Montana Wing Winter Encampment

Started by adamblank, January 15, 2008, 08:43:35 AM

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

adamblank

I am just reporting in as MTWG has just finished their first of three consecutive weekends for the 2008 winter encampment.  I was initially skeptical that the three weekend concept might not yield good results.  There are far less thrills, but the cadet have gotten a lot of outstanding training.  Has anyone tried this weekend approach recently?

Adam
Adam Brandao

SAR-EMT1

Eclipse is OIC of the ILWG spring encampment. Its a weekend program held at NTC- Great Lakes ( Navy BMT center in north Chicago)
C. A. Edgar
AUX USCG Flotilla 8-8
Former CC / GLR-IL-328
Firefighter, Paramedic, Grad Student

flyguy06

So, are you getting 100% of the cadets to show up each weekend?

adamblank

I am lucky enough to get everyone there.  We have had to make a lot of arrangements due to the geographic size of the state.
Adam Brandao

Eclipse

I've been involved for 6 years and CC for 4 (they activity has been running for over 15) and I don't think I can recall more than a handful in that time who were basics, or even staff, that didn't return.

We've had a few who were >asked< to stay home, or knew going in that they would only be there for one or the other weekend, but showing for both has not been a problem.

We've debated for years whether to stretch to the third weekend, and for the most part its the senior staff
who can't pull 3 weekends in a row, not the cadets.

"That Others May Zoom"

adamblank

I remember they used to be called class-b encampments.  I have never seen one executed.  It has to be run more like a leadership academy which has pluses and minuses of course.  Because it is Montana and January I have 80% of the curriculum into the first two weekends in case we have to cancel one because of the bad weather.  I have few seniors who can make the three weekends, just enough to make the camp work and they have been AMAZING.
Adam Brandao

Eclipse

#6
That's really the risk which is why we haven't gone to three - the risk of burning through 2 full weekends
and then something happening and having some or all the cadets not get their credit.

We manage to get the full curriculum crammed into there, but its a challenge, and there is no downtime.  If you're not in a class or eating you're sleeping.

The upside to the heavy schedule is that when you walk in on Friday, you're only 2-days from leaving, so
everyone knows they can push at 100% and then get a few days off.

The reasoning has always been to allow new cadets to get an encampment in before NCSA season, but with the news rules some of that advantage is gone.  There's not much time left in the summer in ILWG where we could move it later so we could do a full week, but I would sure like to try it.

Frankly, though, I don't know what we would do with all the time, and the costs would more than double for the meals, etc.   We'd also bump into the recruits, who are essentially gone on the weekends.

We've shaped this thing so its fits the needs and venue pretty well.

"That Others May Zoom"

adamblank

It has been very challenging to stay on schedule.  Thankfully with good people and a well-executed plan it is possible, just very stressful.  I think one major advantage is the staff can take a look at the previous week's business and make improvements.  I still fully support a summer encampment.  We ran into a planning snag and didn't have an encampment last year.  I couldn't see how we could go 24 months without offering cadets an encampment.

Cost has been a major issue.  We have some cadets that require scholarships etc.  We set the cost as 60 dollars for basic and cost of meals from the dining hall for the staff.  With that, we are right on the budget limits.  Some of the cost saving measures include:  MRE meals that the wing had or we have acquired.  Free lodging is the make or break item, and of course transportation.  I think if we had a lot more free time we would have o-flights etc.  Let me know if you want any cross-talk, I have gotten a lot of good information and have some really good documentation.
Adam Brandao

Eclipse

I'm open to any news ideas, one of our biggest challenges is finding classes that
don't put the cadets to sleep on top of the already heavy schedule.

This year we're going to try and keep the moving.

We're on an active Navy base with no flight line and the nearest airport is about 20-30 minutes away.
We took a shot at o-flights one year, but the logistics were daunting and only a handful actually got to fly.

Otherwise, we get access to a fair amount of Navy activities (SAMT, Combat Pool), free housing, and eat in the galleys for regular cost.  Thank fully there are few transport costs.  At $70 we're about breaking even.

The encampment website is here:  http://encampment.group22.net and my direct contact info is all over the place.

We're fortunate in ILWG that we have two encampments (Spring / Summer), plus a flight encampment.

"That Others May Zoom"

adamblank

For us the key to keeping cadets awake were dynamic briefers.  If you stay on curriculum and have good briefers we have had no problems.
Adam Brandao

Eclipse

^Agreed, but those late afternoon classes after a day of swimming shooting and no sugar or caffeine can be a killer on the cadets.

Some of our schedule is a bit out of our hands because we have to build around the Navy's availability, so whereas I might like to put swimming in the evening as a day-closer, they stick it mid-day right after SAMT and everyone is knackered!   ;D

"That Others May Zoom"

LtCol Hooligan

We tried o'rides one summer when I was the Joint Dakota Encampment CC and it worked out too good.  It actually became a drain on us.  We had at least 2 planes come in each day of the encampment and I didn't want to tell the pilots not to come as I thought for sure we would get weathered out at least half the time- but amazingly no- no rain, no bad weather, nothing, and the flights kept coming in.  From there, I had an amazing senior staff member who kept finding the cadets who were signed up to fly and taking them to the airport.  After the 4th day she came to me and asked for money for gas- she had driven over over 200 miles and a tank of gas in the van just bringing the cadets back and forth from the airport.  Well day 6 rolls around and all the sudden the cadet staff came to me and said- no one wants to fly- we had done somewhere around 75 flights (front seat and back seat).  I had to call the pilots and tell them to stand down for fear of a mutiny!!  Would I do it again?  Well as was mentioned before in another post, logistics was crazy and it was the toughest activity at the encampment in that sense.  Also some of the pilots complained that the cadets were sleeping.  I might hesitate on getting o'rides up in the future.
ERIK C. LUDLOW, Lt Col, CAP
Director of IT; Director of Cadet Programs
North Dakota Wing, Civil Air Patrol
http://www.ndcap.us

Eclipse

Conceptually, I really like the idea of getting cadets who don't normally have the opportunity, a chance to fly.

(We all know there are way too many units where they don't have an airplane and don't or won't take the initiative to connect with one for o-flights).

However as you say, the logistics can be daunting, and if you're up against the clock as it is, taking those cadets away from the encampment to have them fly might jeopardize their completion of the encampment.

Encampment venues with a flight line have much less of an issue with this.  The only reasonable possibility for us woudl be to put helos on the grinders in the back of the base.  Needless to say the amount of coordination to get that approved, assuming there are helos available, is more than daunting. 

Our one saving grace might be that the new base commander is a helo-pilot, but I have my doubts we'll be able to make that happen any time soon, if for no other reason than most of the helos around here are deployed.

"That Others May Zoom"

adamblank

I actually was trying to work out having our cadets more than 3 hours away be given an O-flight to and from the camp.  I wish that worked out rather than the Vice Commander and I making the long trip from the camp to get them, but you do what you have to.
Adam Brandao

Ned

On a couple of occasions in CAWG, we have moved the entire encampment to the local airport for o-flight operations.  We can usually get 5-6 corporate aircraft running sorties (with a qualified MC and support staff to run the air ops), and the challenge becomes keeping the non-flying cadets occupied.

Obviously, they can get a little D&C time in, and volleyball practice. But we have also exported some of our best instructors to give "in the field" classes -- usually in a spare hangar or something.

Then it's just a matter of getting the dining hall to serve up box lunches, and we are good to go.  We have flown 175 cadets in a day, all legitimate by the numbers o-flights.

In any encampment, the first priority is meeting the mandated 52-16 curricula.  After that, my goal is to get the troops flying at least twice (1 military helo; 1 CAP corporate) and shooting at least once.

Some years the military can't spare the blade time; some years a search cuts off the corporate side.

(And one year I had to buy 10,000 rounds of ammo at a sporting goods store, but that's another story. 8))


Thanks to all of you for your efforts to put on encampments for our cadets.  You are making a difference.

Encampment attendance is the single most important factor in retention.

Ned Lee
National CP Adviser

adamblank

Would you like any continuity information for best practices?  I used a curriculum spreadsheet that was given to me by Lt Col Mueller formally of MTWG now COWG.  I have some other good information if anyone wants it.
Adam Brandao

Eclipse

Quote from: Ned on January 17, 2008, 06:51:25 AM
Encampment attendance is the single most important factor in retention.

Absolutely - I just wish we could get more unit CC's to understand that encampments shoudl not be
a check-box on the way to Mitchell.

I refer to them as the "SAREX's" of the Cadet Program in that it is really the only place where cadets get the chance to show what they know / can do, outside the comfort zone of their home units.

"That Others May Zoom"

Eclipse

Quote from: adamblank on January 17, 2008, 07:25:28 AM
Would you like any continuity information for best practices?  I used a curriculum spreadsheet that was given to me by Lt Col Mueller formally of MTWG now COWG.  I have some other good information if anyone wants it.

I'll take a copy, every little bit helps.

"That Others May Zoom"

adamblank

I will PM you gents later today (1am here) and send it along.  I think some of it will be very useful.
Adam Brandao

flyguy06

So, just out of curiousity, how big is Montana Wing people wise. How spread out are the units? Where is the Wing HQ located?