I've been quietly watching this thread, but after your comments John I feel
the need to add some data points of which you may not be aware.

Your statement that "CAP National HQ has a history of incompetence at
best,..." is typical of the sensationalism we see bandied about by the
mainstream news media way too frequently. I've been associated with CAP
since February 1969 and have known one national commander and a national
vice-commander personally. I can not agree with your statement. BG Johnnie
Boyd was an outstanding National Commander who tolerated no incompetence and
demanded integrity from all who served with him. Col. George Way who served
as vice-commander and I didn't always see eye-to-eye, but George tolerated
little outside what was good for the organization. George and Johnnie both
felt they should lead by example.

I was never interested in working in a staff position above Wing and
actually never aspired to anything other than to fly, so I don't have
extensive or uninterrupted knowledge of the national staff. I do however
believe that your statement about a "history of incompetence at best..." is
blatantly untrue and attempts to paint the organization as a whole in
unfavorable light.

Johnnie came up through the ranks in Oklahoma and joined CAP while an
enlisted Air Force mechanic working on the KC-135s at Tinker. George came up
through the ranks in Grand Prairie, Texas. Neither aspired to be in a
leadership position until later in their CAP careers.

Some will probably take issue with my referring to these two men as Johnnie
and George. Both men were fine individuals who preferred to be known as men
of integrity than by any title you might bestow on them.

Personally there are lots of things that irritate me about CAP, but then
that goes with almost anything any more. The older I get the less I seem to
tolerate fools - there just isn't enough time left and fools seem to have a
way of making themselves seen and heard.

I'm willing to bet the constant irritations were what finally drove you from
CAP and I completely understand. I'm going through that dilemma myself right
now with some of the new flight rules being put into place by the legal
staff, but I keep remembering how much good CAP has done over the years, and
how much good it can still do so that's the dilemma. If the national
leadership had such a "history of incompetence..." the organization would've
crumbled years ago. The true mark of an organization is not if it ever has
bad leadership, rather the measure is how the organization deals with bad
leadership. It may have taken too long (in both of our opinions) for CAP to
do something about Pineada, but they finally did - and don't you know it
was/is more painful now than it would've been back in Florida? Maybe this
can be a learning experience for everyone involved.

--
Jim Carter
Rogers, Arkansas