Ohio Wing Encampment

[Paul Creed III]

The 2010 Ohio Wing Encampment will be held 19-26 June 2010 at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station. Website will be updated as more information becomes available.

http://encampment.ohwg.cap.gov/

[Spike]

A friend in Pennsylvania Wing tells me Ohio Wing has reached out for big time assistance.  Specifically in regard to running the Encampment and providing manpower.

What happened since last year that you have moved away from the Wright-Patterson area and are looking to other Wings for assistance in setting this up?

[SKI304]

A friend in Pennsylvania Wing tells me Ohio Wing has reached out for big time assistance.  Specifically in regard to running the Encampment and providing manpower.

What happened since last year that you have moved away from the Wright-Patterson area and are looking to other Wings for assistance in setting this up?

I can't speak for the command staff of the encampment, but this is the first I've heard of us reaching out for big time assistance from PAWG.  Due to the location of this year's OHWG Encampment, it will be conveniently located for most OHWG members, as well as members in western PAWG, southwestern NYWG, and northern WVWG.  As such, we more than welcome your participation should you choose to apply for staff.  So far there are over 55 cadet staff applicants and a good number of senior members stepping forward for staff, so I will say that it will be a competitive process, especially for cadets.  The only thing I've read that even insinuates that we are supposedly "looking to other Wings for assistance in setting this up" is a press release from PAWG Group 6 stating that they will be involved in helping with encampment this year, which even the Encampment Commander was unaware of at the time of its release.  I can only assume they stated that because the majority of their members are literally in the backyard of our encampment site.  Having worked with a number of them this summer at our Thunder Over the Valley Airshow, I hope they do look into coming out for that week.

As to why we chose to move it to Youngstown ARS instead of Wright-Patterson AFB, well, we're just trying something new, and hopefully making it more affordable for those who participate.  Wright-Patterson gives us a lot of logistical challenges with lodging, transportation, and dining.  We had to rent dormitories from Wright State University (about two miles from WPAFB) that were by no means cheap.  Due to the massive size of WPAFB, we were entirely dependent on vehicular transportation which ate up a lot of training time and budget dollars.  As such with the encampment being spread out over some 100 square miles at any one time, the delivery of boxed lunches and water became it's own logistical circus.  That said, the $250 encampment fee was the price we paid for some truly outstanding encampment venues.

At Youngstown, every point on our base is within a 10 minute march, so we will not need to be running a fleet of 12 vans and multiple busses  all day.  Lodging will be in metal frame squad tents, so our lodging overhead expenses will be drastically cut.  Our dining options will also be much more convenient.  While I'm not at liberty to divulge this year's fees, suffice to say they will be less than last year's.  We also have many of the same staple venues, so there will be very little difference in what is offered, in fact, there will likely be many new exciting experiences.  It will just be more affordable, more field based, and more logistically convenient.

We have some great activities lined up already, and you'll still get to go down to WPAFB and the U.S. Air Force Museum, and get a military O-Ride at the same time.   The leadership at the base are extremely excited for this encampment and are pulling out all the stops.  But what is really going to make this encampment shine are the cadet staff.  We've been onto a good thing for the last few years in terms of cadet staff training which led to last year's OHWG Encampment being one of the best we've ever had.  That same training is getting dialed up a notch this year, and anyone who comes will see, our #1 priority is the Basic Cadet.  No attitudes, no elitism, no nonsense  only building up our basics, providing them a life changing fun experience, and holding them to high standards. 

The only problem is the dates, which conflict with at least NESA and NCC.  Coincidentally unfortunate, if all goes well, myself and most of my unit's experienced cadets who have been lobbying for years to move our encampment to Youngstown ARS will be in Oregon the week of encampment.  If not, it's still a win-win.   

[Hoorah]

So I am planning to go to Ohio Wing Encampment but I hear that you have to be quick to register.