Hey Everyone,

Im 16 years old and am interested in being a pilot. ( Not sure if I should go Air Force, or Navy) But I heard about Civil Air Patrol (aka CAP). Its for kids 12-21 years old I think? I was just wondering if anyone knew about it. What is it like? Somebody said it was like the cub scouts for Aviation? Any information would be good. I read a couple of pamphlet's on it and I know a little about it... But I wanted to hear from someone who participated in it.

Thanks

Exploring all options I see. Thats good. For up to date info on Civil Air Patrol, recommend you google it.

Cdeyo,

a long time ago in a galaxy far away, I was a cadet in CAP solely for the purpose of exploiting their free flights program. According to their brochures you get 5 free flights and then I think it's reduced cost flights after that. Unless they've changed their program, that's probably what you'll see. What type of flying you get and how often depends on the local unit you join, and whether or not they have access to an aircraft regularly. Most of my flights were in gliders (very cool by the way), but a few were in the search and rescue aircraft.

A few pointers for if you join. 1) Expect to be asked to shell out money for uniforms. 2) One of the primary missions of CAP in the US is to conduct Search and Rescue missions in the US, so you'll probably be pushed to learn stuff for that (not necessarily a bad thing). 3) If you get the feeling that there's a lot of political infighting in a unit, find another unit. FAST.

That's about all I remember. Good luck!
giblackjack out.

That is a funny poster gunny and I dont know where you find this stuff but how is it related to the OP.

His first post was about being a USMC helo pilot and he mentioned college.

giblackjack,

Thanks for the info. But I have another question. Is it like the boyscouts? Do you do alot in the community? Do you have to parade or anything, or go to schools, or what? What did YOU do for your meetings and such?

Thanks,

Cdeyo

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Cdeyo,

By the way, Gunny. That is a funny poster. Ha Ha, your good.

quote:

Originally posted by Cdeyo:
giblackjack,

Thanks for the info. But I have another question. Is it like the boyscouts? Do you do alot in the community? Do you have to parade or anything, or go to schools, or what? What did YOU do for your meetings and such?

Thanks,

Cdeyo

Cdeyo, I've never been in the boyscouts, so I can't really compare. As for community service projects, I don't really remember my group doing much of that, although I suspect it may depend on what unit you end up with.

As far as what I did at meetings, my situation was a little unique, in that I had been in AFJROTC for three years at that point, and had already done and learned most of the non-flying things that the cadet program is supposed to teach. This included marching, and when my "unit" learned I was commander of one of my JROTC unit's drill teams that year, I instantaneously was put in charge of teaching everyone there to teach, and was put into a de-facto leadership role, although I had never been to any of the CAP cadet leadership courses and was technically an airman basic in CAP. (This lead to some interesting situations, which included being told by senior members to chew out cadet officers for screw-ups.) Anyway, I spent pretty much every meeting teaching cadets how to march, both individually and as a group.

Once again though, my experience is far from typical.

giblackjack out