Professional Development

Why do CAP members need professional development?

How comfortable would you feel walking into a new job and not receive any orientation or training? You would feel pretty uncomfortable. You expect a certain level of orientation and training, no matter what your occupation. You should expect the same in your volunteer career -- one that involves the lives of the people you serve with, and especially our customers -- the flying public, our youth, and the Air Force.

We are used to training to save a life: pilot proficiency, CPR classes, ground team training, and observer training. But perhaps, and incorrectly, considered less important is senior member professional development. It is important to have properly trained resources. However, just as important is having the people who are trained to correctly employ those resources.

CAP professional development is designed to train senior members on how to best employ our resources: our people, our equipment, our planes, our money -- most efficiently to accomplish the mission. We do this by teaching seniors first about the history and organization of CAP and the USAF -- so that they will know why we do what we do. Then, through management, leadership, and communications training members learn how to make the system work. For it is the balance of critical skills and organizational understanding that saves lives, not the preference of skills over management.