ES competition games for cadets?

[taylor914]

So my squadron want's to do an ES competition night where we do a relay race or something with the cadets that involves physical ES related activities.  For example, you might have to litter carry a team mate so many yards, then the team mate has to get up and perform some other ES type activity.  Does anyone have any ideas or things they do with their cadets?

[JC004]

Well, orienteering...

[Jaison009]

You could look at some of the events in NASAR SARTECH II and utilize some of those as inspiration. Some of these might take more than one night but you could do: a compass course, map reading, evidence search/line search with playing cards, fire starting competition, shelter building competition, gear check and competition to have all required items with pack weighing least, pack weight guessing game, etc.

For a relay you could do something like a litter race. Answer general ES questions. Do x amount pushups and situps, unpack and repack gear, orient a map using local landmarks, identify utm, and run back.

So my squadron want's to do an ES competition night where we do a relay race or something with the cadets that involves physical ES related activities.  For example, you might have to litter carry a team mate so many yards, then the team mate has to get up and perform some other ES type activity.  Does anyone have any ideas or things they do with their cadets?

[THRAWN]

There was a thread about this.....

There are many training tasks that can be used to engage members in ES activities. The orienteering mentioned before can be fun. There is a simple game that we used, just use the Google and search "circle compass course". It can be modified so that the teams have to find a message. You can of course do large scale compass courses after the members are familiar with their equipment. Then there is foxhunting. Always a crowd pleaser. Blindfolded knot tying races. The possibilities are endless....open the task guide and ask "how can I make this task into a game?" Be creative....

[JC004]

...large scale compass courses...

Did you say large scale compass...?



There's also a thread called "Any fun ways to train GTM3 and UDF?"
http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=20217.msg371493#msg371493

[THRAWN]

...large scale compass courses...

Did you say large scale compass...?



There's also a thread called "Any fun ways to train GTM3 and UDF?"
http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=20217.msg371493#msg371493

Hardee-har-har....thanks, that's the one I was looking for....

[JC004]

...large scale compass courses...

Did you say large scale compass...?

...

There's also a thread called "Any fun ways to train GTM3 and UDF?"
http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=20217.msg371493#msg371493

Hardee-har-har....thanks, that's the one I was looking for....

It also links to my activities list, which may give you an idea or 2 for ES training activities.  My list will be updated as soon as I am able to catch up on that.  I'm still bogged down in catch-up from being in the hospital and medical stuff.

[NIN]

Something you can do when you teach map & compass, particularly compass (and things like degrees & pace count) is the triangular compass course.  You don't even need a huge area.

You need a cone or other marker of some sort, and a poncho.

After you've had people figure out their pace-count, this is essentially the next exercise.

"So you now know how many paces are in 100 yards. Stand here with your compass. I'm going to put this poncho over your head so you can't see where you are, but you can see your compass.  OK, start with heading [an angle that fits your area] for [a distance that fits your area, say 100 yards], then 120 degrees from that for 100 yards and then 120 degrees from that for 100 yards."

In theory, its a big triangle.   When they get to the last step of the last leg, you pull off the poncho and they can see how far off they are from their start point.  Some of it is poor heading control, some of it is poor pace count.  Prize for someone who is the closest (best heading and pace count control).



Its instructive when you do it, as people are generally amazed at the cumulative amount of error that can be induced over a relatively short distance.

[taylor914]

Thanks for all the replies.  We're doing a test run at tomorrow's meeting to see if this idea even works, but here's my plan.

Two teams
Station 1: Cadet 1 is victim Cadet 2 fireman caries him to Station 2
Station 2: Cadet 1 then has to orient a map to north with a compass and shoot an azmuth telling the senior at that station the correct bearing +/- 5 degrees
Station 3: Once correct bearing is given cadet 1 runs to station 3 and tags cadet 4.  The cadet 4 has to treat a victim (cadet 5) using first aid and demonstration proper safety precautions like glove use and removal.
Station 4: Cadet 5 runs to station 4 and uses a signal mirror to hit a print out of a cesna.  Cadet 5 then runs to the finish line.

This may be a complete disaster once we try it, but maybe it could be fun.

[THRAWN]

Thanks for all the replies.  We're doing a test run at tomorrow's meeting to see if this idea even works, but here's my plan.

Two teams
Station 1: Cadet 1 is victim Cadet 2 fireman caries him to Station 2
Station 2: Cadet 1 then has to orient a map to north with a compass and shoot an azmuth telling the senior at that station the correct bearing +/- 5 degrees
Station 3: Once correct bearing is given cadet 1 runs to station 3 and tags cadet 4.  The cadet 4 has to treat a victim (cadet 5) using first aid and demonstration proper safety precautions like glove use and removal.
Station 4: Cadet 5 runs to station 4 and uses a signal mirror to hit a print out of a cesna.  Cadet 5 then runs to the finish line.

This may be a complete disaster once we try it, but maybe it could be fun.

It'll be a disaster, but disasters are fun. Good luck! Let us know how it goes...

[Eclipse]

As a CC doing the ORM, I would have an issue with the fireman carry.  That's not a CAP "thing", and you're just asking for a 78.

Back or neck injury, twisted ankle, broken ribs, facial injuries, etc..  Running (or trying to) with someone on your shoulders is a bad idea, especially for cadets.

You should stick to things on the SQTRs, but even running with a litter is a bad idea.  Ever seen a cadet strapped to a litter get dropped, on their face?
It's not pretty.

[taylor914]

Good Point eclipse.

[TheSkyHornet]

As a CC doing the ORM, I would have an issue with the fireman carry.  That's not a CAP "thing", and you're just asking for a 78.

Back or neck injury, twisted ankle, broken ribs, facial injuries, etc..  Running (or trying to) with someone on your shoulders is a bad idea, especially for cadets.

You should stick to things on the SQTRs, but even running with a litter is a bad idea.  Ever seen a cadet strapped to a litter get dropped, on their face?
It's not pretty.

Agreed. Be careful with person-carry-person activities. Carrying a litter or even some heavier objects is one thing, but you really want to watch carrying anything over your head as well as the possibility for oen person to severely injure another person. It's especially common in youth activities to see who can carry the "fat guy." Yeah, sure, we've put our commander on the litter to see if cadets could lift it, but there's a different between 4 people trying to lift one person using an actual carry system versus one person trying to pick up another with no aid.

You can even briskly walk with a litter with 4 people on it and a 180-pound person being carried and still give them quite the workout. Don't overdo it. This isn't rugby.

I say this as a proponent of the "don't baby cadets" doctrine.

[Майор Хаткевич]

As someone working on the 1000lb club, lifting heavy objects requires proper prior training. Walking with heavy weights for even a few steps is risky enough.

[JC004]

I've been wanting to do something like this...

Mythbusters did a MacGyver escape.  They used science and engineering to escape from a building and get rescued. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym65fYMu5Gs

Do an ongoing STEM thing exploring scientific principles with cadets, then end with a challenge like this.

[SarDragon]

Fifty minutes? Despicable.