At my CCF contingent, we are being encouraged to do some research about external courses available to RAFAC. I was looking at the IACE program and found out about CAP. A couple of wikipedia links later, I found this CAP course (https://www.capranger.org/basic-ranger-course) which is a search and rescue training camp.
“Open to Cadets and Seniors (Seniors is the equivalent to CFAVs), during this first year course, students will gain hands-on experience in navigation, team mobility, search operations, crash site procedures and survival skills. The students then will take part in a 3-day mission to have the skills learned evaluated. In this search exercise, the schools culminating event, the students will take part in real world scenarios and perform realistic rescues.”
IMO, this sounds absolutely awesome! and encapsulates a lot of activities into one - AT, aviation, leadership, camp, station visit, fieldcraft, etc. It got me thinking if RAFAC could implement something similar, maybe run with the RAF MRTs, CCAT, or even some kind of exchange with CAP.
I understand, as a lowly non nco cadet, I am very far removed from the red tape that would kill everything, but I’d like to hear some people’s opinions on this.
Cheers in advance.
Edit: If anyone is interested in RAF MRTs, I can highly recommend the book ‘Whensoever’ by Frank Card - absolutely fascinating!
We used to regularly run bushcraft as a project, culminating in a weekend “survival exercise” on a local farm. All of it was faked bar the fire. They built water filters collected it from the local stream and filtered it, then boiled it. But this was then swapped for an equal amount of tap water by staff.
They “fished” (went to location with a rod), which resulted in them getting a whole fish from the supermarket they then had to prepare and cook. They had to collect firewood, chop it and keep the fire going. They built a shelter, but we added a tarpaulin for water protection and they had sleeping bags.
They dug a latrine which they used. One year we got them some rabbits which they had to skin and butcher. We took them “foraging” whereby they looked for edible things and we then swapped in shop bought equivalents of everything they found.
I would love to do this again. I don’t think it’s insurmountable but I just don’t know what we would put it through as for an activity on SMS.
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I love the idea of this! Swapping in the items was definitley a sensible option and the cadets must have learned some valuable lessons from it! Big kuddos!
We did a similar thing in my CCF when a cadet over a few parades. We simulated having parachuted out over a forest and losing everything except a knife. Week one was building fires, week two was making snares and “rope”., Week three we got freshly shot rabbits from the farm next door, pretended they had been caught in a snare and then had to gut/skin them and cook them over a fire built using week one skills. Of course they made us make the fire first and then we “broke” our knife so we had to break a bone in the rabbit leg and use that as a knife to prepare the rabbit. We then ate the rabbit with no swapping out of meat.
I can’t imagine that being permitted now.
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We’ve done similar - not for maybe 3-4 years. You do need qualified bushcraft instructors - we have two. Usually rabbits, chickens or fish, or some combination.
Once quite a few years ago we gave them a live chicken for lunch but that was swiftly banned after one of the chickens was less dead than anticipated and ran off into the bush, pursued by an alarmed JNCO.
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Out of interest what is the qualification they have? And what is its remit?
coincidentally, there was a conversation about this on one of fb freelance outdoor instructor groups a few days ago: https://www.facebook.com/groups/50023471821/permalink/10157796951361822
there’s no NGB qualification, which makes things difficult both from an insurance and (I’d imagine) RAFAC policy pov
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Good question - I’ll ask.
The Scouts ran (run) courses, never quite
managed to get on one, but not sure if there is an external qual as such.