Hello. I recently notified my Cadet Commander that my wings Color Guard comp is in two months, he responded saying that we will begin practices soon and that they would be for one hour, once a week.
I only of of 2 cadets that have done 5 or more CG's. My self and one other, who are both about to receive the Wright Brothers.
I know the intensity of Color Guard comps and doubt that this can be done.
Even if we had experienced cadets, which we don't, I am extremely doubtful.
I do not want to be a CG scrooge though.......
What should I do?
PLEASE REPLY SOON!!
Support the effort.
More time will probably be needed to practice each week but you should definitely encourage them to compete.
Whether they win or lose the experience will be a great team building exercise and your Squadron will have additional members who are experienced.
It is not always about winning but the experience of the attempt.
That is what I think.
However I am also considering making a recommendation that we not attend this years comp and begin practicing now for the comp the following year, so we are not rushed, we have not even found a commander, or picked practice times!
Comments??
If you decide not to compete, I would still recommend sending as many cadets as you can to observe the competition.
Am I right in guessing that your C/CC is assigning this one hour a week during meetings? If so, don't restrict yourself to at-meeting practicing. You probably won't even be able to get competitive doing that.
When I was on color guard, we practiced between meetings. We found a senior member (often the squadron commander or DCC) that was willing to come to the squadron to provide the required supervision for a CAP activity, and practiced between meetings. Sometimes (especially running up to competition) more than once a week. Try and get yourselves a "senior adviser" who can devote even more time and knowledge/previous experience who can do the supervision as well. I was stuck grabbing senior members with no color guard experience who were just there to make things legal, the teams I have seen succeed have a senior adviser who was a former cadet with color guard experience.
Waiting a year could be a problem in that the people on the color guard may get their Mitchell and be ineligible to be on a team. If you can find a Base Honor Guard or even a University AFROTC advanced cadet to be the coach, you'll be way ahead. And having judged at Region Color Guard Comp, I found that the winning teams practice at least two, four hour a month weekend practices.
I definitely think you should send a team to compete, even if they're not that good. :) Go with the attitude of doing your best and learning.
With that said, my team (FLWG champs this year) practiced at least once a week for 5-7 hours in August and September, with several all weekend (Friday night, Saturday, Sunday) practices. In October we went to at least twice a week, with studying/running at separate practices from the drill events. This doesn't count uniform prep time, etc.