Squadron Cadet Basic Training Bivouac

[SWASH]

I am the new Flight Sergeant (C/CC) at my new squadron and I see the dire need of a Basic Training Bivouac.  I ran one at my old squadron just before I left (kinda), but that was mainly a test drive of the program I put together.

Does anyone have a schedule for one that they do at their home squadron?  Mine is from 1830 Fri. night, untill 11ish Sun. Morning.

[IceNine]

why don't you post up the one you have and we can make suggestions.

I haven't heard of anyone doing this sort of thing specifically, but I don't see any initial problems given there is an appropriate amount of Senior Supervision, and planning. 

[stratoflyer]

Could be based on and adapted from the Cadet Great Start materials. They have some neat ideas there.

I was thinking: If I ran one, I would like to include as much team-building and leadership activities as possible. Were can I find suggestions for such activities?

[SWASH]

OK, I will post up some of the more... important documents in the 20+ that are made up (most are small, mangaled things!)

...... actually I have no idea how to post documents off my PC, sorry.


EDIT: Many squadrons do the same idea, but over a 9 or so week program, and put the cadets in a T-Flight.  I opt for the 3 day, 2 night bivouac (because I love encampment, and that only happens 2 times a year) and becuase my new squadron is going to start a major recruitment push and I want at least a few cadets well trained right away.

[jimmydeanno]

I would follow stratoflyers suggestion and use the Cadet Great Start Handbook as the guide.  It includes lesson plans, etc already prepared.  You can also get team leadership projects in there too.

Cadet Great Start Handbook can be found here: http://level2.cap.gov/documents/P052_009.pdf

[DC]

OK, I will post up some of the more... important documents in the 20+ that are made up (most are small, mangaled things!)

...... actually I have no idea how to post documents off my PC, sorry.


EDIT: Many squadrons do the same idea, but over a 9 or so week program, and put the cadets in a T-Flight.  I opt for the 3 day, 2 night bivouac (because I love encampment, and that only happens 2 times a year) and becuase my new squadron is going to start a major recruitment push and I want at least a few cadets well trained right away.

Below the message area click on 'Additional Options'.

My does a mix of the two. We have eight weeks of meetings, plus a bivouac that runs 1800 Friday to 1500 Sunday. Our program is undergoing some revision at the moment, but I'll be happy to post our schedules after Saturday (I'm meeting with some others to finalize things).

We try to get the basic instruction in customs and courtesies, basic General Knowledge and drill out of the way during the first four weeks. During that time the cadets are wearing black t-shirts and jeans. We do group orders of BDUs and the necessary uniform items for all of the cadets at one time. Then we have the bivouac, this is where most of the training takes place. We try to keep it as 'Encampmenty' as possible, we get the Curry Testing, CPFT, and Moral Leadership done during the bivouac, in addition to other classes and an obscene amount of drill. After the bivouac it is mostly polishing up the skills they have learned, and trying to get them into blues. Then hopefully, after the eight weeks have passed there is a graduation ceremony and promotions to C/Amn.

More specifics to come!

[Pylon]

I would follow stratoflyers suggestion and use the Cadet Great Start Handbook as the guide.  It includes lesson plans, etc already prepared.  You can also get team leadership projects in there too.

Cadet Great Start Handbook can be found here: http://level2.cap.gov/documents/P052_009.pdf

Our squadron (which uses the pipeline method) tried using the Great Start handbook as a basis for cadet orientation training.  It lacks a lot, is poorly organized and is very "hollow" (no real meat to anything in there). 

What I want NHQ to publish is a complete orientation course.  Lesson plans, instructors guides with learning objectives, visual aids, student handouts, sample schedules, evaluative quizzes - the whole nine yards.  So DCC Smith can hand it to C/CC Jones who can ask his/her C/NCOs to implement it without needing to reinvent the wheel and without much confusion.

[Sleepwalker]

   We have a "bivouac" once or twice a year.  Some call them Basic Cadet Training (BCT) weekends and others call them Field Training Excercise (FTX - if your camp out) but they are all the same type of training. 
   You mentioned recruiting, and I don't know if you were planning on having anyone come who was thinking of joining or not, but I would highly suggest not doing that.  We tried that once and it turned into a big mess because the prospective Cadets were not 'with the program'.  They thought they were there to have a good time.  So we have since limited the weekend to uniformed Cadets. 
    Find some team problem-solving activities (many online) that each flight can work together on.  We combine "hands-on" problems (e.g. moving a bucket of water without touching it)  alternated with "thinking" problems (you are all stuck on a lifeboat with these 9 items, list them from most important to least important).  We had a game of Tag (one flight against another) where they could only take one step when the facilitator yelled "step" (and they are required to keep at least one foot on the ground at all times - no hopping) with a ten second break in between each step to allow flight members to co-ordinate with each other.  Games such as this get them to think and work a problem.
   At night they played "capture the flag" (or in our case, the glow-stick) Flight against Flight in the woods, using an old sock full of flour as their 'weapon'.  They LOVED this game and it was sort of a 'reward' for thier hard work all day.    This was capped off by a flag 'retirement' ceremony where each Cadet silently cut one stripe off the old American flag as the commander read a famous quote from Amercian history as the stripe was laid on the fire.  The Cadet Commander places the Star Field on the fire at the end.  When no one else is talking, this is a very moving ceremony.           

[DC]

I would follow stratoflyers suggestion and use the Cadet Great Start Handbook as the guide.  It includes lesson plans, etc already prepared.  You can also get team leadership projects in there too.

Cadet Great Start Handbook can be found here: http://level2.cap.gov/documents/P052_009.pdf

Our squadron (which uses the pipeline method) tried using the Great Start handbook as a basis for cadet orientation training.  It lacks a lot, is poorly organized and is very "hollow" (no real meat to anything in there). 

What I want NHQ to publish is a complete orientation course.  Lesson plans, instructors guides with learning objectives, visual aids, student handouts, sample schedules, evaluative quizzes - the whole nine yards.  So DCC Smith can hand it to C/CC Jones who can ask his/her C/NCOs to implement it without needing to reinvent the wheel and without much confusion.

That would be nice. I have heard of squadrons having great success with the Great Start materials, but I was diasappointed. They came out at the same time that I was developing my squadron's BCT program, and I looked over them and pretty much discarded it right then and there. I found it very limited in it's goals, so much more can be acomplished in the same amount of time.

[jeders]

I was thinking: If I ran one, I would like to include as much team-building and leadership activities as possible. Were can I find suggestions for such activities?

The CadetStuff wiki has a lot of great ideas for team building activities and such, not to mention a lot of generally good/great resources for anyone running any sort of cadet activity.

[stratoflyer]

I looked at the Great Start pamphlet and it is just that--to get a squadron started with new cadets. But I agree that it lacks in certain areas and it seems that it is spread out too much. But it is very adaptable to your own squadron's needs. Much the same with the Cadet Officer's handbook.

I liked the capture the glo stick idea. What about water balloons instead of socks with flour--seems a bit less messy.