The Cadet Program We Once Had
For those who joined Civil Air Patrol in the past thirty years, the Cadet Program developed under Jack Sorenson in the 1960s may be unfamiliar. That program, which served CAP for nearly four decades, was much simpler than the one we know today. Yet it produced generations of capable young leaders, including many who went on to distinguished careers in the military, aviation, public service, and other fields.
The Sorenson-era program had fifteen achievements and two milestone awards, the Mitchell and Earhart. The achievements through Mitchell required cadets to pass two 25-question, closed-book multiple-choice examinations, one in leadership and one in aerospace. The achievements after Mitchell also required two tests, one in leadership and one covering a staff role (SDA). The Mitchell Award included a comprehensive 100-question aerospace examination, while the Earhart Award required a corresponding examination in leadership.
The curriculum was relatively modest. Leadership instruction was drawn from two short manuals, and aerospace education reflected advancements only through the mid-1970s. Administration was straightforward: pass the tests, meet the mile run, attendance, and time-in-grade requirements, and promote.
Contrast that with the current Cadet Program, which relies on far more testing, covering a much larger body of material. What was once a relatively modest academic requirement has grown into an extensive curriculum, with examinations and other academic assessments accounting for the lion’s share of advancement requirements.
Testing has its place in the Cadet Program. Cadets need foundational knowledge in leadership and aerospace education, and examinations provide a means of measuring their understanding. But passing tests is only one measure of development, and testing has overshadowed the ‘leadership laboratory’ that Sorenson built and that worked so well for so long.
What if CAP reduced the volume of academic testing and placed greater emphasis on action? What if advancement reflected not only what cadets know, but also what cadets actually do — their participation, experience, and demonstrated accomplishments?
The following proposal offers a model for doing exactly that.
A Simpler Four-Year Cadet Program
The proposed Cadet Program is designed around a cadet who joins at age fourteen. Such a cadet can complete the program and earn the Spaatz Award around age eighteen. It consists of fourteen achievements organized into four phases, each phase representing a year in the program. Each achievement results in a promotion, and each year-long phase concludes with a milestone award. The minimum time required to complete the program, from joining CAP to earning the Spaatz Award, is four years.The four phases reflect the cadet’s developing role in the organization:
- Phase I — Team Member (C/AB through C/SrA): Cadets learn to participate, follow instructions, develop basic skills, and contribute to the squadron.
- Phase II — Team Leader (C/SSgt through C/SMSgt): Cadets begin exercising authority within the squadron, instructing others, and leading small groups as NCOs.
- Phase III — Unit Leader (C/CMSgt through C/1st Lt): Cadets develop the ability to lead and supervise the squadron, progressing from senior NCO responsibilities into cadet officer roles.
- Phase IV — Organization Leader (C/Capt through C/Lt Col): Cadets move beyond the squadron, developing through service at encampments, major activities, and higher organizational levels.
Phase IV concludes with the Spaatz Award and promotion to C/Col.
Phases I and II each contain four achievements, with a minimum of three months between promotions. Phases III and IV contain three achievements each, with a minimum of four months between promotions. This creates a predictable progression, and with minimum-time promotions, the milestone awards mark the end of each year.
The requirements are also simplified, but this does not make promotion automatic or even easier. Rather than requiring cadets to complete numerous academic and administrative tasks, the achievements focus on a smaller number of leadership and aerospace lessons, followed by Staff Duty Analyses in the later phases. The milestone awards establish broader participation and developmental requirements that cadets must satisfy as they progress through the program.
Time in grade establishes the minimum period in which cadets can develop and demonstrate the required capabilities. Advancement still depends on satisfactory performance.
The intent is to make the advancement system easier to understand and administer while ensuring that each promotion represents meaningful progress in the cadet’s development.
What Every Cadet Needs to Know
The academic curriculum is the best opportunity to simplify the Cadet Program. Rather than requiring cadets to study a huge collection of leadership and aerospace materials, the proposed program concentrates on a smaller body of functional knowledge.
Leadership education consists of six chapters, progressing from individual responsibility to organizational leadership:
- Followership and Self-Discipline (C/AB): Personal responsibility, military customs, discipline, teamwork, and effective followership.
- Introduction to Leadership (C/A1C): Leadership principles, communication, setting an example, and influencing others.
- Leading a Team (C/SSgt): Giving instructions, teaching skills, delegating tasks, and supervising small groups.
- NCO Leadership (C/MSgt): Developing subordinates, enforcing standards, mentoring, and exercising responsibility within the chain of command.
- Unit Leadership (C/CMSgt): Planning, organizing, decision-making, coordinating activities, and transitioning from NCO to officer responsibilities.
- Organizational Leadership (C/1st Lt): Leading through subordinate leaders, staff coordination, organizational effectiveness, and preparing for responsibilities beyond the squadron.
Aerospace education consists of four chapters covering the fundamental ideas every CAP cadet should understand:
- How Flying Works (C/Amn): The basic principles of lift, propulsion, rocketry, and orbital dynamics.
- The History of Flight (C/SrA): The development of aviation and spaceflight, from early experiments and the Wright brothers through the space race.
- The History and Role of the Air Force (C/TSgt): The development of American airpower, the establishment of the independent Air Force, and its role in national defense.
- The Importance of Aerospace Power and Technology (C/SMSgt): How military and civilian aviation, space operations, and aerospace technology contribute to national security, economic activity, and modern society.
Staff Duty Analyses (SDAs) continue leadership development in the cadet officer grades. Beginning with individual staff responsibilities, these assignments progress to broader organizational functions. Cadets investigate officer responsibilities, evaluate organizational practices, and report their findings. Four progressively demanding subjects correspond to increasing grade and responsibility:
- Staff Officer Responsibilities (C/2d Lt): Investigate a squadron staff position, its duties, and its contribution to unit effectiveness.
- Planning and Supervision (C/Capt): Examine how officers plan activities, organize resources, and supervise personnel; evaluate a unit activity or process.
- Command and Staff Coordination (C/Maj): Investigate how commanders coordinate staff functions, establish priorities, and make decisions; analyze an organizational problem.
- Organizational Leadership (C/Lt Col): Examine higher-level organizational planning, resource allocation, and coordination; evaluate an organizational issue and recommend improvements.
These academic requirements establish a common foundation concentrated on essential knowledge. Reducing the volume of required academic instruction and testing makes room for additional requirements to participate in activities outside the squadron, complete service and STEM programs, and gain practical experience. The result places greater emphasis on participation, application, and personal development.
Milestone Awards: Recognizing Experience and Accomplishment
The four milestone awards mark the completion of one phase and the cadet’s readiness to advance to the next. Rather than requiring testing of minutiae that may have been learned many months earlier, they evaluate participation, experience, and accomplishment.
For these requirements, a ‘program’ may be a standalone activity or a structured course of study completed at the home squadron, such as the Model Rocketry Program. Cadets are not required to travel to a separate activity to satisfy every educational program requirement.
These milestone requirements are deliberately varied. They expose cadets to different aspects of CAP, encourage exploration of individual interests, and establish increasingly demanding expectations for participation and leadership. They also ensure that milestone awards represent more than memorization and testing.
The Wright Brothers Award, at the end of Phase I, recognizes the cadet’s successful introduction to CAP. In addition to completing the four achievements, the cadet must attend at least 75 percent of unit meetings during the preceding three months, participate in two activities outside regular squadron meetings, and complete a STEM-related program or activity. These requirements establish the expectation that membership involves active participation beyond weekly meetings.
The Mitchell Award, at the end of Phase II, recognizes successful development as a cadet NCO. The cadet must complete an encampment; attend an NCO leadership school or similar activity, or satisfactorily serve in an NCO leadership capacity at a squadron, encampment, or Cadet Special Activity (CSA); and complete another STEM-related program or CSA since earning the Wright Brothers Award.
The Mitchell Award grade now becomes C/CMSgt, and promotion to C/2d Lt moves to the next achievement. When the original achievement structure was established, the cadet grades included a warrant officer grade and fewer NCO grades than today’s structure. When Mitchell was created, there were seven promotions before the award and seven promotions after. The current progression includes nine enlisted grades before C/2d Lt and only six after. The Cadet Program is being forced to conform to a military grade structure that was not designed for CAP.
Moving Mitchell to C/CMSgt rebalances promotions around the award. It also recognizes the unit-level responsibilities commonly assigned to cadet chief master sergeants, including service as first sergeants and senior NCOs at major activities.
The Earhart Award, at the end of Phase III, recognizes development as a cadet officer and unit leader. Since earning Mitchell, the cadet must attend a wing or higher conference, satisfactorily serve in an officer leadership capacity at a squadron, encampment, or National Cadet Special Activity (NCSA), and complete a leadership-, civic-, or military-related program or CSA.
The proposed progression also eliminates the Eaker Award. Introduced much later than the Mitchell, Earhart, and Spaatz awards, Eaker established a milestone before Spaatz to mark completion of the Cadet Program. Its elimination restores a simpler progression of four phases and four milestone awards. Cadets who complete Achievement 13 earn promotion to C/Lt Col, a substantial accomplishment in its own right. Those who continue face one final achievement and the requirements for the Spaatz Award. There is no need for an intermediate award to recognize cadets who reach the final stage but do not complete it.
The Spaatz Award, at the end of Phase IV, recognizes advanced development and accomplishment beyond the squadron. Since earning Earhart, the cadet must satisfactorily serve in an advanced officer leadership capacity at an encampment or other major CAP activity, complete a Region Cadet Leadership School (RCLS) or Cadet Officer School (COS), attend a region or higher conference, and complete an additional leadership-, civic-, or military-related program or CSA.
As the Cadet Program’s highest award, the Spaatz Award will most likely retain the current examination process. That examination is outside the scope of this proposal, but those requirements in are addition to the achievement, participation, and leadership requirements described here.
A cadet earning the Spaatz Award has not just progressed through fourteen achievements. That cadet has participated in a substantial range of CAP activities, completed educational and service programs, and demonstrated the ability to accept meaningful responsibilities both within and beyond the home squadron.
Learning Leadership Through Experience
The manuals provide cadets with the principles of leadership, and testing checks their comprehension, but that is not the same as applying those principles. Cadets develop as leaders by accepting responsibility, making decisions, working with others, and learning from the results.
The proposed program makes practical experience a key requirement for cadet progression. As cadets progress through the four phases, they undertake increasingly demanding responsibilities. The progression begins with learning to function as a member of a team, advances through leading small groups and supervising squadron activities, and ultimately includes leadership responsibilities at encampments and other major activities.
The squadron is the primary environment for this development during the first three phases. A cadet serving as an element leader, flight sergeant, flight commander, or staff officer encounters problems that cannot be experienced through a manual: motivating others, managing competing priorities, communicating expectations, and adapting when plans do not work. Cadets have opportunities to practice leadership, receive guidance, make mistakes, and improve.
Phase IV, Organization Leader, takes this development beyond the home squadron. Even a large, active squadron cannot reproduce the organizational complexity of an encampment, a major Cadet Special Activity, or a wing-level program. These activities expose cadets to larger organizations, unfamiliar personnel, and more complex leadership responsibilities. Staff Duty Analyses examining organizational functions complement this practical experience, broadening cadets’ understanding of how CAP operates beyond the unit level.
This progression recognizes that leading within a familiar squadron and leading within a larger organization present different challenges. The objective is to produce cadets who have done more than read a manual and passed a series of tests. They must practice what they have learned, accept meaningful responsibilities, and demonstrate increasing maturity, judgment, and competence, both within and beyond their home squadrons.
Cadets’ performance is evaluated by their leaders to determine whether they have applied the expected skills and grown as leaders. This need not be complicated. A senior member or experienced cadet leader can assess whether the cadet understood the role, fulfilled responsibilities, exercised appropriate judgment, and responded constructively to guidance. Cadets are expected to demonstrate performance appropriate to their grade and experience, not perfection.
The milestone awards reinforce this progression by requiring increasing participation and accomplishment. The Mitchell Award establishes expectations for NCO leadership development through formal training or practical service, while the Earhart Award recognizes experience in officer leadership. The Spaatz Award requires successful performance in advanced officer leadership responsibilities at an encampment or other major CAP activity.
Conclusion
The Cadet Program has become overly dependent and focused on academic testing to measure cadet progress. Testing has its place, but passing examinations does not demonstrate that a cadet has applied that knowledge or developed through experience.
This proposal establishes a more balanced approach to advancement. A smaller academic curriculum and fewer examinations establish essential knowledge, while milestone awards require cadets to participate in activities, complete educational programs, exercise leadership, and demonstrate ability. Progress is measured by both what cadets know and what they have done.
This also provides a four-year arc to the program that gives a reasonable progression and path to the Spaatz award for cadets who participate consistently and apply themselves. Simplifying the curriculum and advancement requirements also makes the program easier to administer.
The objective is a Cadet Program that places less emphasis on passing tests and more on developing capable, experienced, and accomplished young leaders through active participation at all levels of the organization.
