Preparing for Basic Encampment

[TheSkyHornet]

Since I was never a cadet, and our squadron is revamping the training program, I was wondering if I could dig into the minds of some of the cadets on here, as well as senior members, in regard to what you all think is imperative to know prior to cadets going to encampment.

I'm not being specific with every single area of knowledge, but feel free to dig deep if you'd like. This will really help us not only build up a basic cadet training program for essential knowledge in getting cadets through their first few promotions, but also getting a task list of things to cover before cadets attend their first encampment after a few months or even up to a year of being in the program before their first trip.

We've had new cadets go to encampment within 60 days of joining CAP and didn't really know what to expect, so what I would like to do is have an idea of what can really help those new cadets obtain a good amount of knowledge and skills before we send them off to a training camp. OHWG encampment is in June, so that gives us plenty of time to figure out how to get all of this together, but I could really use some more insight from a large group of people rather than asking a couple of folks who have done encampment once or twice what they think helps. The more ideas floating around, the better for me.

[lordmonar]

Nothing beyond what is required for Curry.

[Tim Day]

TheSkyHornet:

I commanded Virginia Wing's Encampment last year, and I'm happy to share what I saw. However, much will depend on how your wing runs encampment. We tried very hard to follow CAPP 52-24 in both spirit and letter. One great benefit of following the standard is that the CAPP 52-24 purpose and vision can be shared with all our prospective students (not basics), their leaders, and their parents.

As Lordmonar stated, Curry is required and that's it. There's a cautionary note about cadets under age 14, and our experience bears that out (we had most of our home-sickness issues in the 12-14 age group). 

Wings vary on the required set of uniforms and other items your cadets will need to bring. Some of these are required for safety or other practical reasons (e.g., we require an old set of running shoes for the leadership reaction course - running shoes for traction, old because they'll get muddy).

In no particular order:

• Please discourage parents from forcing cadets to attend encampment.
• Not every 12 year old is ready to spend a night (or a week of nights) away from home. Practicing, for example on a unit bivouac, is a good idea.
• It is not cheating if you read the CAPP 52-24 prior to attending, even if they are attending for the first time.

Perhaps even more importantly, stress to your cadets who will be cadre the CAP encampment vision:
"An immersion into the full opportunities and challenges of cadet life."

Let that replace all their pre-conceived notions about encampment as basic military training, Full Metal Jacket, etc. Encampment will be more rigorous and strict with regard to military customs and courtesies than normal cadet life but we don't need boot camp-level intensity, or anything close to it.

Hope that helps. I really appreciated those Deputy Commanders for Cadets and others who helped with cadre selection and training throughout the year prior to encampment. As CAP continues to shift the encampment culture we need as much help as we can get.

[winterg]

Make sure they understand that they will be interacting with cadets from all over the wing and that it will be a great oportunity to make friends in the program that will last long after encampment. 

Have the cadets bring a small notebook that is just for recording contact info for the friends they make and encourage them to maintain those friendships after encampment. If possible, maybe even get extra squadron patches to trade if possible.   

Use encampment as a means to get them in the habit of making lists for the items they need and tasks to accomplish. This will help to reinforce making a plan and following it through.

I remember my first encampment as a cadet airman. It was amazing and terrifying all at once at points! The knowledge sets like D&C and CoC are very important but so are getting them to think outside their squadron, I think. 

[TheSkyHornet]

Nothing beyond what is required for Curry.

Really? I've had cadets go as Airman grades who said they felt they could have been more prepared than the minimum requirements. I've had Tech Sergeant grades go as basics at encampment that still didn't really feel ready.

Tim's post seemed to have a lot of good points, especially about forcing cadets to attend that don't feel ready and not using their parents to talk them into it or forcefully send them. I also like the idea of having a bivouac before encampment as well, and that's definitely something I wouldn't have thought of on my own. But I can really see the plus in that, especially considering that many kids definitely never experienced time away from home, especially in that kind of environment.

I don't know what kind of senior member staff I'm going to get to help me with this before the next encampment, or even the one after that. We're short-handed as it is, and we're losing a senior member in 2016. As for the cadet staff, we're understaffed in that area as well. I'm hoping to get even some of the lower-ranking cadets to take on some small-scale responsibilities, just so they can get some experience in being assigned a task with someone to report to. It would help in the long-run with training new cadets because they'll have an edge in practical experience.

I'm surprised at how many higher-up cadet NCOs (Tech Sergeants, Master Sergeants) I've come across who have never made an encampment once yet while in pretty high positions of responsibility in squadrons.

[TheSkyHornet]

Make sure they understand that they will be interacting with cadets from all over the wing and that it will be a great oportunity to make friends in the program that will last long after encampment. 

Have the cadets bring a small notebook that is just for recording contact info for the friends they make and encourage them to maintain those friendships after encampment. If possible, maybe even get extra squadron patches to trade if possible.   

Use encampment as a means to get them in the habit of making lists for the items they need and tasks to accomplish. This will help to reinforce making a plan and following it through.

I remember my first encampment as a cadet airman. It was amazing and terrifying all at once at points! The knowledge sets like D&C and CoC are very important but so are getting them to think outside their squadron, I think.

While I agree with this completely, this always seems to be one of the hardest areas to instill, especially with the issues in the communications department that I've recently described. Any suggestions as to teaching cadets to make a plan and reinforce it, outside of just the guidance in CAP manuals and books?

I think the patch trading idea is kinda neat. It's an area of expense, though, but not undoable. I'll look into that more.

By the way, I'm writing all of this down. I've already asked our cadets to list, if they choose, their own suggestions that I'll formulate into my list and see what's doable/practical.

[Brit_in_CAP]

In no particular order:

• Please discourage parents from forcing cadets to attend encampment.
• Not every 12 year old is ready to spend a night (or a week of nights) away from home. Practicing, for example on a unit bivouac, is a good idea.
• It is not cheating if you read the CAPP 52-24 prior to attending, even if they are attending for the first time.

Perhaps even more importantly, stress to your cadets who will be cadre the CAP encampment vision:
"An immersion into the full opportunities and challenges of cadet life."

Let that replace all their pre-conceived notions about encampment as basic military training, Full Metal Jacket, etc. Encampment will be more rigorous and strict with regard to military customs and courtesies than normal cadet life but we don't need boot camp-level intensity, or anything close to it.

Quoting in part, I can offer some experience of similar activities from my time with the UK Air Cadets, which bears out the first two points in Lt Col Day's list.  I can also support, from my time as a CDC, that stressing the immersion concept is a really good idea, as is making sure the scary war stories don't get told - encampment, either side of the pond, is a great experience and is something I'd recommend to any cadet **when they're ready**.

Sometimes, of course, the cadet is ready but the parent is not..   For that, you need a wholly different set of skills!

[CAPDCCMOM]

^^ Ah yes, another Cadet in need of a Momectomy

[TheSkyHornet]

^^ Ah yes, another Cadet in need of a Momectomy

Had a CAP mom/SM from another squadron tell me this week that she expects her son to man up and take responsibility for preparing for his activities, including encampments. She said she wishes a lot of other parents would cut the cord and throw their kids from the nest from time to time and let them walk on their own. It seems like a lot of parents need to be convinced or else their cadets, many of whom are really excited and nervous at the same time, don't get to partake in some of these experience.

So, it seems like we're covering a lot of checklist items for getting ready for encampment. Any more suggestions on how to mentally prepare cadets in regard to training? We get a lot of cadets in many squadrons that meet the minimum requirements for their Curry, as mentioned earlier on in this post, and they go off to encampment, but they still don't seem to have been prepared where they should be. And a lot of cadets come back and still can't perform very well within the squadron with the minimal stuff they should have known at the Curry level, often basic drill. We don't want to set up a boot camp-style program to prepare them for encampment, but at the same time, we don't want to baby them either and be too soft. One of the criticisms some of the higher-ranking cadets I've come across say they have with newer cadets who haven't yet experienced encampment is that they say it's a lot more volume and stress than they're used to at the squadron. I've been told that they often feel the cadets should at least experience a taste of what encampment would be like at a few meetings before going off to encampment when they're going to get yelled at the minute they get off the bus.

Granted, encampment isn't Parris Island. But it's also not happy, happy, joy, joy daycare. I just don't know how in-depth I would be comfortable making it to allow training cadets to get a little "rougher" with trainees (all within regs of course). It's not that I wouldn't be okay with doing it, but there's a very broad line that starts to get crossed where people aren't happy in that environment and adults aren't happy seeing kids yelling at other kids. How much is too much? How much is not enough?

[MSG Mac]

Remind them that the encampment is only 7 or 8 days and that the encampment gets better and easier  every day.

[GroundHawg]

I don't know if they still do them or not but we used to have a Type "B" Encampment as a preparatory for the Type A. It was held over two successive weekends. It was good prep work! It allowed those who had attachment issues to get used to being gone, staff cadets could work out wrinkles, logistics found issues before the big game, those going to the ALS or NCO course got lots of prep work, etc.... They were held at Campbell, Knox, WHFRTC, and a couple times at colleges during the summer when the students were gone.

I "think" you earned an encampment ribbon if you went both weekends (6 days), but it didn't count toward your Mitchell. I'm not suggesting you run something as expansive as this, maybe start with a weekend and see if that helps at all.

[Jaison009]

I went to two of those Type Bs at Ft. Knox, KY WIWAC in the Ft. Campbell Composite Squadron in the late 90s. Attended one as an airman and then another one as an NCO. They were great especially as a younger NCO serving on encampment staff for the first time. We also did weekend leadership schools for airman, NCO, and officers in the fall and winter months.

[PHall]

Some of you guys are working off of old memories.
A through review of CAPP 52-24, 1 June 2014 would be a very good idea.

[GroundHawg]

Some of you guys are working off of old memories.
A through review of CAPP 52-24, 1 June 2014 would be a very good idea.

Type B is still around, and can be completed over multiple weekends in a 60 day period. After reading the requirements however, I think that it would need to be over three weekends minimum to squeeze in all that is now required.

Back to the original poster, CAPP 52-24 and CAPP 52-25 have lots of base info to start your unit training plan off of. 

[Spam]

PHalls point is valid though, go read the pubs carefully, including 52-16 as he says, and the new curriculum.

One thought here is that there isn't such a term as "Basic Encampment" in the program. There should be no cadets at the activity who have not completed their Curry award, hence no Cadet Basics by definition (the program should correctly refer to them as students or trainees, not "Basics").  Referring to them as "Basics" can feed the erroneous mindset that they are there for basic military training, which they aren't.

From that mindset, everything needful "should" be encompassed by the Curry. We know that isn't always the case, even with simple things like D&C, right (e.g. how many encampment pass in reviews have you seen, where 1 stripers stumble through a column movement because the LL1 Curry drill practical only covers up through flanks)?

My Wing doesn't use all the encampment tools, but one assessment tool I tried in vain to get used was the entry/exit survey, which would have helped me (when I was DCP) to diagnose which units weren't administering the PFT properly, or weren't requiring the Cadet Oath to be memorized for advancement (as is mandated). That quick survey is a nice short assessment tool (unfortunately they let our cadets write their own oddball quizzes). Go take a look...

V/R,
Spam

[SarDragon]

I don't know if they still do them or not but we used to have a Type "B" Encampment as a preparatory for the Type A. It was held over two successive weekends. It was good prep work! It allowed those who had attachment issues to get used to being gone, staff cadets could work out wrinkles, logistics found issues before the big game, those going to the ALS or NCO course got lots of prep work, etc.... They were held at Campbell, Knox, WHFRTC, and a couple times at colleges during the summer when the students were gone.

I "think" you earned an encampment ribbon if you went both weekends (6 days), but it didn't count toward your Mitchell. I'm not suggesting you run something as expansive as this, maybe start with a weekend and see if that helps at all.

The Type "B" I staffed counted for Mitchell, back in '73.

[Tim Day]

So, it seems like we're covering a lot of checklist items for getting ready for encampment. Any more suggestions on how to mentally prepare cadets in regard to training? We get a lot of cadets in many squadrons that meet the minimum requirements for their Curry, as mentioned earlier on in this post, and they go off to encampment, but they still don't seem to have been prepared where they should be.
...

Granted, encampment isn't Parris Island. But it's also not happy, happy, joy, joy daycare. I just don't know how in-depth I would be comfortable making it to allow training cadets to get a little "rougher" with trainees (all within regs of course). It's not that I wouldn't be okay with doing it, but there's a very broad line that starts to get crossed where people aren't happy in that environment and adults aren't happy seeing kids yelling at other kids. How much is too much? How much is not enough?

CAPP 52-23 has some very useful guidelines for setting the right intensity level - it specifically addresses yelling and used of raised voices. VAWG's encampment leaders train to this reference and I expect them to fully implement it. The more we all standardize to it, the better.

As far as a specific recommendation for your home squadron meeting, I wouldn't raise the intensity to encampment level unless you can provide the rest of the full experience of the cadet program at the same time.

[abdsp51]

If you want to prep them then I recommend the following:

1) Have their D&C upto Par (teach them the RIGHT WAY!!! per AFMAN 26-2203
2) Teach them about heat injuries
3) Teach them proper foot care (broken in boots, proper socks, applying mole skin)
4) Obtain the packing list and emphasize that it needs to be followed.  (Attention to detail)

These are the key things for encampment.  You don't need to ramp up anything or increase the intensity at home units for it. 

[kwe1009]

If you want to prep them then I recommend the following:

1) Have their D&C up to Par (teach them the RIGHT WAY!!! per AFMAN 26-2203
2) Teach them about heat injuries
3) Teach them proper foot care (broken in boots, proper socks, applying mole skin)
4) Obtain the packing list and emphasize that it needs to be followed.  (Attention to detail)

These are the key things for encampment.  You don't need to ramp up anything or increase the intensity at home units for it.

Exactly.  Outside of being homesick, the biggest problems I have seen at encampments are each of these items.

I've added to your list a little.

• Cadets don't know how to march (36-2203 and Youtube can really be your friend here.  There are tons of great USAF-based drill videos)
• Heat injuries should be a focus of your monthly safety briefing, especially just before your encampment
• Proper foot care - another emphasis for your safety briefing
• Packing List - this is a big one from what I have seen.  Cadets either bring too much stuff or not enough.  I have seen cadets show up with just a small backpack and other with large backpacks AND a trunk.

In my squadron we start prepping the new cadets a few weeks before encampment.  This generally consists of going over items 3-4 on the above list.  We also require the cadets to bring in their gear on the meeting one week prior to leaving for encampment for us to check.  That gives them time to get missing items and remove items they don't need.

Some of the more senior cadets also set expectations for the cadets so they know what is going to happen on day 1 - day 7.  We go by 36-2203 always so that isn't an issue for us.  This has worked very well for us as we have had no homesickness issues in the 3 years we have been doing this and have had very minor issues with blisters and heat.

[PHall]

The most effective thing you can do to make sure your cadets succeed at Encampment?
Don't send them until they can handle it!
Just because they meet the minimum standards to attend doesn't mean that they're mature enough to handle it.
Do the cadet a favor and don't send them until they're mature enough to handle it.  They'll be much happier for it.