforehand to practice. They have a few activities outside the regular meetings, but not too many, which actually is better for us as our family time together is important and we are trying to make certain that we don't have kids spread all over the place every night of the week. As they get older, I know that will be harder, but CAP has just the right amount of activity for us. One thing we were pleased to find was that at the time Matthew joined our local squadron, well over a third of the cadets were homeschooled! It was funny, we went for their orientation meeting, and in watching the cadets who were presenting, I leaned over to Matthew and whispered "That one's homeschooled...that one is too...so is that one!". When we asked later about it, I was right on the money. It was my first experience being able to see HSers and PSers side by side in any numbers, and being able to see the contrast in the subtle things, like how they interacted with adults, how they carried themselves, even how they sat in their chairs. Funny too, it must have showed in Matthew because out of the blue that night one of the young cadet leaders came up to him and asked "Are you homeschooled?"...hahaha! I was glad to see that even after only two years of homeschooling and 5 years of PSing behind him, Matt was already "marked". For others reading this, I was told by their commanding officer that overall, the HSing cadets always do significantly better, as they have the time to actually work on their promotion curriculum, and they tend to take it all more seriously. And I too wish we lived closer than 65 miles away!!! ;) Cindy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchel210 Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 My son loved it. He got to fly a lot. Our squadron was the largest in FL. My son got to fly in cesenas and gliders. My son ended up quitting last year as he was having a lot of trouble keeping up with school work and the time involved in CAP but most kids shouldnt have those issues. They have tests online that you take...you read and study and then take the tests and other days you take tests in the meetings. They have to do specific requirements for fitness like run the mile, push ups etc. I think it is amazing and your kids really learn a lot about being responsible and organizing-commanding. If they do decide to go into the military they also have the opportunity to go in at a much higher rank. My son also finished 200 community service hours in the 2 years he was in. I highly recommend joining. Plus if you are interested...they always are asking parents to join as well. THey have encampments that the kids and parents that are in CAP can go on (only parents that are participating members go on these). They are like Bootcamps but the kids really enjoy them and you learn a lot. They also have summer camps that specialize in specific careers or military tracks that you can go on for a very minimal price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
higginszoo Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I am going to encourage my DDs and DS to do it when they get old enough since they won’t be able to do a more traditional JROTC experience like they would in public school. My ds's squadron is about half homeschoolers, with most of the rest private schooled (and the new Cadet CO goes to a charter school), so my ds and one of his friends have started referring to it as 'homeschool JROTC'. Not strictly accurate, but sometimes it seems like it. There's a big press to get O flights in before NavCon in September or October, and a lot of them will be during the day, even after school starts, because 2 of the senior member pilots are retired, and many of the cadets are more available during the day than in the evenings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abbeygurl4 Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 Thank you for all the replies. I'm feeling very encouraged! My ds desperately needs to be involved in something and CAP seems perfect. There is a squad very close to us that we will try. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuirkyKidAcademy Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Is 12yo the eligible age? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchel210 Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 yes. 12 and up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymonkeybug Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Our son is interested in getting involved in our local Squadron. Something else to think about, there is the Sea Cadet Program the Navy league sponsors. There is a link to the National page in my signature below. My son has been in for 3 years now and LOVES it. I won't hijack your post about Sea Cadets since you asked about CAP. If you have any questions though, feel free to PM me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuirkyKidAcademy Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 yes. 12 and up Thanks! DS will be 12yo next summer. DH is a pilot, so DS has lots of exposure to planes, jets in particular, but it sounds like CAP would be worth exploring - since other people would be instructing, not just Dad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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