Cadet Advisory Council

Minutes of the New York City Cadet Advisory Council meeting, 09 December 2000.

TO:  All Group Commanders and Cadet Wing CAC Delegates

NOTE:  THESE MINUTES ARE A REPORT OF DISCUSSIONS BY CADET DELEGATES.  NO ACTION IS TO BE TAKEN AS A RESULT OF ANYTHING PRINTED HEREIN (EXCEPT FURTHER DISCUSSIONS BY UNIT CAC's).  ALL CHANGES MADE WILL BE MADE THROUGH PROPER CHANNELS.

  The motion to begin the 09 August, 2000 meeting of the New York Wing's Cadet Advisory Council was made by Jennifer A. Neville, C/1st Lt, CAP and seconded by Ian Vonie, C/2nd Lt, CAP at 1136 hrs.

ATTENDANCE:

A.  Council Officers:

Chairperson   Jennifer A. Neville, C/Capt, CAP

Vice-Chairperson (South) Brian Foo, C/ Lt Col, CAP

Vice-Chairperson (North)  Adam Cucchiara, C/Capt, CAP

Recorder   Patrick Parker, C/1st Lt, CAP

Adirondack Mountain  Primary - none

Alternate- none

Catskill Mountain   Primary –Terence VanHise, C/SMSgt, CAP

       Alternate – none

Central New York   Primary – none       Alternate - none

  Finger Lakes    Primary – none

       Alternate – none

  Long Island    Primary – none

       Alternate – none

Mid-East Group   Primary – Ian Vonie, C/2nd Lt, CAP

     Alternate - none

New York City   Primary – Sophia Giddens, C/MSgt, CAP

    Secondary – none

South Central    Primary – none

     Alternate - none

South East    Primary – Gustin Stamatinos, C/2nd Lt, CAP

     Secondary - none

Western New York   Primary – none

     Alternate - none

Anita E. Martin, Lt Col, CAP

Louann Neville, 1st Lt, CAP

Rosanna Lee, C/2nd Lt, CAP

- Change made by C/Capt Neville: insert grade before name and correct name spelling

- Change made by C/2nd Lt Stamatinos: fundraiser went toward cadet scholarships only

Unanimous vote to approve the revised minutes (seconded by C/SMSgt VanHise)

- Air show at Schenectady County Airport (good turnout with many new recruits)- Tour of Albany Police Helicopter unit- Basic Cold Weather Bivouac (good turnout and positive feedback)- Boy Scout Camporee (recruiting booth with 3000 scouts in attendance)

- Color Guard meeting- Cadet Competition Meeting- Advanced Cold Weather Bivouac- Spring fundraiser (bowl-athon)- Group Dining Out

- C/Lt Col Bryan Brown earned his Eaker award- Thomas Henry became the group’s first C/CMSgt

- CAC Meetings on 16 SEP, 21 OCT, and 25 NOV

- Change of command on 10 OCT – Capt Peter J. Turecek was promoted to NYCG Commander and Capt Wai N. Lee replaced him as Pheonix Composite Squadron Commander – the new Cadet Programs Officer is Capt Liz Savery

- Veteran’s Day parade in Manhattan with SEG

- Orientation Flights out of Teterboro Airport NJ – 25 cadets flown and 45 sorties flown

- Individual squadrons have had Orientation flights, trips to McGuire AFB NJ for uniforms, and Academy Composite Squadron assisted at the NYC Marathon

- Brooklyn Tech – Change of Command – Lt Sharon Garcia is the new squadron commander and the squadron is rebuilding

Future events include:

- Next group CAC meeting on 16 DEC from 0930 to 1100 hrs.

- Group cadet bowl will be held on 16 DEC from 1200-1400 hrs. – each squadron sends a team of three cadets to compete against other teams in a general knowledge competition

- Guest speaker from the Royal Air Force on 13 JAN

- Group drill team

- Rifle guard

- ES bivouac in March

- Possible group dinner in FEB

- A group newsletter is in the process of being created – pending publication

Concerns and notations:

- The group has acted in a more unified manner since the appointment of the new group commander

- Squadrons are more aware of each other and their activities

- Recruitment in all squadrons is up as well as cadets’ interest in activities

- There is the possibility of new squadrons forming in the next year

- C/Capt Neville asks if our own cadets should speak about their personal experiences.  The CAC decides that they would rather have present or past academy cadets speak rather than a representative.  C/2nd Lt Vonie says that it might be difficult to find cadets from the Academies that would like to speak.  C/2nd Lt Stamatinos believes that the representatives will know more about the academy than the cadets will.  C/2nd Lt Vonie counters this and says that the cadet who would speak would not necessarily have to be in CAP – they could just be a cadet from the academy.  C/SMSgt Giddens thinks that it would be a good idea to have both a representative and a cadet come and talk.  C/Capt Neville mentions that in order for these people to come we are going to have to pay their fee for the conference (decided that expenses should be left up to Major Grullon and the other senior members to worry about).

- Motion to vote on Forum

- Seconded by C/2nd Lt Stamatinos

- Unanimously passed

  Discussion on Cadet Bowl:

- C/Capt Neville asked if we could use this bowl at the wing conference.  She says that MDWG does it and that we can “borrow” their guidelines to make one of our own.

- C/MSgt Giddens asks if officers can participate (it is up to the task force designing the bowl)

- Move to vote on having the Cadet Bowl at the Wing Conference

- Seconded by C/2nd Lt Stamatinos

- Unanimously passed

- C/Capt Neville said that during the last CAC meeting it didn’t seem like a good idea.

- C/SMSgt VanHise thinks that it is a good idea.

- C/2nd Lt Vonie said that we need to assign a topic to the competition.

- C/Capt Neville said that the topics would start out easy and then eventually become more complex and that we are going to need to come up with a name for the competition.

- C/2nd Lt Stamatinos wants to know what the guidelines would be and how it would differ from the speech competition.

- C/Capt Neville said that it would be up to the task force, but that the winner’s presentation would be distributed to groups and squadrons around the wing.

- Lt Col Martin wanted to know if it would be for competitive or learning purposes.

- C/Capt Neville said that it would be a little bit of both.

- Questions raised:

- Can more than one group participate?

- Should credit be given to individual groups?

- Move to vote on creating the competition

- Seconded by C/SMSgt VanHise

- Unanimously passed

C/MSgt Giddens says that squadron/group activities can be included and that the newsletter is geared towards the cadets.

 Editor-in-Chief – C/MSgt Sophia Giddens

  E-mail: Nywg_news_editor@yahoo.com  Phone (718) 784-4329

C/SMSgt VanHise wanted to know how pictures were being selected for the newsletter.

C/MSgt Giddens said that only limited articles and information would be included and that it all depended on the amount of space available.

C/2nd Lt Stamatinos said that his group had a leadership weekend with 40 cadets.  Classes that were included were customs and courtesies, uniforms, aerospace, moral leadership, drill and ceremonies, as well as a CAC meeting that was held to inform the cadets on what CAC was about.  The classes were geared to the basic cadets and NCOs. The mission of this activity was to prepare cadets for the NYWG Leadership Encampment.

C/SMSgt VanHise said that there was a bivouac in SEP along with Orientation flights until NOV, a staff training day was held to train squadron staff and teach them to become more efficient.  Some of the activities that were cancelled were ROA, the group dinner was postponed, and a group hike was reduced to a single day because of poor weather conditions.

C/MSgt Giddens said that there was not a good showing at the Veterans’ Day Parade.  No activities were cancelled.C/2nd Lt Vonie said that Orientation Flights have been cancelled periodically.

C/Capt Neville wants to know how we can encourage better participation at wing CAC meetings.  She also said that the chairperson and vice-chairpeople need to be told whether or not the delegates are coming along with a list of observers.

C/Lt Col Foo said that transportation was a problem and that the seniors need to help out.

C/MSgt Giddens mentioned that at the last CAC meeting Major Grullon drove almost nine cadets up.Lt Col Martin mentioned that timing was difficult especially with the upcoming holidays.C/MSgt Giddens said that everyone needs to get the word out and that when scheduling meetings be careful of SAT dates.

C/2nd Lt Vonie said that it is up to the cadets in the end.

C/Capt Neville wanted to know if e-mail worked and whether or not everyone should receive personal phone calls.

C/Lt Col Foo said that phone calls work the best.

- Delegate’s Name

- Group Name

- Past Activities

- Future Activities

- Concerns

- Seconded by C/2nd LT Stamatinos

- Unanimously passed

SEG needs to send minutes to the Vice-Chairperson (south).  It is the Primary Delegate’s responsibility.

NYCG cadets aren’t really interested in CAC.  The group primary must contact the squadron commanders and cadet commanders.  CAC Participation needs to be increased.

Unit Citation – Wing Staff is now wearing three bronze clasps instead of a silver clasp.C/SMSgt VanHise wanted to know that as group delegates do they vote on their opinion or the group interests.  C/Capt Neville said that the delegates are responsible to reflect the interests of the group.C/Lt Col Foo thanked C/MSgt Giddens for a well-organized format for her group’s minutes.

There are $250.00 dollar “scholarships” for each squadron for aerospace education.  Just ask for it!  Fill out a form 95 by 31 DEC 00.  Get the word out!

In the DEC issue of the CAP news there is a lot of information about ELTs that could be used to teach classes at the squadrons.

The motion to adjourn the 09 DEC 00 meeting was made by Jennifer Neville, C/Capt, CAP and seconded by Sophia Giddens, C/MSgt, CAP at 1348hrs.   The motion was passed unanimously.

Henry Grullon, Major, CAP
Cadet Programs Officer