Is fourteen years old too old to start Civil Air Patrol?

[Lisa R.]

My ds is losing interest in Boy Scouts. (This is unrelated and coincidental with recent Boy Scout vote.) We would like him to finish as we know it is common to lose interest at this age even though he is less than a year from Eagle.

 

However, he has expressed interest in CAP and has an interest in aviation. We have a highly recommended patrol fairly near us.

 

Is he too old to join and effectively advance in CAP? He will be entering ninth grade in the fall.

 

 

[rjand6more]

He is not too old. My nephew started at the end of 8th grade. He has advanced quickly and is now what my sister in law says is the equivalent of Eagle Scout.

[In The Great White North]

I've seen 16 & 17 year olds join CAP. It takes 38 months to make it through all the ranks (Spaatz), if a cadet promotes on time every time. It's a lot of work to promote on time every time, but can be done.

 

The "Eagle equivalent" is Mitchell, which takes 18 months.

 

Here's the "superchart" which spells out the requirements for each promotion:

 

http://www.capmembers.com/file.cfm/media/blogs/documents/Cadet_Super_Chart__low_1BBD4C1E6F725.pdf

[Onceuponatime]

My ds is losing interest in Boy Scouts. (This is unrelated and coincidental with recent Boy Scout vote.) We would like him to finish as we know it is common to lose interest at this age even though he is less than a year from Eagle.

 

However, he has expressed interest in CAP and has an interest in aviation. We have a highly recommended patrol fairly near us.

 

Is he too old to join and effectively advance in CAP? He will be entering ninth grade in the fall.

 

My ds joined at 14 and made it all the way to the Mitchell Award just before he graduated. He enjoyed it.

[Murphy101]

It's pretty typical for 14 yr olds to join.

[Teresa in MO]

Could someone tell me the time commitment involved in CAP?

[Murphy101]

It depends on the squadron.

 

Ours meets for 3-4 hours once a week, plus other events throughout the year.

 

It's less time consuming than scouts, if that helps to know.

[Mnemosyne]

I joined at 15, and it wasn't an issue. In some way, I felt I was able to take advantage of the different opportunities (flying, SAR, teaching) more than the younger cadets.

 

Meetings were 3 hours a week with occasional weekends and optional summer encampments. My state also held the Western Cadet Academy once a month which was like a weekend long (voluntary) encampment. Other than the meetings, nothing is required, though. And more options are available - SAR, for example, could have your son out quite often for call-outs, but that's of course totally voluntary as well.

[Matryoshka]

What does Civil Air Patrol do exactly? Someone mentioned this to me recently; I'd never heard of it. My nephew is really into airplanes/aerospace type stuff. Is there some kind of expectation that the kids will join the armed services someday?

[K&Rs Mom]

The "Eagle equivalent" is Mitchell, which takes 18 months.

 

Eagle "equivalent" is Spaatz. Mitchell just means you become a cadet officer.

 

On the OP, 14 is certainly not too old. Cadets can join anytime before their 18th bday and remain a cadet until they turn 21, so even a 17yo joining has a few years to progress through the ranks. There's far more to it than rank, though - it's an amazing program and he'll learn a ton.

[K&Rs Mom]

What does Civil Air Patrol do exactly? Someone mentioned this to me recently; I'd never heard of it. My nephew is really into airplanes/aerospace type stuff. Is there some kind of expectation that the kids will join the armed services someday?

 

Many kids go on to the military after having a "taste" of it in CAP. Certainly not all, though. There are probably stats on their website. Just like every other organization, there's a huge difference between different local units. Some do a lot of aerospace, others are more focused on the military/drill aspect, others on emergency services. Even outside the local unit, there are options at the state and national level, and if a kid wants to learn to fly this is likely the cheapest opportunity: summer solo school is 2 weeks, and you do ground school and actually make a solo takeoff/landing, and hours count toward a private pilot license.

[K&Rs Mom]

double post

[higginszoo]

My experience was similar to Fiona's, except I was almost 16 when I joined. It would have been pretty tough for me to get Mitchell, etc. (though you can continue in the cadet program until 21, so it would have been possible), but I DID get to do a lot more with SAR and various other programs because of my age. I really enjoyed CAP, but being a military brat made it hard to continue, as we were PCSing every 18 mo in my teen years, and one place had a squadron that I could get to, but the next duty station didn't have one close enough to continue.

[In The Great White North]

Eagle "equivalent" is Spaatz. Mitchell just means you become a cadet officer.

 

All of the college apps we've filled out/ adcoms we talked to equated Mitchell to Eagle.

[Lisa R.]

Thanks for all the replies. All this is encouraging to hear.