Any of this training relevant anymore?

[Stonewall]

In 2007 I responded to a post in the ES forum in an effort to help someone plan some group (or was it wing?) ground team activities.  When recently talking to the local Sq/CC I learned that the cadets pretty much only plan 2 bivouacs a year with a few low-level (few hour) training evolutions on a Saturday solely to get tasks signed off.

Trying to do some research and brainstorming, I found this post and was wondering if this crap is prehistoric or still relevant today:

I think it's relatively easy to plan a 6 month or even a yearly training calendar.  But that's just me.  Remember to delegate, advise and supervise.

Start off a FY:

10/07:  Air/Ground Communications Exercise.  Ground and Air teams operate with the sole purpose of communicating via voice and non-voice signals over long distances (non-urban).  Signal panels, vectoring, signal mirrors, natural signals, and so on.

11/07:  Mountain Training, or whatever your specific terrain is in your area.  Ground and Air teams can either work together or separate on this, but it's always best to have them work together.  Combine ELT and Missing Person search as part of this exercise.  Never hurts to have simultaneous tasks assigned as well.

12/07:  Winter Specific Training.  Train for SAR in the winter-like conditions for your area.  Concentrate on cold weather equipment and conducting missions while under adverse (cold) conditions.  Good time to throw in a quality C.O.L.D. survival class (COLD is an acronym, know what it is?)

01/08:  Bring in the new year with an ES classroom weekend.  That's right, an all inclusive GTM/GTL, GES, ROA, First Aid/CPR, training weekend.  Hold a ground school for potential aircrew members.  Make it a CAP ES 101 Intro.  Only requirement is that seniors have Level I and Cadets have their 1st stripe.

02/08:  Flip Flop time.  Huh?  Come on, didn't I say to be creative in another thread.  This is where all the ground pounding ninjas get some aircrew orientation.  How can you be a good GTL/GTM if  you have no experience with what the aircrews you're working with are doing 1200 ft above you?  Same goes for the hangar talkers.  They need to spend a day in the woodline picking bugs off you and seeing why it's so darn hard to set up some signal panels at a moments notice.  Be creative.

03/08:  Disaster Relief Time.  Come on, everyone's favorite training.  Simulated flood readings at multiple bridges.  Time to fill some sandbags and do some damage assessments.  You'll be shutting off lots of ELTs at airfields and basins if you live near water.  It's not fun, but it is necessary.

04/08:  SAR Eval Train up.  This is where you hone your skills, get all your paperwork in order, do gear inspections, check credentials and make sure everyone knows their job.  Throw some simple DF sorties out there, a missing person scenario, and maybe a few DR sorties.  I've had AF evaluators sitting at a "clue" out in middle of the woods just to see our reaction when we found it.  ACTIONS AT A CLUE!  What do you do?

05/08:  SAR Eval.  Pucker time.  How often are SAR Evals anyway?  Once a year?  Once every two years?  Seems like we had them all the time for some reason.  Anyway, you gotta plan for that big one.

06/08:  Ground Team Skills Training.  This is where scenarios aren't called for, but rather have the GTLs and other advanced ground gods spend quality time with their padawan learners, teaching the ropes.  No, actually teaching the ROPES.  Honing basic land nav skills.  Taking what they learned in January and making sure it stuck in their thick skulls.  Check their gear, make sure they have things dummy corded to themselves.  At NGSAR in '99 by the time it was over, I had a collection of like 12 leathermans, among other gear.  Why?  Because people didn't believe they'd lose their gear.  Anyway, go down the Mission Essential Task List (METL), master basic skills.  It's a round robin learning weekend.  Hands on for everyone.

07/08:  uh oh, Encampment and NCSA time.  You gonna have an FTX or ES weekend in July?  What about August when everyone who's anyone is at NESA, Hawk or if they're real men (or women), PJOC...  It's up to you, but you may find yourself rubbing two sticks together alone in the field.

08/08:  Same as 07/08.  Seriously, plan it and they will come.  It's a good time for water safety (drown proofing) and water familiarization training.  Teach the blokes how to make a flotation device out of their BDU pants, but make sure they know to wear underwear before hand.  Have a life guard go over some basic water safety/rescue techniques.  Not because we're swift water rescue rats, but because we may need to save one of our own non-swimming dudes... Remember, "throw, tow, row, then go".

09/08:  Last month in FY 08, what do you do?.  Another Commo Exercise.  Work those radios and have those aircrews direct the GTs where to do, either in a van or on land, but usually both.  It's long hard work, and doing it just once a year ain't gonna cut the mustard.

I threw 12 things out there, well, 10 or 11 in a matter of minutes.  Brainstorm with some gung-ho hooah types who know what they're doing.  Identify 10 to 12 basic scenarios and goals, then task'em out.  You take 2 or 3 FTXs since you're the Group ES God, and have some other commandos work on the others.  Don't forget to advertise your plan.  Nothing sux worse than getting word about some high speed save the world training 5 days before it happens.  I never put out an OPORD later than 1 month in advance.  And up to 6 months prior the whole wing would have dates (in stone) that an ES training activity was happening. 

And don't just do it yourself.  Like I say, delegate!  You can be the project officer but have some squared away cadet be your scenario guy.  Have a leader's recon of the training site a few weeks in advance, then a week in advance, then a few days in advance.  Don't show up 0700 Saturday morning rushing to find a place to hide an ELT that you didn't PMCS, only to find the batter is 10-7.

Hooah?  Hooah!

[Eclipse]

Everything on there looks pretty relevant to me, good list, actually.  Consider it stolen.

[Ed Bos]

Everything on there looks pretty relevant to me, good list, actually.  Consider it stolen.

Ditto.

[NCRblues]

stolen thrice

[Al Sayre]

Yoink!

[ol'fido]

"In 2007 I responded to a post in the ES forum in an effort to help someone plan some group (or was it wing?) ground team activities.  When recently talking to the local Sq/CC I learned that the cadets pretty much only plan 2 bivouacs a year with a few low-level (few hour) training evolutions on a Saturday solely to get tasks signed off."

Unfortunately, while the GT/UDFT Task Book has provided a standardized training program and measuring stick, it has also fostered a checkbox  training mentality. Trainees get the signoffs and they're done they think. Back in the so-called "bad old days" we didn't really know what to train in or to what degree, so we trained ourselves in survival, land nav, fieldcraft, first aid, ground search, etc. and we learned everything we could about these subjects and kept digging for more.

Good list, Stonewall.  I like it.

[RiverAux]

You know, there are (or at least were -- haven't looked in a while) standard training outlines for various ES missions in the back of 60-1.  It might be nice if there were some generic ground team training plans out there as well. 

[Eclipse]

You know, there are (or at least were -- haven't looked in a while) standard training outlines for various ES missions in the back of 60-1.  It might be nice if there were some generic ground team training plans out there as well.

Yes, these are the ones many wings use for their monthly proficiency flights, and the A/G one can be used by GT's as well.

[cap235629]

I still think we need to bite the bullet and adopt NASAR standards and add the CAP specific things to it.  Why try to go our own way?

And yes, I am practicing what I preach, we just hosted an ISAR class last month and are hosting a FUNSAR class in February.

We train on the CAP specific items at meetings and training weekends.

We have also adopted the ECSI Wilderness First Aid Program that BSA and other agencies are using.

[RiverAux]

I still think we need to bite the bullet and adopt NASAR standards and add the CAP specific things to it.  Why try to go our own way?

I think NASAR needs to bite the bullet and adopt our standards since we are the largest ground SAR organization in the country.

[Spaceman3750]

I still think we need to bite the bullet and adopt NASAR standards and add the CAP specific things to it.  Why try to go our own way?

And yes, I am practicing what I preach, we just hosted an ISAR class last month and are hosting a FUNSAR class in February.

We train on the CAP specific items at meetings and training weekends.

We have also adopted the ECSI Wilderness First Aid Program that BSA and other agencies are using.

Because I don't want someone on my team who paid $70 and took an online test and has never actually done anything hands-on (SARTECH III). II and I are a huge pain, and when I look at the calendar it usually involves a multi-night trip somewhere three states away just to get evaluated, let alone if I want to actually take a class before I put gobs of money on the line. Also, remember that NASAR is a certification, not a standard, just like CAP. In my area there's some debate among the EMAs as to whether or not the NASAR training is any good, to the point that the state SAR council has put together their own training curriculum.

ECSI is not the only WRFA provider - ARC has a very good 16 hour WRFA course that was designed to meet BSA standards.

I used to be a big fan of CAP doing NASAR training, now that I've thought about it not so much.

[Stonewall]

Thanks for the good feedback, guys.

I am still not active in CAP, nor do I even have a position in a squadron.  But this Thursday will be my first meeting in over 3 years, and after talking with the Sq/CC, it looks like GSAR/ES is an area they need help in, especially when it involves cadet participation.  Although I've been mostly inactive for the past 5 years, I've been even less active in ES, with my quals (other than SET and GES) expiring in 2009.  That said, I'm fairly certain it's like riding a bike, but to honest, I never got a real grasp on the whole SQTR sign-offs sheets, GTM 3-2-1.  I was a GBD when all that stuff came into fruition and was more involved with running a squadron as CC than I was signing off tasks at the time.

As far as what cap235629 said, I don't disagree with you, per se.  However, I'm CAP ES to the core and have always looked at ES as a venue to train, mentor and test cadet leaders.  I've been fully involved with all things Ground SAR to include being a state (Virginia) FTM/FTL, EMT and was even Commandant of NGSAR's Advanced Course back in 1999.  I just love the way CAP has done ES through history and even more so before the 2000s.  Granted, as we evolve, I must evolve or I get left behind, which has happened to an extent.  I miss CAPF 101T cards and simply doing 2 missions (practice/real) as a GTM(T) until a GTL blessed you.

With regards to my original post with the annual ES training plan, that's pretty much what I did for years in DCWG.  I didn't invent it, but I kept it going as a DCC and CC and guess what?  It friggin worked!  It worked when you're balancing a solid cadet program with a sold GSAR program with cadets heavily involved.  I'm not a SAR junkie.  I've always looked forward to training than I did real missions, but when the real good ones came down, we were Johnny on the Spot.  We participated in 2, 3 and sometimes 4 real good REDCAPs a year up there and a handful of non-distress missions throughout the year.

[cap235629]

I still think we need to bite the bullet and adopt NASAR standards and add the CAP specific things to it.  Why try to go our own way?

And yes, I am practicing what I preach, we just hosted an ISAR class last month and are hosting a FUNSAR class in February.

We train on the CAP specific items at meetings and training weekends.

We have also adopted the ECSI Wilderness First Aid Program that BSA and other agencies are using.

Because I don't want someone on my team who paid $70 and took an online test and has never actually done anything hands-on (SARTECH III). II and I are a huge pain, and when I look at the calendar it usually involves a multi-night trip somewhere three states away just to get evaluated, let alone if I want to actually take a class before I put gobs of money on the line. Also, remember that NASAR is a certification, not a standard, just like CAP. In my area there's some debate among the EMAs as to whether or not the NASAR training is any good, to the point that the state SAR council has put together their own training curriculum.

ECSI is not the only WRFA provider - ARC has a very good 16 hour WRFA course that was designed to meet BSA standards.

I used to be a big fan of CAP doing NASAR training, now that I've thought about it not so much.

SARTECH III is not an operational certification,  SARTECH II is.  I consider a SARTECH III to be the same as a supervised trainee.  If classes are too far away, do what we did, HOST ONE.

Your area EMA's are in the minority as the NASAR curriculum is the basis of the FEMA Ground SAR typing.  The reality is that on a multi-agency response, the majority of the responders speak NASAR, not CAP. 

CAP and NASAR used to have a MOU (I don't know if it is still active).  Why not revisit and renegotiate it to address the cost issue.  Here in Arkansas we did something similar and the costs were cut in HALF for credentialing through NASAR

[cap235629]

I still think we need to bite the bullet and adopt NASAR standards and add the CAP specific things to it.  Why try to go our own way?

I think NASAR needs to bite the bullet and adopt our standards since we are the largest ground SAR organization in the country.

On paper yes we are.  However in reality we cannot perform to the standards set out in the FEMA typing for GSAR as an organization.  Individual units, maybe (we are one).

[cap235629]

ECSI is not the only WRFA provider - ARC has a very good 16 hour WRFA course that was designed to meet BSA standards.

I agree however most ARC chapters aren't teaching it and those that are charge pretty steeply.  Our unit became a training agency for ECSI and can offer the class for next to nothing....

[Spaceman3750]

ECSI is not the only WRFA provider - ARC has a very good 16 hour WRFA course that was designed to meet BSA standards.

I agree however most ARC chapters aren't teaching it and those that are charge pretty steeply.  Our unit became a training agency for ECSI and can offer the class for next to nothing....

I don't know about the number of chapters teaching it as it is a relatively new course, but I strongly agree with the steep charge. I'm an ARC instructor and once I bridge into teaching WRFA I hope to be able to offer it at cost, which I suspect will be in the neighborhood of $30.

My wing DC has an ECSI (I think) training center set up in his name and has offered to enroll me as an instructor by virtue of my ARC status. I need to look into it further.

[cap235629]

ECSI is not the only WRFA provider - ARC has a very good 16 hour WRFA course that was designed to meet BSA standards.

I agree however most ARC chapters aren't teaching it and those that are charge pretty steeply.  Our unit became a training agency for ECSI and can offer the class for next to nothing....

I don't know about the number of chapters teaching it as it is a relatively new course, but I strongly agree with the steep charge. I'm an ARC instructor and once I bridge into teaching WRFA I hope to be able to offer it at cost, which I suspect will be in the neighborhood of $30.

My wing DC has an ECSI (I think) training center set up in his name and has offered to enroll me as an instructor by virtue of my ARC status. I need to look into it further.

I was both an ARC and AHA instructor and went with ECSI because of the costs

[Eclipse]

My wing DC has an ECSI (I think) training center set up in his name and has offered to enroll me as an instructor by virtue of my ARC status. I need to look into it further.

He's ASHI (American Safety & Health Institute).  When he teaches a class it is generally $10 a person do to ASHI's material requirements.

[jpizzo127]

I would never steal an idea.

I prefer the term pilfer...


YOINK

[bassque]

1...2...READY...ganked...

Thanks for this!