Preparing for Basic Encampment

[Spam]

Ned, I really would like to reserve further public comments on our Wing's execution at this point, having submitted formal write ups from my unit at my WG/CV's request. I don't want to sandbag my Wing here, as they hopefully address our issues.


How to put this? "Be the change that you want to see happen"?  I'm trying to move forward constructively back down at my legacy/home unit, hence the modest suggestions for unit level training as the original poster had requested.  Having directed several TLCs I might even suggest that if the successful TLC curriculum is entering a revision cycle, we might consider an expansion to devote to encampment staff officer training (from tactical officers up through support, to command). That might be worth starting an entire new thread here, or on the Proving Grounds: suggested additions/updates/mods to TLC...


V/R,
Spam

[JC004]

The faster everyone just accepts that the rules are the rules, or NHQ actually cracks down on encampments...the better.

Come on, now.  We do our best.  We specifically sent folks to several encampments this summer, including Massachusetts and California, just to see how things were going.  And overall, we think the new standards are being implemented fairly consistently.  And we will visit at least one of the winter encampments and probably 3-4 summer encampments next year.  Summer, of course, is our busy season and there are also NCSAs and the odd national convention to worry about.  Overall, we rely on our colleagues at the wing and region level to do the lion's share of monitoring encampments and sharing best practices.

And truth be told, I am more concerned about the sleep rules and curriculum compliance than I am about the nomenclature used for students and staff.  First things first, and all that.


Ned Lee
Col, CAP
National Cadet Program Manager

Out of curiosity, how many encampments ARE there on average, in a year?

[Ned]

Sir,  should this ["encampment inspections"]not happen to make sure the National standard is beig adhered to? 

Mostly because CAP relies on a chain of command to assist us with span of control issues like this.  But even more importantly, we have outstanding CP officers serving as wing and region DCPs and staffers who are much more familiar with individual wing encampment programs than us "ivory tower" types at NHQ could ever be.

When I was a wing DCP, it was my job to go to encampment every year (usually as an FTO) and observe the largest single CP activity my wing put on.  If I saw something that could be improved, I mentored and coached the CC, Commandant, or whoever.

As a region DCP, I actively travelled to my wings to monitor and improve CP activities, including encampments.  I had a modest travel budget to help me and my deputy get away from the flagpole and spread best practices throughout the region.

Finally, just as a practical matter the NHQ CP shop is very small.  We simply don't have the resources (staff time and travel budgets) to visit even 10% of the encampments every year. 

So, we rely on the chain of command, pretty much like every other CAP functional area.

[Ned]

Out of curiosity, how many encampments ARE there on average, in a year?

About 40 during the summer, and another 4 or 5 during the winter.  Some of those are in wings that have more than one encampment a year.

[JC004]

Out of curiosity, how many encampments ARE there on average, in a year?

About 40 during the summer, and another 4 or 5 during the winter.  Some of those are in wings that have more than one encampment a year.

[Майор Хаткевич]

Out of curiosity, how many encampments ARE there on average, in a year?

About 40 during the summer, and another 4 or 5 during the winter.  Some of those are in wings that have more than one encampment a year.

*cough* Spring *cough*


IIRC, that school unit in Indiana also has a version of "encampment" in the spring break week for their cadets only?

[lordmonar]

Why the cough cough?

Is this supposed to a secret or something?

Also why the "encampment" with the quotes?

Is it not an an encampment?

Does it not follow the regulations?

[Майор Хаткевич]

Why the cough cough?

Is this supposed to a secret or something?

Also why the "encampment" with the quotes?

Is it not an an encampment?

Does it not follow the regulations?

Cough because he didn't mention them.


As to the quotes, IIRC, it's kinda-sorta-like-an encampment, but was told it's run differently.

[SarDragon]

Out of curiosity, how many encampments ARE there on average, in a year?

About 40 during the summer, and another 4 or 5 during the winter.  Some of those are in wings that have more than one encampment a year.

*cough* Spring *cough*


IIRC, that school unit in Indiana also has a version of "encampment" in the spring break week for their cadets only?

Oh, no, call out the Waaaambulance. 

[TheSkyHornet]

In addition to what has already been said, our squadron holds a weekend-long bivouac. Not only does it allow us time to reinforce all the preparations we've been making during our meeting nights, but it also gives cadets a chance to be away from home in a familiar and controlled session. I've served as FTO at an encampment (admittedly not as experience as others who have posted) and homesickness and the inability to cope with it was a real problem.

This seems to be a crowd favorite from both online and in-person discussions. It appears that homesickness is one of the most common, if not the most common, issues at arise with first time encampment cadets. Our incoming CC is a big fan of bivouacs and outdoor activities. Our encampment is held during the summer, so we have plenty of opportunities to have "field training," as well as various outdoor team-building exercises. Definitely doable.

The faster everyone just accepts that the rules are the rules, or NHQ actually cracks down on encampments...the better.

... Overall, we rely on our colleagues at the wing and region level to do the lion's share of monitoring encampments and sharing best practices.

And truth be told, I am more concerned about the sleep rules and curriculum compliance than I am about the nomenclature used for students and staff.  First things first, and all that.

That reliance on the "dog not barking" to use Sherlock Holmes' term, may be contributing to a false sense of security. In my Wing, the DCP isn't part of the review chain, and isn't in the loop on most encampment planning and execution (at least, my predecessor and I weren't, as DCPs).  Our Wing/CC and CV have pointed out their disagreement with the newly approved Encampment Guide lines of command, with the justification that an Encampment/CC is an appointed line position, and as such should not report through the DCP as a staff director. So, at least some DCPs are not in the loop on Encampments, by design, and I think I'll stop there on that topic.


Back to the OP's thrust: as I've now returned my focus to retaining excellence at my local heritage unit, we're including modules on Encampment Student prep for our Basic Cadet Training modules based around the Wingman curriculum, on Encampment Cadre prep in our C/NCO modules, and on Encampment Command prep in our C/Officer modules. My unit supplied about a third of our Wing's C/Officer and C/NCO cadre this year, including the Encampment C/CC (although, apparently none of them intend to apply to my Wings event again, based on our internal review this summer). I'm trying to capture their cadre "prep" lessons learned on a local level, before their experience evaporates.


I suppose then, my point would be that a broad spectrum encampment "prep" would include an institutionalized training program for students, for cadre, and for officer staff. Beyond the RST event, that is. For adult officers, we should document and cover actual encampment planning and execution, logistics, admin, communication and delegation vice organizational breakdown, how to network with DoD agencies and POCs to get things done (from military O rides to getting the AC turned on BEFORE graduation), on actually turning ORM into smart decision making to avoid incidents, on criteria for reportable safety incidents, and on conducting an open, honest, accurate public AAR and in pivoting off those results to improve for successive years. Selecting and equipping ADULT officers seems to be the biggest preparation task that's not being filled, I would suggest, although I don't want to distract from the OP's great original point.

V/R,
Spam

For now, our squadron is focusing primarily on the cadet newbies, not so much the officer staff and cadre. While I do agree with some of the points you've made on the side of building up the cadet officers, it's not really applicable at the moment to what we're trying to get done back at home base.

It's been well-known how I feel about some of the things that have been done in our squadron in the past when it comes to cadet leadership and responsibilities. We have had way too many people in officer positions that were totally inappropriate. I'm finding that this is a common issue in many squadrons, and I'm thinking this comes from CDCs not knowing how to properly structure and manage cadet duty positions on top of commanders who are filling slots for the sake of filling slots. It makes it very difficult to train even the newest of cadets because the cadets in high-up positions aren't trained enough themselves and are failing at the lead-by-example theory. Still, I find, based on what I know, that our wing's encampment does a very good job at making sure people are placed in staff positions appropriate for their level of experience and maturity; however, I also find that some of these cadets return to their home squadrons and still think they're at encampment in those positions of responsibility and can't turn it off when they get back to the norm. There's a lot of prep work that goes into heading off to encampment, but there's also a lot of work that we seem to have to put in, from the CP standpoint, to get some of these cadets off the totem pole and back to the squadron-level operation.