Everyone engages in leadership throughout their life, willingly or not. The aim of Civil Air Patrol is to teach them how to do it right. Whether it be by reading the Learn to Lead curriculum, impromptu feedback sessions, or taking command in a strained situation, a cadet is always being given the chance to grow. Still, most of an early career will be tactical leadership, that is, leading in a direct, hands-on manner, as much a part of the task as the director. Tactical leaders are vital, but provide no benefit without a strategic leader to direct them. This advanced, more vision-based approach is what is expected to appear as a cadet enters the executive phase of leadership, beginning around the rank of Cadet Captain. Cadet Officer School aims to educate and prepare Lieutenants for this transition, help Captains make it, or fill in the missing parts of higher Officers’ leadership philosophy. It’s a ten-day course at Maxwell Air Force Base, taught by an incredible range of instructors, including active-duty Air Force colonels, rabbis and priests, FBI Specialists, and retired Major Generals. Cadets are treated as equals, regardless of rank, and are formed into ten- person teams that are expected to come together and face any challenge in a unified manner. They engage in complicated, time-crunched Team Leadership Problems (TLPs, a name spoken with equal affection and dread). They create their own schedules, hold each other to the rigorous standards of the school and CAP in general, and even provide detailed, mandatory feedback to one another, C/Capt. Seth Karnes reads Flight 3’s latest TLP to C/1st Lt. Luke Keizer, C/Capt. Evan Stepanik, and C/Maj. Cody Sprague.
Describing strengths that should be emphasized and oversights that could use improvement. In the evening, when the seminars are over and dinner is tantalizingly close, the whole school engages in one huge TLP, cleverly disguised as leisure time: Air Force Volleyball. Complicated rules and determined competition require each team to pull together on the court or be ripped apart. On those Fields of Glory, cadets apply every lesson they’ve learned in the previous days, showing vast improvement every match. Still, not everyone can win, and while one team celebrates, their opposition must face a far different experience. Even defeat is valuable. “Sure. We lost. O.K. You know what? I think it’s better this way. If you win every game, you start to really get caught up winning and miss the lessons that are along the way. We played together, we gave it our best, and it turns out they were better. So, we get better.”-C/Capt. Evan Stepanik. He makes a good point, doesn’t he? The average Officer School attendee didn’t come for a thrill rush; he came to learn, and it’s worth keeping sight of that fact. Indeed, it may be true that the greatest lesson Officer School teaches is not Strategic Global Competition or Journaling through the Hero’s Journey, but losing. Loss and failure are going to happen, especially to leaders, and a true leader must be able to handle it, not by dwelling on it, nor by laughing it off, but by considering it in a serious light, then moving on. After ten days of trial, tribulation, friction, and (hopefully) the occasional glorious victory, the Flight assembles for their final team activity: the graduation ceremony. One by one, they cross the stage, receive the certificate, and walk off. It’s a simple affair, but a lot is happening up there. Dinner is held afterward, then the Cadets return to their rooms for the last time. Goodbyes are said, and the next morning, a stream of people departs. The activity is over, but the experiences are not forgotten, and the wisdom picked up is carried home, to be disseminated among the home Wings and Squadrons.
The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a United States Air Force Auxiliary, a volunteer organization dedicated to three core missions: Aerospace Education, Leadership Training and Search and Rescue. It supports humanitarian missions by providing personnel and aerial photography. The Cadet Program is open to individuals 12-18 and provides leadership training, complete with chains of command and ranks Airman through Colonel.
