The CAP Roundel is an independent professional journal dedicated to the exchange of ideas, professional experience, and informed perspectives concerning Civil Air Patrol’s missions, programs, leadership, and operations.
Why The CAP Roundel?
Civil Air Patrol has an extraordinary wealth of knowledge and experience among its members. Across the organization, volunteers have developed effective practices, solved difficult problems, learned valuable lessons, and formed thoughtful opinions about how CAP can better accomplish its missions.
Unfortunately, there are few opportunities to share that knowledge and those ideas with the membership as a whole.
CAP has newsletters and official publications that report on activities, recognize accomplishments, and communicate organizational information. What it lacks is a professional journal: a place where members can examine how we do things, share what they’ve learned, question established practices, and propose ways to improve.
The CAP Roundel is intended to fill that gap.
A Forum for Professional Thought
Modeled on professional military publications such as the Marine Corps Gazette, Field Artillery Journal, and Proceedings, The CAP Roundel provides a forum for thoughtful discussion of issues affecting Civil Air Patrol.
We welcome articles addressing any aspect of CAP, including cadet programs, emergency services, aerospace education, aviation, leadership, organizational management, and policy.
Our interests include lessons learned, best practices, operational and technical analysis, emerging challenges, proposals for improvement, and informed debate about CAP’s future.
We believe that good ideas can come from anywhere in the organization. Contributions are welcome from members of every grade, specialty, and level of experience.
Independent, Professional, and Constructive
The CAP Roundel is independent of Civil Air Patrol’s official publishing and public affairs structure. This independence is intentional. Professional discussion should not be limited to officially approved positions, nor should ideas for improvement have to pass through the chain of command before they can be considered by the membership.
Independence, however, does not mean opposition. Our purpose is to contribute to CAP’s effectiveness, not to criticize for the sake of criticism.
We encourage authors to question assumptions, examine existing policies and practices, and offer differing perspectives. We also expect them to make their arguments thoughtfully, accurately, and constructively.
Articles are subject to editorial review for clarity, accuracy, relevance, and professional standards. The goal is to publish material that informs readers, encourages discussion, and contributes something useful to the organization.
We favor clear, accessible writing over academic formality. As the Field Artillery Journal advised its contributors: “Strive to educate, not impress.”
Sharing Knowledge, Encouraging Discussion
Professional journals serve an important purpose: they allow organizations to learn from the experiences and ideas of their members without waiting for that knowledge to work its way through formal organizational channels.
A successful technique developed in one squadron may be useful to dozens of others. A lesson learned during an operation may prevent another unit from repeating the same mistake. A well-reasoned proposal may prompt a reconsideration of a longstanding practice.
These are conversations worth having, and they deserve a place where they can be preserved, examined, and shared.
The CAP Roundel will publish articles online and plans to produce a quarterly journal in PDF format, suitable for electronic distribution and printing.
Contribute to The CAP Roundel
You don’t need to be a professional writer to contribute. If you’ve learned something worth sharing, developed an effective practice, identified a problem that deserves attention, or have an idea that could improve CAP, we’d like to hear from you.
We welcome completed articles as well as proposals, outlines, and ideas that could be developed into articles with editorial assistance.
Visit our Contribute page to learn more.
The CAP Roundel is an independent publication and is not an official publication of Civil Air Patrol. Opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the policies or positions of Civil Air Patrol or the editorial staff of The CAP Roundel.