...or, horror of horrors, someone could acknowledge the big elephant in the room that no one talks about:
There are distinct cultures for the space and aviation programs -- and that's not a bad thing.
Those employed on the tactical level at SC and AC programs (and I use "SC" as a catchall for the "Space" programs) were not employed at the time of greatest cultural friction and strife amongst the staff.
Ten years ago, there was no fellowship between the two sides. It was a relationship of active indifference at best, and outright enmity at worst, punctuated by brief periods of actual violence.
HR and other recruiting types would recruit different campuses with different candidates in mind for the programs. If you had a military, ROTC, CAP or pilot training background, you were tracked for AC, hired directly for that program, and trained directly in that curriculum. Your relationship with Space Camp existed mainly so you'd know who the blue-clad counselors were in the chow hall, and because you had to do the same mass orientations together.
(Most of the friends I made the first summer I was an AC counselor, I made in the big "pee in this cup" line for mass drug testing.)
If you were in math, science, engineering, education, or a similar track, but without a military or tactical addition on your resume, you were tracked toward Space Camp, hired directly for the program, trained directly for the program, and had no real association with AC other than "these people wear military-style uniforms, and have really short hair, and probably scare the kids. How rude!"
Across the next couple of seasons, a handful of folks made friends and built bridges across the blue/green gulf. They were also threatened with unemployment, mass firings, and complete paranoia by the corporate masters to play nice with each other in the sandbox. That cut out most of the "intramural football injuries," but not all of them.
About this time, the Astrotrek concept came into vogue, and cast a huge shadow across counselor training and employment. By now, since Astrotrek trips happened at 2-3 day intervals, and during fall/spring times of low headcount for camps; they were short on warm bodies. AC and SC counselors began to cross-train in limited capacities -- AC folks could run the basic sims (MAT, 5DF, 1/6 Chair, etc.), and SC folks would bring Astrotrek groups down to try out the AC sims and do walking tours. This put everyone in everyone else's sandbox. Folks learned what the "other" side did all day, and if they didn't gain a new appreciation for it, they'd at least not come from a position of ignorance. If an AC counselor still didn't want to be a Space Camp counselor when they grew up (or vice versa), then their position came from knowledge and preference.
Though I must admit, once the SC counselors were exposed to the more physically demanding AC lifestyle and day-to-day experience, opinions were cemented -- they either wanted to jump sides, or were really grateful to be on the TCF. (And no, "I had to wear a sweatshirt in MOCR in July!" does not count as "physically demanding.")
Over a few seasons, relationships were built between the programs. Mutual support channels were created, established, and refined. Things simply
worked. And it was due to having the right personalities in place at the right time -- in some places, this is called "management."
Of course, "management" being what it is, and in the interest of "efficiency," as I understand it, counselors were hired simply as "counselors" with no preference or leaning toward a particular program.
Just as has happened in military systems around the world, the "purple suit" phenomenon has, in my humble third-party outside opinion, hurt all involved. The cultures of both programs have been hobbled by the change. Does it save dimes over time? Meh. Doubtful -- though anyone at the Mothership can move the numbers around to show whatever outcome they want (don't laugh, I've seen it time and again -- how do you think the World's Biggest Model Rocket got built, despite study after study showing it wouldn't reap one red penny of revenue, no matter how they tarted it up?).
Staff hiring has to begin with the end in mind -- hire all-stars and potential all-stars for your staff, and make sure their backgrounds and goals track with the goals and direction of the program. For the Mach 1 counselors at AC, the hiring was skewed away from the military model and toward elementary education majors, for instance. But for Mach II and especially Mach III, counselors were hired with specific backgrounds for specific reasons. Since I'm nowhere near the tip of the spear any more, I can't tell you why counselors get hired, or not hired; or how they're tracked for programs.
The cross-training opportunities during initial counselor training were a boon for all involved -- I was a trainer in that initial class, and the benefits were reaped immediately. But it seems like that paradigm was stretched to an almost absurd level when program counselors simply became "Counselors." Time and again, history and experience have shown us that you don't have the time, budget, and resources to train new hires to be jacks-of-all-trades. It simply won't work. The AC counselors I knew who could have filled in for SC types in a pinch could do so because we were space geeks at heart -- we'd attended SC as kids, and been subject-matter dorks on the subject since before puberty.
You can't train that in two weeks, any more than you can effectively take someone who's all about rockets and astronomy and try to teach them to be remotely adequate instructors in a climbing two-circle fight.
The strengths of the programs are derived from their content, their academic focus, the "spoonful of sugar" fun level that masks all the math, and the culture of the programs themselves.
The latter factor is what made all the difference when I was a counselor, it was borne out by class evals and interviews with returning trainees, and for some reason it's been collectively throttled back by all involved in the name of some unattainable cost savings and emotional harmony that never could have existed in the first place.
It's the mentality of adventure, the warrior mentality (though some chafe at the name) that makes AC what it is; in the same way that Space Camp is the spirit of Von Braun, Robert Goddard, and anyone who ever looked up at the night sky and
wanted to go up there.
To try to pull the same cloak over both programs is disingenuous to both, and saps them of their identity and limits their spirit irreparably.
Ruth, are they still doing "purple" training, or is there more of a return to culture in the programs?