Lunar Eclipse

Ladies and Gents, it's that time of decade again. There will be a Lunar Eclipse on Feb. 20th. For me, this is fortunate, as that is my squadron's Aerospace Education night. Mark your calendars, this is something to see, and teach about too.

CAP Jr.

From Flying Minutemen, comes an interesting tale. CAP is expanding it's cadet program to include younger persons below the age of 12. I'm not going to regurgitate what's already stated there, but I will voice my own personal opinion on the matter. Firstly, we should take away a point or two:

• It is a program offered at elementary schools, and not as a separate entity within squadrons. In this way, it's similar to the JROTC program, only at a lower level of education.
• It maintains CAP's mission of Character development, Aerospace Education and Physical Fitness training, but moves it from an extra-curricular activity to an intra-curricular one.
• It apparently is not military styled
  

I think it's a good idea. Although it may not seem it, I am a Cadet Programs guy, and many a time have I been forced to tell a young kid he or she couldn't join because of their age. As the Flying Minuteman said, it is another level in which our third and forgotten mission is creeping back. One thing I must disagree with, however, is the philosophy of aiming it towards more agrarian segments of the United States. Rather, I see potential in this program within inner-cities to get children early before they turn to a life of gangs. The CAP cadet program itself is a good method of doing so; this can serve as a supplement.

One other thing: who the hell is "Cappy" and when did he get here?

Writing Good

For a cadet to attain both the Armstrong and Eaker achievements, they must present both and essay and make a speech. Although the speeches are usually decent to good, the essays leave much to be desired in my experience. I had to nearly fail a cadet in their essay because I believed it was not up to their usual standards. I did pass them because they did meet the requirements outlined in the form.

Being a college student, and a political science major, I am writing a paper on average every week. I rather enjoy writing, and find it comes rather easily, although I also can see how it can be intimidating and tough for someone. I do not expect them to write on a college level, but I do see it as my duty to prepare them for that level. After receiving two papers in a row that were sub-par, I decided to do a brief lecture on basic writing. I find it prudent to place the writing tips I gave my Cadets here for the benefit of all.

1: Use a great hook! The first sentence can make or break the essay. If you have room, take an antic dote from your own life and use it to bring in the audience. However, the story should be relevant to the topic you are discussing, so you can relate it to the topic at hand.

2: Avoid First and Second Person. In your essay, there is no need to say "I will prove that..." because it is your essay, and we know that is what you are proving. Always use the third person in your writings. If you feel the need to reference yourself, say "the author". However, avoid this if you can.

3: Form a good thesis. To simplify things, make your thesis statement say something to the effect of "This happened because of A, B, and C", where A, B and C are the points you are proving. For example: "Good leaders are able to exercise good judgment, learn from mistakes, and stay humble". This serves two purposes: Firstly it lets the audience know your argument, and it helps organize your essay. The following paragraph's topics are those statements. If you used the above thesis, then the first paragraph is on exercising good judgment, the second on learning from mistakes, and the third on staying humble. Makes things easier doesn't it?

4: Always Cite your Sources: Citing sources not only adds legitimacy to your paper, but it keeps you from being accused of plagiarism.

Using these above suggestions would guarantee more than just a passing grade from me on a paper. An added selling point: they are the way to construct a good paper pretty much anywhere.

Bondage 101

In another entry in the training diaries, my squadron recently recieved some basic EMS training from the Cordova Volunteer Fire Association, and their resident EMS trainer.

Although we didn't learn how to drop an airway, bag someone or administer albuterol, we did learn some valuable stuff that anyone on a ground team should know. By the end of the night, all our cadets and Ground Team Members could splint any fracture, place a collar on someone with a neck injury and roll a victim onto a backboard an tie them down. The course was jokingly dubbed "Bondage 101" by some of our cadets, carrying on a tradition that seems to permeate the EMS world.

Although we are not certified, in a crunch situation we could do all the above. One of my Cadets is a licensed EMT with the Fire Department anyway, allowing the other members to serve in an assistant role. The Cadets certainly enjoyed the change of pace. Usually our nights are filled with lectures, marching and maybe some hands on training. Overall a positive experience for all and recommended if you can work it out.

Ad Astra, per Aspera

I ran across this today:

GOLDEN, Colo. - Silicon Valley giant Google Inc. is teaming with the X Prize Foundation to launch a commercial race to the Moon with $30 million in incentives to collect along the way.

The X Prize Foundation, headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., spearheaded the $10 million Ansari X Prize, which was created to jumpstart the development of private commercial transportation to suborbital space. That prize was won by Scaled Composites of California, which is now building a commercial version of its winning vehicle for entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic Corp.

The Google Lunar X Prize sets the competition bar much higher than suborbital space.

"This next major X Prize has a mission that goes far beyond suborbital flight, and extends the economic sphere of humanity 10 times farther beyond geostationary Earth orbit ... all the way to the Moon," said Peter Diamandis, the X Prize Foundation's chairman and chief executive officer. "This competition will once again demonstrate that small teams of dedicated individuals can do what was once thought viable only by governments."

The goal of the new prize will be to land a privately funded robotic rover on the Moon that is capable of completing several mission objectives, such as: roaming the lunar surface to a distance of at least 1,640 feet (500 meters) and relaying video, images and data back to Earth.

It seems as though Buzz Aldrin has endorsed the program, appearing with the leader of the project on an Associated Press video. The trailer for "In the Shadow of the Moon" said that "it was a time when we did bold things" with regards to the original moon landings. Lets do something bold again.

(10 points to whoever can guess what the title means!)

The Squadron Library: An Idea

I was re-reading my post about "George Washington's Leadership Lessons" today. I also sent a message to my Cadet Command Staff about the book and how I recommend they read it (so much so, I bought another copy for the squadron). An idea then occurred to me; A Squadron Library. That is to say, a collection of books, owned by the squadron, that would be available to Cadets and Seniors alike, in various subjects such as Aerospace, Leadership, Writing/Communications skills (for help with those essays and speeches for Armstrong and Eaker), Books on SAR, DR, and other ES related subjects. Maybe even CAP/USAF History to round out the collection.

The use of such a collection would be simple: provide the resources for added study in the above areas. This would allow for better Cadets and better Seniors in all areas. This, in turn, would increase squadron productivity, and the added skill may help with recruiting/retention.

The only thing that could hold such a plan back is that our squadron doesn't have a place to call our own. We meet at an armory, which we share with the National Guard. Therefore, we will have to solve the problem of where to keep the books we place in the library. However, I'm sure this can be overcome.

Any thoughts? Please leave a comment with criticism. I plan to bring this up with my squadron tomorrow