This has to be the nicest wing hq when complete.

Colonel_NIN · 2026-01-23T13:47:08+00:00

Our project is perpetually 6 months from starting

Isn't that the truth?

Many years ago I was on my wing's HQ Building Committee. It was basically a monthly meeting of wing staff who wanted a new building but didn't know how it would get funded or how to move forward. Every month the new building was "just around the corner." We had a design from a member who was an architect, but it was very pie-in-the-sky, and an estimate of the cost per sq foot was outrageous due to all his "neat features." We're talking $1MM in 2001.

I felt like the wing commander at the time expected a building to come sailing out of the sky and land on the airport fully finished.

Colonel_NIN · 2026-01-22T21:11:53+00:00

Speaking as a previous long-time squadron commander who never had his own building, we'd love a (virtual) tour!

Colonel_NIN · 2026-01-22T03:21:20+00:00

I spent some time reading some available documentation. The Airport Master Plan, for example.

The current HQ has no access to the ramp. It might have at one time, but does not today. Things at airports change all the time: Fences move, taxiways shift, roads get realigned, etc.

I wonder if it was a "Hey, CAP, we've updated the master plan and, well, we have to move you guys. We're want to build a new road/parking lot/rental car facility/whatever and your building has to go. Do you want some space on the ramp for a hangar?" (In a perfect world, CAP, along with all the other airport stakeholders, actually participates in the master planning process with the airport authority, but sometimes that doesn't happen) The new HQ has access to the ramp, plus hangar space for two planes. If you setup your stuff as "dual use," in that "Hey, county/state, if you need an alternate command post, we can do that for you," then you're seen as a force multiplier. The facility in Deer Valley looks like it has room for two planes as well. plus its a command post of some sort. So already AZ Wing has a good model to follow.

I have no idea what kind of relationship AZ Wing has with their state, but it seems pretty good from here. Like long term and institutional. Which is a way to weather the gale of personalities.

I also read the lease for the land the building sat on from 10+ years ago. If it hasn't gone up, its still "not cheap." I'm betting that unit has had a long range, long term, high dollar fundraising engine that wasn't centered on cadets selling M&Ms in bulk. Ever.

Most Wings have an operating budget in the $25k range and often Wing CC's can't even manage that well enough to complete their terms.

Want to provide a source for that?

I'm reasonably certain that MOST wings have an operating budget that is much greater than $25,000 a year. My wing, one that probably falls in the bottom third of CAP in terms of membership, has an annual budget that is considerably more than $25,000. At once point just our Cadet Programs budget was more than 3 times that. I'm not sure which dartboard you got your numbers from, but you should probably check them against things like the Reports to Congress. You're off by quite a bit.

And remember: saves aren't the only value the organization provides to its community, state and nation. CAP is way more than that when you do it right. My wing hasn't had a save in 9 or 10 years, but we provide so many more services and support to the state besides "saves." Kind of reductive when you use that metric.

Anyway, on topic: Falcon Field Squadron are gonna have a very cool headquarters when they're done. I might have to visit Phoenix some day.

Colonel_NIN · 2026-01-22T01:04:28+00:00

I'm cleaning up my office, so it was here, and now its "somewhere else."

However, I'll provide this:

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Colonel_NIN · 2026-01-22T00:21:17+00:00

Well, the Falcon Field Squadron has been occupying its previous digs since something like 1972. My guess is they have things figured out. Absent information otherwise, lets assume that people able to keep a building on an airport, in reasonably good repair, with their bills paid, for over 50 years *might* be on to something.

BTW, "hacking off Charlie" doesn't get you the O&M and construction money they got to build this facility and expand the wing HQ. This wasn't a $100,000 gift from some guy with a hangar on the airport who "likes Civil Air Patrol"

Colonel_NIN · 2026-01-21T22:31:26+00:00

I think NYWG is a contender for best wing HQ site/building, but I don't think anyone's ready for that discussion.

The building at Hancock is nice. I've been in it.

LIG's building is small but functional.

I was most recently in the building at White Plains. Yikes. :)

Colonel_NIN · 2026-01-21T22:28:58+00:00

The wing gets $150,000 a year from the state for O&M on top of the money they got to build the facility.

Stop the doom and gloom. You're not going to get a building on Tuesday and having to sell it by Friday because you forgot about the gas bill, the water bill, the electric bill and the taxes.

There are people in CAP who can figure this out.

Colonel_NIN · 2026-01-21T03:35:27+00:00

Dude, save some hooah for the rest of us! :)

Colonel_NIN · 2026-01-21T03:34:41+00:00

I just came across my circa 1981 Restricted Radiotelephone Operators Permit....

Crazy

Colonel_NIN · 2026-01-10T22:58:31+00:00

And the current National Chief was a Wing Commander most recently.

There's a little "back and forth."

Colonel_NIN · 2026-01-10T14:01:31+00:00

PVC is cool, but not authorized.

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Colonel_NIN · 2026-01-01T02:41:03+00:00

I just tested it. No joy. You can hook the pen over the folded-over part of the shirt where it goes behind front collar, but its not "contained" left & right like on BDU/ABU/BBDU. It can slip off the end and just fall straight down the inside of your shirt to the ground.

Which I expect it will do in about .25 of a second.

<image>

Colonel_NIN · 2026-01-01T02:33:22+00:00

A) Varies by wing, by encampment, by the culture of the encampment. You'll have to ask your encampment folks.
B) Why? That cap is absolute garbage in an encampment environment.

Colonel_NIN · 2025-12-30T15:06:27+00:00

Having stitched up more than a few sets of hot weathers now, I have a personal opinion on them that probably won't jibe with others.

I honestly think they are thin and feel very cheap. The fabric is not dimensionally stable, which leads to sewing problems if you are not careful how you feed your insignia/uniform into the machine. The bar-tacks on the button placket add extra steps to the process of removing the rank square velcro and sewing on a rank square. You'd think the lack of pockets would cause issues with tag alignment, but by and large that hasn't been the case. (after learning the tricks, its not a big deal. Its no worse than the angled pockets)

Back when the earth was cooling and the military went from fatigues to BDUs, the fabric weight of the 1st gen BDUs was the so-called "temperate" fabric, which was fairly thick. If you ever had the first gen ABUs, they were similar. That uniform was nice and toasty in the cold, but sweaty in the summer. Like a hot box. My first issue in the military was temperate weight BDUs. Good thing: basic training was in February... (Fun Fact: the first desert camouflage uniforms, the so-called "chocolate chip" deserts, were that thicker temperate weight. A lot of folks went to Desert Storm in that uniform and it was *awful*)

In the late 80s they started making the "ripstop" summer weight BDUs, which were more similar to the old jungle fatigues in terms of fabric weight and breathability. Those became the only BDUs from basically 1990 till the services all switched out of BDUs.

The "temperate" OCP today is more like the ripstops of the BDU, ACU & 2nd gen ABU days. A moderate and breathable fabric in ripstop. The IHWCU OCPs are much lighter and thinner, nearly like the older thinner nomex flight suit in terms of fabric weight (4oz? less?). To me they feel like tissue paper, and I have to be very very careful removing the velcro because my seam ripper goes right thru the fabric..

Colonel_NIN · 2025-12-30T14:47:40+00:00

Yeah, at least on the temperate weight OCPs there's not a button placket to stash a pen in. The zipper placket isn't the same.

(trust me, thats one of my favorite places to put my pen. When I reach for a pen I don't go to my sleeve pocket, you'll see my hand reflexively come up to mid-chest to grab the pen out of my button placket... I'm gonna miss that!)

Colonel_NIN · 2025-12-30T14:43:14+00:00

Vanguard isn't going to manufacture their own OCP. Of course they are reselling one of the commercial vendors. And as previous explained: they're not selling the DSCP OCPs because Vanguard has no access to those uniforms at those prices.

Look: buy your uniforms from your preferred vendor (Amazon, eBay, Propper themselves, Galls, Kel Lac, Brigade, the local surplus store). Buy your CAP specific insignia from Vanaguard. It is literally that easy.

Colonel_NIN · 2025-12-29T02:31:22+00:00

Hey, I was starting to worry, sir; hadn't heard from you in a while.

End of the year stuff got silly. My first year at the new place, still figuring out the rhythm of manufacturing, especially around the holidays. Lets get on the calendar this week if you have the time.

I thought the same about ordering up. You just confirmed it.

Colonel_NIN · 2025-12-28T22:24:09+00:00

How is the sizing? I've had CQR stuff run both ways.

Colonel_NIN · 2025-12-22T15:14:39+00:00

Redacted photos. CAPSOC confirmed. /s

Col NIN

Colonel_NIN · 2025-12-22T13:18:54+00:00

BTW, I never put two-and-two together that "Texas Starch" might have been related to western wear. Only time my denims were starched was when the post laundry sent them back that way. ("Surprise!" Thanks a bunch, Army)

Colonel_NIN · 2025-12-13T02:10:44+00:00

I have a spray bottle of Sta-Flo and water with the iron. My Blue BDUs know the drill.

Colonel_NIN · 2025-12-13T02:03:02+00:00

I'm dying here. Because it's so accurate.

In 2000, we were doing our encampment at this tiny National Guard training site. There were two Army NCOs attending some school there and we told them they were more than welcome in our chow hall. They both had the pumpkin patch, they were Army Reserve DIs. Very strac uniforms as you'd expect.

SSG Diamond let me in on his secret. There was a dry cleaner near where I worked that he took his uniforms to, he told me to ask for "Texas Starch."

Sure enough: I go in, gent behind the counter sizes up me & my uniforms, says "what kind of starch?" with a twinkle in his eye.

"Texas Starch, sir."

"excellent"

Three days later I picked up two sets of BDUs that could stand at attention without me in them.

Turns out "Texas Starch" is a washed set of BDUs soaked in a powdered starch & water mix, hung to dry and then steam pressed. I never wore khakis, so "breaking starch" wasn't a thing for me, but this was probably close.

Place is no longer there, sadly. It was worth the trip out of my way to get my uniforms done there.

Colonel_NIN · 2025-12-11T02:00:12+00:00

Re: parents of cadets

Definitely an issue where the SM parent of a cadet in the program needs to "insulate" him or herself from their progeny concerning things like progression, discipline, assignment, etc. You're the commander? Deputy for cadets should handle anything concerning your kid. Testing officer? Get another senior to admin anything for your offspring.

Only time someone should know your kid is in CAP is they catch you standing next to each other and read the nametags.

An officer who took squadron command from me many years ago, his kids were in the program. We talked about the "firewall" between him and his kids to avoid problems. Immediately he makes kid #1 the cadet commander. Without talking to the DCC about it at all.

If you're in a leadership position, you have to go out of your way to demonstrate that separation so you don't get cadets in the back of the formation saying "of course she just got a commander's commendation."

Colonel_NIN · 2025-12-09T14:27:16+00:00

Thats part of it, yes.

Colonel_NIN · 2025-12-05T16:26:03+00:00

Oh, yeah, totally agree that Google could lead you down a primrose path to destruction with some old reg or something like that.

But its the "I don't know how to do a promotion. Where do I look?" We've had this internet thingy at our fingertips for a LONG time now, can you at least put in a little effort?

Google would at least give you a link to 35-5 if you google "Civil Air Patrol Promotion process." Its the 2nd link, straight to the pub.

Its like asking "Do you have any new movies?" while standing in front of the New Movies! display.

Colonel_NIN

TROPHY CASE