One thing that I will say about the CAP is that it can be incredibly hit or miss from squadron to squadron, in my experience. I'm not very active at the moment, but I've spent some time with 3 different units in two states.

One was awesome, very mission-oriented, but still helped members out a lot with pursuing ratings and personal proficiency training. They spent some time with cadets, and had a lot of ground activities for people who were interested, and still managed to fly a lot of missions. It was a pretty no-nonsense crowd and probably what most people expect out of the CAP.

Another was basically a subsidized flying club, hardly ever flew any missions or training aside from personal ratings, didn't do much with cadets, and largely just seemed to enjoy sitting around in uniforms, telling GA war stories and drinking beer if at all possible. In between telling GA war stories, they did a lot of ground training and self promotion. When I came along, anxious to fly missions and be involved as a pilot, they weren't very interested. This particular group seemed like a lot of 4-F's and Section 8's to me. People who wanted to be in the military but couldn't for some reason, and now are content to parade around in AF uniforms and play the part.

The third, which I'm currently working my way into, has no cadets, doesn't prioritize personal training at all, and, as they see it, exists solely to fly missions, which is fine by me. They do their share of the ground stuff and aerospace-hype work, but emphasis is on being johnny-on-the-spot for uncle sam.

All I'm trying to say is that the CAP can vary a lot from one place to another. So it's understandable to me that someone who's only spent time around one squadron might say it's just a bunch of bums (Some squadrons don't even have an airplane to fly), whereas someone else who's only seen a different squadron wouldn't agree at all.

I think it's a great organization to be involved in, if you can find a squadron that's a good fit for you. But if there are a lot of squadrons near you, shop around before you commit yourself to being involved in a way that does not interest you.