Senior Members

OK. We can get right to the point. Senior Members, across the board, impeded operations at the very last second, overturning plans that they already approved for insignificant reasons.

Why was medical staff so terrible? Why did the TAC officers not know what flight they were assigned to on Day 5?

TAC officers should be selected by the Encampment Commander, Commadant of Cadets, and the Cadet Executive staff at the cadet staff selection day. They need to be training following SSD with the cadet staff. At the end of the weekend, the TACOs and flight staff should select eachother so they can begin discussing things between SSD and encampment.

The SM staff should have been told about the RST at the Justice Academy and be in full attendance.

Also, there was a big problem with communications. The C/XO and XO's call signs are too similar for radio calls. The SM-XO should be renamed to the Chief of Staff. Also, if there is a SM Deputy Commander (there was one in 2008), it should be named the Vice Commander, as not to confuse it with the C/CD (Cadet Deputy Commander).

The SM XO needs to distribute schedules to his/her staff.

Twiddy needs to return as staff. He was essential to stress relief.

More ideas from C/Col Feinstein:

  • Cadet staff members understand that proper relations between cadet and senior staff are vital to a successful encampment.
  • With that said, cadets and seniors needs to come to an agreement on the proper role of seniors in the encampment structure
  • Seniors should allow cadet staff to train basics unless there is a safety issue
  • TAC officers should be observing the flight
  • In 2009, TAC officers were usually MIA/AWOL
  • Senior members cut in front of basics in the chow line
  • The vast majority of cadet staff wrote in their AARs that senior staff interfered with training and operations too much
  • Needed to announce encampment arrival, packing list, and other relevant information earlier
  • Cadet staff needs to be able to input into packing list and information released to parents

We didn't have a full SM staff list in our OI. Was there a rank order for all SMs?
-C/SMSgt Riley

Here is a list of the SM staff

Encampment Commander: Major Linwood Dabney

Commandant of Cadets: Major Andy Wiggs

Executive Officer: Lieutenant Colonel Albert Therriault
Finance Officer: Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Ingram
Administrative Officer: First Lieutenant Kathy Gaddy
Transportation Officer: First Lieutenant Dan Walker
Communications Officer: Major Michael Starr
Logistics Officer: Captain Mark Wuerfful (later became the X-ray TAC)
Chaplain: Major Edward Fleagle
Public Affairs Officer: Major Conrad D'Cruz
Assistant Public Affairs Officer (Technology Guru): Captain Paul Twiddy
Medical Officer: First Lieutenant Mauro Capobianco
Safety Officer: Captain Dan McCollum

Chief TAC Officer: First Lieutenant Casey Cole

TAC Officers:

-First Lieutenant Fred Draper
-Second Lieutenant Terry Beck
-Second Lieutenant Jacob Summey
-First Lieutenant Joseph French
-Major Karl Katterjohn (later joined medical staff, was replaced by 1st Lt Wuerfful)
-Captain Terri Zobel - Zulu

From my position, Maj. Wiggs was an exception among the SMs. He was reasonable with my flight, and we felt like he respected us as cadets. Unlike other SMs, I didn't get the impression that he was trying to be overly officious. I'd never met him before encampment, but that week he earned my respect as a reasonable and cadet-friendly Senior Member.
-C/TSgt Daniel Otto

My favorite senior members at encampment were Captain Twiddy, Captain Wuerfful, Lieutenant Cole, Major Fleagle, and Major Therriault. Captain Twiddy was just awesome and funny. Captain Wuerfful knew why he was at encampment and seemed to actually care about his job and didn't interfere with the cadet staff. I think all cadet staff will agree that Lieutenant Cole was amazing. She was there for us, backing us up, helping us out, etc. Major Fleagle was there encouraging me (I don't know if he did that with other staff or not) each day, which was neat. I know many people didn't like Major T, but he was the one exec staff SM that didn't chew me out for something all week. He helped me get medical supplies without asking questions, didn't interfere with me doing my job, etc. I appreciated his non-interference most of all. ~ C/2d Lt Larson

I have a bone to pick with TACOs. When they are selected, it should be kept in mind that they need to be able to remain with their flight ALL DAY. that means if a TACO doesn't have the energy to go with the flight where the flight needs to go, then they shouldn't have been selected in the first place.
—Chiefy Harford

I completely agree. We can't have TACOs who are missing because they went running in the afternoon, or decided to take a nap, or talk on the phone, etc. If they want to be TACOs, they need to do their job, just like the rest of cadet staff. ~ C/2d Lt Larson

One thing that confused me was when our TACO took control of the flight and drilled us at random times. It also seemed like he was gone most of the time. I would agree with Chief harford. When selected TACO's must be able to alsways be with the flight.

C/CMSgt Wuerffel

That was confusing to me as well. Our TACO seemed like a nice person, but his actions provided us with no understanding of what a TACO is or does. Also, he contradicted our flt sgt several occasions, and we rarely saw him; sometimes it was once a day, other times we saw him once every other day. There seemed to be no reason or pattern to his visits. This erratic behavior left us (basics) confused.
C/TSgt Daniel Otto

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License