Cadet Officers’ Basic Course (COBC)
Cadet Officers’ Basic Course (COBC)
Goal
Cadet Officers’ Basic Course (COBC) was originally modeled after the USAF Squadron Officer School (SOS). The intent was to provide a professional training program, exclusive to CAP cadet officers. A basic principle of COBC is to make the course practical, with material the students could apply directly to their jobs at their home units. Although both COBC and the National Cadet Officers School (COS) are based on the USAF SOS program, COBC was designed as a less theoretical program, with practical exercises, and a more “nuts and bolts” approach providing many opportunities to apply what was taught … both in structured exercises, and “found opportunities” as students and staff interacted over the course of the program.
Objectives
COBC has evolved to focus on the three major subject areas of Leadership and Management, Communications, and Applied Ethical Decision Making. Students receive this instruction through a process of classroom academics, simulations, exercises, and personal interaction.
Philosophy
Much of the philosophy involving COBC has remained constant throughout its over three and a half decades of existence. The program maintains an academic rigor unequalled in any other CAP programs. There remains a focus on student-centered “guided learning,” where students are given situations and experiences to increase their competence, enhancing their desire to learn, and feedback through staff observations and evaluations. There also remains a heavy emphasis on the Socratic method of instruction to that end. Additionally, students were assigned the ultimate responsibility for their own education. They were treated as cadet officers “twenty-four hours a day,” and held accountable to that standard.
Resources
- COBC Student Guidebook (PDF)
COBC Class 2024-25 (27 Dec - 04 Jan)
On behalf of the COBC Commandant, Lt Col R.C. Bitting, I am pleased to announce that California Wing's Cadet Officer Basic Course (COBC) is now accepting student registrations! Registration will close at 2359 on Sunday, November 24. Please register here: www.cawgcadets.org/cobc24-25. COBC will take place at Camp Parks Reserve Forces Training Area in Dublin, California from 27 December 2024 to 4 January 2025.
COBC is the fifth school in California Wing's Integrated Leadership Program and is intended for cadets who are ready to dive deep into upper-level leadership skills, including motivating and inspiring a unit, advanced public speaking skills, collegiate-level leadership theory, and much more. I can tell you from personal experience that COBC is an academically challenging but very rewarding experience.
PREREQUISITES: All students must have earned their Brig Gen Billy Mitchell Award (C/2d Lt) by the date of registration, must maintain a minimum grade point average of 2.0 (on a 4.0 scale), and must be at least 15 years of age. Applicants from California Wing must have graduated from California Wing's Cadet Non-Commissioned Officer School.
WAIVERS: Prerequisite waivers may be granted in exceptional circumstances. To request a waiver, please email the COBC Commandant (robert.bitting@pcr.cap.gov). Waiver requests must be approved before registration. For the grade, GPA, and age prerequisites, the applicant must demonstrate exceptional circumstances in two of the categories to obtain a waiver in the third category. For the NCOS prerequisite, the applicant must have served on cadet cadre as a flight commander or flight sergeant at an encampment, as a flight commander at a BCS/ATS or DCS/ADS, as a seminar leader or assistant seminar leader at an NCOS or SNCOS, or in an equivalent support-side leadership position at a wing-level event. Alternatively, the NCOS prerequisite may be waived if the applicant demonstrates exceptional circumstances in all three of the grade, GPA, and age prerequisites. The COBC Commandant will not waive more than one prerequisite for any one applicant.
SCHOLARSHIPS: If you are in need of financial assistance, scholarships may be available for you to attend COBC. Please visit the CAWG Cadets Scholarships Page for more information on scholarships and application procedures. Awards from the Lt Col Tony Upton Scholarship or the Cadet Character & Leadership Foundation (CCLF) Scholarship may be applied towards COBC. If you are registering for COBC with a scholarship, please apply for the scholarship first. Then, email the COBC Commandant (robert.bitting@pcr.cap.gov) and provide your name and the scholarship you have applied for.
REGISTRATION IS NOT ACCEPTANCE: Please note that registration does not constitute acceptance. Students will be notified ASAP after the registration deadline whether they have been accepted. You will not pay any fee upon registration but all students accepted to the school must pay the full $400 registration fee. A maximum of fifty registrants will be accepted to the school.
SENIORS: We are in need of additional senior volunteers for this event. If you are interested in serving on the senior staff of this event, please contact the COBC Commandant (robert.bitting@pcr.cap.gov).
Sincerely,
Capt. James J. Hockel
2024-25 CAWG COBC Chief of Staff
