The grade of Cadet Colonel (C/Col) is the highest grade, and final milestone that a cadet of the Civil Air Patrol may attain. The General Carl A. Spaatz Award. that garners the rank of C/Col is Civil Air Patrol's highest cadet award and honor and is achieved by less than 0.5% of all cadets nationwide.

Generally, the two most basic considerations are what your interests are related to your professional career experience or your specific hobbies or personal interests; and what is best for the unit. You should try to identify at least two tracks that are of interest to you. may not exist for these specialties.

Specialty tracks were developed to allow senior members the opportunity to train and develop proficiency in areas of personal interest or in areas that are needed to support unit operations.

National Operations Center (NOC) – The single resource for coordinating mission approval for both Air Force Assigned Missions and CAP corporate missions.

CAP's chain of command is organized into five basic levels of command: the Squadron level, the Group level, the Wing level, the Region level, and the National level. Each work together in order for CAP to work smoothly, from the National Commander down to you.

As commanders, they set goals and develop training plans for the flight, informally counsel cadets and formally evaluate their leadership skills. As officers, flight commanders serve on the squadron's leadership team, working with the cadet commander and other officers to grow the squadron.

After a student satisfies all requirements for a specialty track rating, the unit Professional Development, Personnel or Administration Officer will log onto eServices and update the specialty rating using the “Senior Member Specialty Track” application.