Bivouac ideas.

[RogueLeader]

I am planning a bivouac in South east Wyoming, and suddenly I realize that I have no idea of what to do, other than hike out, and camp  Any ideas?

[Eclipse]

I'd leverage the GTM taskbook and turn the basic tasks into activities - compass work, shelter setup, etc., etc.

If you're really going to hike out and back, be prepared for squishy members not used to that kind of roughing it.

[A.Member]

To dovetail a bit into Eclipse comments, you need to decide what your real objective is for the "bivouac". 

Realistically, when was the last mission that ever required such an activity???   The fact is that when we have overnight missions, they're usually part of a larger activity and accommodations are made in a squadron building, auditorium, hotel, etc.   There's not a whole lot of true "roughing it" taking place anymore.  It's just not needed.

So, if you do such an activity, determine your objective - ex. teambuilding/esprit de corps, etc.  That will determine what types of things to focus on.

Just my $.02 

[manfredvonrichthofen]

No matter when the last time you had to setup shelter on a mission, you should always be prepared for the worst and train for it as well. I love the roughing it and so do most of our cadets. When it comes to bivouacs... I tend to not even use the term with cadets it sound like a boy scout term. If we are doing team building or ES training I treat the thing as if we were going out to train, training like that will build teamwork so I treat it like training, cadets for the most part love it.

When we go out to train overnight I also discourage tents and instead encourage everyone to bring a poncho and 550 cord and tent stakes, if they can figure out how to make a shelter out of it then I will sign them off on building a shelter for their GTM3 list, I don't count setting up a tent for that. But if they prefer to use a tent oh well. Just remember to treat them as adults as much as possible.

[ol'fido]

My old squadron used to do 4-6 bivouacs a year. These included tent camping and backpacking in. Our philosophy was that if you are "roughing" it, you are doing it wrong. It was Townsend Whelen or Brad Angier that said we don't go to the woods to rough it but to "smooth" it. If this is your first bivouac with people that aren't used to being outdoors, use the first outing to learn the basics of campcraft and those little "tricks" that make the difference between having a fun and enjoyable time and "roughing" it.

For instance, most novice campers don't have a good idea of where to set up a tent so that if it rains they are not sleeping in a nylon bathtub. They don't understand the importance of picking a tent that has a full coverage rain fly or how to make up for that with some heavy mil plastic sheeting. I hear people talk about eating MREs and Ramen on their bivouacs. Except for the backpacking trips, we usually were fixing steaks, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, etc. Good stuff.

You can also plan to train survival and GT skills into your schedule. Just don't try to cover everything in one weekend. Cover a few basic skills thoroughly rather than trying to cram everything into one weekend and just skimming over it. I would go out on Friday evening and plan to come in late Sunday morning or early in the afternoon on your first trip. You will need to plan for 5 meals, decide where to go, work out a fee that will just cover your expenses such and food, camping fees, training materials. We never charged more than $10-15 and for $15, we were living in high cotton. You need to make sure you have a source of water or bring along enough for everybody plus your cooking. How will you handle sanitation, permits if needed, transportation to and from, etc.

There's probably a lot of stuff I'm leaving out but we did it so much, it got to be kind of automatic. Good luck and PM if you have specific questions. 

[Major Carrales]

We regulary bivouac at airports and the like prior to O-Flights to get an early start.  The suggestions about GROUND TEAM TASK trainings is also excellent.

[Slim]

My old squadron used to do 4-6 bivouacs a year. These included tent camping and backpacking in. Our philosophy was that if you are "roughing" it, you are doing it wrong. It was Townsend Whelen or Brad Angier that said we don't go to the woods to rough it but to "smooth" it. If this is your first bivouac with people that aren't used to being outdoors, use the first outing to learn the basics of campcraft and those little "tricks" that make the difference between having a fun and enjoyable time and "roughing" it.

For instance, most novice campers don't have a good idea of where to set up a tent so that if it rains they are not sleeping in a nylon bathtub. They don't understand the importance of picking a tent that has a full coverage rain fly or how to make up for that with some heavy mil plastic sheeting. I hear people talk about eating MREs and Ramen on their bivouacs. Except for the backpacking trips, we usually were fixing steaks, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, etc. Good stuff.

You can also plan to train survival and GT skills into your schedule. Just don't try to cover everything in one weekend. Cover a few basic skills thoroughly rather than trying to cram everything into one weekend and just skimming over it. I would go out on Friday evening and plan to come in late Sunday morning or early in the afternoon on your first trip. You will need to plan for 5 meals, decide where to go, work out a fee that will just cover your expenses such and food, camping fees, training materials. We never charged more than $10-15 and for $15, we were living in high cotton. You need to make sure you have a source of water or bring along enough for everybody plus your cooking. How will you handle sanitation, permits if needed, transportation to and from, etc.

There's probably a lot of stuff I'm leaving out but we did it so much, it got to be kind of automatic. Good luck and PM if you have specific questions.

^This (for the most part)

If they're new to it, you could pretty much devote an entire weekend to the basics.  Selecting a campsite, where to set up your tent, where to put the fire pit, where to dig the "Facilities," if needed.  Go into things like where to find good firewood, building a fire, and how to burn logs that can't be cut.  Cover things like hygiene for the field, how to cook in the fire without blowing Spaghetti-Os all over the place, and stress the importance of proper eating in the field, taking into account the higher calories needed for such activity.  Basically, all those things you wish you'd known the first time you went on a bivouac, but didn't.  There should be some time to start on basic ES skills like land nav, map reading, etc., but I wouldn't throw an all-day ELT search at them until they're ready.

Also, don't underestimate the value of team building, and unit bonding that goes on at these things. It can be an incredible transformation.

[lordmonar]

Have fun.

Nothing in the regulations prevents you from doing something just for fun!

That is the BSA way of training.  Just go out hiking and camping.....don't worry too much about the "agenda".

[titanII]

Hmmmm, I'm beginning to think that I may want to bring this up as an idea at the next squadron staff meeting. Sounds like a squadron bivouac could be a lot of fun.

[Extremepredjudice]

Hmmmm, I'm beginning to think that I may want to bring this up as an idea at the next squadron staff meeting. Sounds like a squadron bivouac could be a lot of fun.

They are. It is the only thing fun my squadron does.

[titanII]

It is the only thing fun my squadron does.

Now THAT can't be true....
What do you guys do the entire time besides bivouacs, paperwork?

[Extremepredjudice]

It is the only thing fun my squadron does.

Now THAT can't be true....
What do you guys do the entire time besides bivouacs, paperwork?

Pretend to teach "tango" flight drill. No one actually tries.

Me personally, talk to C/CC or C/XO.

Anyway, back to the thread at hand