Educate Our Youth Operations Manual

Leadership Skills Training

Table of Contents

Purpose
Objective
Mission Statement
Code of Ethics
Air Force Association
Civil Air Patrol
Experimental Aircraft Association
The Partnership
Mentoring
Leadership Skill Training
How to Participate

Purpose
The purpose of “Educating Our Youth in Leadership Skills” is to provide a foundation by which the youth of America can best use their God given talents to live a more productive life for their family, community and country.

Objective
The objective of this program is to ensure the future of our country’s citizens live to their full potential.

Mission Statement
The mission of this program is to develop a method that will serve us in our pursuit to educate the American youth in skills required to be a leader, a leader of their family, of their community and our nation

Code of Ethics


Air Force Association
The Air Force Association (AFA) organization was founded in 1947 for the purpose of supporting the Air Force family and has grown into one that is an advocate for educating the public about aerospace needs and support for a strong national defense. You can find out more about AFA on their website at http://www.afa.org/.

Civil Air Patrol
The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) organization was founded in 1941 by Gill Robb Wilson, who foresaw aviation's role in war and general aviation's potential to supplement America's military operations that established the beginnings of CAP with the help of the mayor of New York City, Fiorello LaGuardia. You can find out more about CAP on their website at http://www.cap.gov/.

Experimental Aircraft Association
The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) organization is national in scope with chapters throughout America. Its primary focus is supporting the “home built” aviator. These guys and gals build their own planes and then fly them. You had better know your stuff if you do that! The EAA also has a “Young Eagles” program that is designed to introduce the younger generation to the art of flying. You can find out more about EAA on their website at http://www.eaa.org/.

The Partnership
The partnership that is established between these three organizations of AFA, CAP & EAA has two common themes; they are aviation and educating our youth. AFA provides the leadership management portion, CAP provides the operational training portion and EAA provides the element of “hands-on” flying. All three are necessary and fundamental to the development and training of our youth in leadership skills.

Mentoring
Mentoring is an essential ingredient in developing well-rounded, professional, and competent future leaders. It is the relationship in which a person with experience and wisdom guides another person to develop both personally and professionally. Mentoring is also an informal relationship because it fosters free communication between the youth and the adult.

There many mentoring organizations in the public arena. The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and Big Brother Big Sister are just two good examples. There is also an organization on the internet called “The National Mentoring Partnership” which I have found that provides a lot of useful information and I have provided a link to their "tookit" for your review. Any of these useful ideas are helpful to establish the ground rules on how mentoring is accomplished.

The Civil Air Patrol has a document, CAP Pamphlet 52-6(E), which covers the details of their mentoring program. I have provided a link to CAP Mentoring for your review. The CAP mentoring program is the one I have chosen to use because it more closely matches the needs required for the leadership program that is used to “Educate the Youth in Leadership Skills” training, which is the focus of the AFA Mentoring Program.

Leadership Training
The “must haves” of (1) Integrity, (2) Discipline, (3) Dedication and (4) Sensitivity are the four tenets of a successful leader and are the foundation on which leadership skill training is taught.

(1) Integrity is nothing more than being honest, honest with other people no matter who they are or how they relate to you whether it is in you home, in your community or in the workplace.

(2) Discipline is moderation and self-control and are the keys to personal growth. Strive for a proper balance.

(3) Dedication is one of the tenets that will separate the good leader from the average leader. Hard work and careful planning are some of the elements that will contribute to becoming a good leader.

(4) Sensitivity means you care about other people. Leaders must deal with other people, which is how one becomes a leader. Being sensitivity to people’s needs is a critical measure of a leader’s leadership skills. Quality treatment begets quality performance.

In addition to these tenets, the following are a short list of ideas to keep in mind when learning the skills of a leader.
1. How to listen
2. How to take direction
3. How to give direction
4. How to plan your time
5. Problem solving

How to Participate
Volunteerism is the path to your participation and like any volunteer group you stay as long as you want as long as you meet the standards that are set to work by.

Being involved with young boys and girls that may not be your children is a daunting task especially in the world of lawsuits in which we live today. For this reason the path that I have chosen to implement the “Educate Our Youth in Leadership Skills” program is built around the standard set forth by CAP. This standard provides a method of checks and balances to ensure everything and everyone operates above reproach. Integrity is the key element here.

Once you have agreed to meet the standards by following the guidelines set forth, that’s all that is necessary.