While the CAP sounds like fun and provides a valuable service, I've
heard from people who've tried it that there's a lot of military
wannabes,
politics, and things that take away the enjoyment. Is this common, or
just the situation at some units?


That's very common. When you spend more time doing useless paperwork and
silly training classes than flying its very discouraging. The actual
flying
and SAR mission training is great.

CAP pilots as a group are the dumbest ones out there. Give me a pattern
full of first solo's rather than one CAP pilot in the units 182. They
don't know how to talk on the radio, they have no idea where they are or
where they're going, they don't do what they're told or even what they
request to do, etc. It's amazing that CAP can ever find anybody who
went down.