Any fun ways to train GTM3 and UDF?

[Cadet CMSgt]

I am looking for some really fun ways to train GTM3 and UDF at my squadron. This way I can recruit more ES members that will know the stuff and remember it. Any ideas?

[THRAWN]

I am looking for some really fun ways to train GTM3 and UDF at my squadron. This way I can recruit more ES members that will know the stuff and remember it. Any ideas?

Define "fun". 20 mile ruck march? All day unit SAREX during a blizzard? Playing up the mountain/down the mountain because some first lieutenant "thought" he remembered where he put the PELT that now has a dead battery?

There's a lot you can do. UDF do a foxhunt. Do some experimentation with the PELT and the DF gear for different scenarios. Use a Jetstream or HT scanner to DF. That's fun.

For GTM3, do a simple circle compass course. If you've never used a compass, it's a good way to get oriented. Seriously, pun intended. Do some survival orientation to identify natural hazards. Stick? Not a hazard. Snake? Mebbe. Do a gear packing and balancing orientation. Might not be "fun" but you won't end up with blisters on your shoulders or...other places....

And if you do it all during a hurricane on a full moon at midnight, it's fun...

[JC004]

WIWAC/CC....I had the squadron commander kidnap the smallest cadet on a SAREX because the cadet team leaders weren't paying proper attention to their cadets.  Then she had them take accountability for their teams, after which they realized the mini-cadet was missing.  They learned to always keep an eye on their people.  That was fun....at least for the squadron commander.  Perhaps not so much for the cadet team leaders who almost had a heart attack.

Do a cadet-run SAREX (it's best to do this at multi-squadron/group level or above).  Get SMs who are experienced at mentoring cadets without micromanaging.  Have cadets run the SAREX with Senior mentors who will mostly make sure safety and assets are OK, but otherwise let the cadets run the exercise, with the Seniors providing the scenarios and injects to the scenario.  This is an excellent leadership lab.  Let them squirm, panic, and screw up (that's where the Seniors who are experienced with being hands-off while making sure assets/safety are in line, come in).  If done well, it's one cadets won't forget.  We did one at group level that former cadets stilltalk about over a decade later.  Not every activity makes that kind of impact.

We had a SM who put a dummy load on a practice beacon instead of the regular antenna.  It put out just enough power to simulate a dying ELT, which is a challenge and something people should know how to DF.  The cadets enjoyed that, and so did we, as we watched them try to figure it out.  Talk to a comm officer about what to use for that.

Double ELT activations happen.  I've done 2 real-life double ELT missions.  It can be a fun training experience to have 2 beacons going off (but they should be a decent distance from one another).

Orienteering is a good, fun way to teach land navigation.

Geocaching is a fun way to teach navigation, tech, etc., and other than the scavenger hunt element of it, it's a decent physical fitness activity.  You'll be needing physical fitness activities for the new cadet physical fitness program, when it comes.  Decent reference book: Geocaching for Schools and Communities

To learn and teach navigation in detail, I recommend the classic, authoritative book Be Expert with Map & Compass.  It also addresses orienteering generally.

To keep SAREXs interesting, you should come up with injects (basically, that's a list of added scenario elements that get thrown in throughout the exercise.  For example, "Surprise!  You have a GTM who sprained an ankle!  Now what?"). 

Something that CAP doesn't do enough, but should, is having exercise Controllers, rather than letting the IC make up scenarios.  A Controller makes the scenario and adds the injects, so everyone is getting tested - from the IC on down.  This makes sure the IC and mission staff aren't spending their time on making up the mission, rather than training.  The Controller and their minions gets a secret schedule and list of scenario information, which increases the realism.  On a real mission, the IC doesn't know weeks ahead of time that they're going to do a downed aircraft or missing person.  They shouldn't know on a realistic exercise either.

Realism by itself adds fun and makes training just plain better.  Get a Senior Member with lots of missions under their belt to help. 

Get a dog search team (law enforcement agency or independent SAR group) to come out, or have a MEDEVAC to drop in (cadets always enjoy the helicopters).  We have a MEDEVAC coming to visit the cadets for some AE/ES/careers at our next meeting.

Look for opportunities to do signal mirror training with actual aircraft.  This is a good opportunity for both the aircrews and ground teams.

If you have cadets interested in earning their ES badges, you could put a couple of them in charge of regular (say, monthly) inspections of your team mission kit.  That's a good, practical thing for them to do on a regular basis and gives them some responsibility.

Once you've done a gear class for UDF and/or GT, and your teams have got their basic kits together (and you've inspected them), in a couple weeks, do a last-minute notification of a gear inspection and/or a weekly meeting practice mission.  Get an IC and mission number, and run a UDF mission on a weekly meeting night, just like if you were called for an actual mission.  Run a local ELT search, inspect their gear, give feedback on their gear and debrief the mission overall before the meeting ends for the night.  If possible, put the practice beacon in an unexpected place, a few miles from the squadron. 

For a broad list of cadet activities of all types, download my list here (doc or PDF): http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=20070.msg369782#msg369782

[SarDragon]

Something that CAP doesn't do enough, but should, is having exercise Controllers, rather than letting the IC make up scenarios.  A Controller makes the scenario and adds the injects, so everyone is getting tested - from the IC on down.  This makes sure the IC and mission staff aren't spending their time on making up the mission, rather than training.  The Controller and their minions gets a secret schedule and list of scenario information, which increases the realism.  On a real mission, the IC doesn't know weeks ahead of time that they're going to do a downed aircraft or missing person.  They shouldn't know on a realistic exercise either.

+1000 on this. We do that frequently here.

Another thing you can do is table top sessions, where you are presented a scenario, and talk through it.

[Storm Chaser]

Something that CAP doesn't do enough, but should, is having exercise Controllers, rather than letting the IC make up scenarios.  A Controller makes the scenario and adds the injects, so everyone is getting tested - from the IC on down.  This makes sure the IC and mission staff aren't spending their time on making up the mission, rather than training.  The Controller and their minions gets a secret schedule and list of scenario information, which increases the realism.  On a real mission, the IC doesn't know weeks ahead of time that they're going to do a downed aircraft or missing person.  They shouldn't know on a realistic exercise either.

I wouldn't say CAP as a whole. I've run many exercises as an IC where I didn't know all the scenarios. It really depends on the type of training you're doing and what the objectives are. Having a "white cell" come up with scenarios and provide clues and act as external agencies can provide great training for the IC, Planning Section and other mission base personnel.

[Spaceman3750]

We've used white cells increasingly for the last couple of years here. I've done it for local exercises all the way up to multi-wing level exercises. Getting ready for a group exercise this weekend in fact. Being able to work a blind problem is important for any position. In the same vein, it is important for white cell to match the scenario complexity/difficulty to the personnel who are training, and to avoid the trap of doing mean things for the sake of being mean. Ask yourself if something has training value and if it doesn't, don't do it. Keep it realistic, I like re-using things that have actually happened.

[JC004]

I'm working on Exercise Controller materials, as well as tabletop materials, but it might be a while.  I have a bunch of projects that are progressing slowly due to computer issues.  It likes to overheat and do thermal shut-downs for one thing.

I'm hoping to replace the computer soon, but we'll see.  Hopefully I can get all my exercise materials updated withing a few weeks of getting a new computer, but I have no date for a new machine yet.

[arajca]

Something my cadets enjoyed was taking turns hiding the practice beacon and watching the rest locate it. I gave them some tips and some information on signal propagation to help them 'properly' place the beacon.

[NIN]

We stashed the practice beacon at the local pizza hut that was about half a mile from our meeting location, and then I rolled into the squadron meeting with the DF unit and acted like we had a legitimate ELT.

We went trooping over hill and dale only to find out that it was a practice beacon at the Pizza Hut and look there's pizza!

( halfway through the evolution, one of my more sharp cadets started to say that the DF was on the practice frequency, but I cut him off before he ruined it for everybody else )

[Storm Chaser]

That sounds like fun.

[TheGooseLover]

In My Experienece as a currenct cadet, hands on is the best way, for instance: when teaching about missing person SAR, we had 2 cadets go and hide somewhere on the 40 some odd acres of land we were on. they left clues and once we found them we had to practice first aid/triage through their acting. Long story short, actually having a scenario is a lott more helpful, it makes you really care about the training!

[almostspaatz]

( halfway through the evolution, one of my more sharp cadets started to say that the DF was on the practice frequency, but I cut him off before he ruined it for everybody else )

There's one in every squadron....