Bit too simplified. By the book you’ve got almost 30 hours of lessons and CPT without doubling up to do a second round with the weapons or including longer format exercises.
Personally I’d have something like this
Blue - Completes Lesson 1 - 19
Bronze - Thorough Understanding of 1-19 demonstrated and signed off as demo team member for 1 to 19
Silver - Lessons 20 +
Gold - JL/Cadet version of the FCI course to make it more accessible… Obviously would need to carefully planned and regulated
I’d rather remove JL from the equation. FCI maybe, bit not specifically JL. They don’t need the monopoly on another subject level.
You’re probably right to be honest
So Sqn training plus a day in the field could be say 12-14 hrs: 4 parade nights, 1 day out
Weekend 12-16 hrs depending on age of Cadets. If you had 2 nights away 1st night in hardened accommodation could that work?
Of course the usual caveats of weather, access to DTE, kit and qualified staff still apply.
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Fair but what % of cadets complete lessons 1-19? I’d peg it closer to the pre DofE blue badge perhaps.
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True that
Friday-Sunday can be tricky depending on travel distances. Availability of hard accommodation is limited.
Splitting it into such large chunks as 1-19 in a level means multiple weekends per level. Not a problem on paper, but 2-3 weekends… you’ll lose x many not able to make w/e 2 and y many again from w/e 3. You can only run so many weekends in a year. (*having such large chunks of content is possible, but…)
Once you get into running a pt1 and pt2 or a blue and a bronze on the same weekend, on some areas you run into problems with overall deployed numbers as some areas have restrictions in local orders on how many you can have deployed, or simply don’t have enough suitable bivvy space. Then there’s getting enough instructors to not burn them out plus an ECO for each level and Exercise Director and give those with driving duties enough rest, the SAAI requirement for weapons (plus the time fetching and returning before and after). Another factor mostly unique to fieldcraft in how long things take is different lessons and CPT take place in different spaces - so there’s transit time between lessons.
I’m not saying it can’t work and I’ve seen plenty larger-than-average FT events go smoothly, but it could get out of hand quite easily logistically and the larger you go or more you run simultaneously, the more staff intensive it can get. After a certain point to be fair and safe the minimum ratios are out the window. To have a cadet taking potentially multiple years to get a single level because of availability and inability to travel to a pt2 or 3 in another area is unfair on them and not on par with the requirements of other subjects.
I’m interested to hear how @GrandMaster_Flush’s wing have formatted theirs. As with other things though, FT can be a bit of a postcode lottery of what you have available locally and the better we can not allow this to affect at least the lower levels of any PTS the better.
If I had to settle on designing one, I’d have Blue as pre dep, able to be delivered on unit by non-qual’d with a suitable instructor guide. It’s basically IET without the neon colours. This would require (in my mind) provision for cookers and rat packs to reduce the burden on units - you could probably settle for 1 between 3 being taught so for most units a box a year would cover them. Bronze max 2 weekends for the daytime stuff, Silver 1 weekend to cover the night training, an actual nitex in darkness, and a long-format day ex on day 2 to CPT all skills so far, plus a second weekend to do the relevant lessons again with dry weapons. Gold would be something like SWR’s Pagan Warrior with Blank & Pyro, plus FCI qual - so JL can still be the route to that, but not the only one.
(*…) However, I would still like the modular route that can be recorded on SMS to account for flexibility in training design, day/evening training options, etc. So you don’t HAVE to deliver everything in a set weekend format but cadets can still work and be targeted towards to the (non)badged PTS at least to Bronze level.
Granted, most other subjects don’t have this modular approach, but there are some that do. What FT does have going for it is “repeat appeal” that has many cadets willing to go back again and again where they are able to make marginal gains in their competency level. They don’t mind repeating the odd bit here and there or doing similar exercises as much as they would doing yet another set of radio checks or sitting through SMEAC 4 times.
It’s not my field - pardon the pun - but I’ll do some digging to see if I can grab any docs.
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These are all sensible points.
There will always be parts that work well or less well, the problem with any progressive ‘system’ is it can become rigid.
I like the comparison with AT. I mentioned the Blue pre-DofE above.
In some ways the existing (ACF) driven FT book goes too far for a lot of units, but then we don’t teach enough of it to offer a progression for the keener ones.
Re-ordering the lessons might help. Some parts need to be (re) taught before deployment , others (cam cream, movement) are great for giving the Cdts a taster. As you say they don’t mind re doing some lessons and movement in the field in a field rather than the Sqn car park is a progression of sorts.
From an instructor / ECO perspective it would be great to know Cadets arrive on deployed events having completed a base level of training, so they can participate fully in exercises and CPT, and start to work on some of the leadership skills it offers.
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While there has to be skills development in fieldcraft, I’ve found the main benefit and attraction for cadets is doing exercises (without weapons). My concern is that defining a PTS requirement puts too much emphasis on delivering lessons, not on applying skills.
Teach a cadet the early lessons of living in the field, cam & concealment and movement, then run exercises based on these skills. In well planned exercises, cadets can improve at fieldcraft and also use leadership, nav, teamwork, radio, perhaps first aid (simulated hopefully!) and develop confidence, resilience etc.
This lower level activity is where the focus should be, not on the highly resource intensive ‘gold’ courses.
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There are some really good ideas coming out and I am reading with interest.
I hope that the powers that be take note of some of these excellent suggestions.
I very much take a similar view to @grounded - the ACO should absolutely push the focus of FC activity, like AT, to Sqn level as much as possible.
What matters is getting the kids out, as many as possible, as often as possible and for it to be as mass participation as possible, with the focus on building block skills for the individual cadet, and leadership/management/planning for the NCO’s and Staff.
It should not be about producing two dozen doorknockers who can do a perfect CTR, it’s about putting 30,000 cadets into a fun, challenging, learning environment where they can take advantage of the opportunities that FC gives in terms of initiative, responsibility for self and others, leadership and team management.
Chin off JL, and put those resources into training Sqn Staff.
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This!
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While you’re at it, bring back CCF Primary Gliders, too. Devolve flying down to unit level!
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I suspect, if we look at this across the Corps, there are quite a few Cadets who do no FT at all, as their Sqns don’t run it.
Certainly the requirement to have only qualified instructors teach is part of the issue, perhaps even the main barrier.
Sector working will help. But as with other specialist topics in this organisation the SMEs (and I’m by no means beyond criticism myself here) need to do more to promote the activity.
But there are some really good ideas in this thread, to make what we have now work better.
My Cadets really want to get back into the field and I known I do too.
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Personally, I don’t think that that is the issue.
Firstly, The Corps suffers from a chronic lack of staff at all levels. Introducing “specialists” means that OCs, Adjs, Training Officers etc don’t have the spare time to fulfil their sqn roles, as well as training in the myriad of “specialist” roles that people advocate. So these subjects tend to get put on the back burner.
Secondly, a lot of the subjects we teach don’t require specialist knowledge or qualifications at parade night level.
Taking my cadets to the local park to practise estimating distance doesn’t need me to be a qualified SAA instructor. It just needs to to be able to read the lesson in the pam, and then manage a small group of cadets in a public place for an hour or so.
If you’re desperate to include a course, introduce a “managing groups safely” module on ultilearn as a minimum. You could even use it for other subjects - map and compass, leadership etc.
Leave SAA qualifications for lessons with weapons.
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in my experience, while i have known units that might be “drilly” or “shooty” the Wing experts in radio, first aid, air rec or aero models, or AT/DofE, i cannot think i have ever known a unit as “the fieldcraft experts” in the Wing…
it seems to be (in my experience at least) something that is not only best achieved, but mainly only ever achieved on a Wing level; there is rarely two FC keen staff on the same unit to form a “team” which then pushes it on the unit…
Part of the big issue is that the staff shortage means that people get put into those roles before they have had time to experience anything else. So they don’t get any specialist skills before they become an OC.
When I was a cadet - 30 years ago, which makes me feel older than I’m comfortable with - I joined a Sqn who’s idea of FC was walking around the school field at night with some random splodges of cam cream on our faces. The Sqn 10 miles up the road did 36 hour foot patrols, harbour areas, OP’s and the like…
While I firmly take the view that Sqns should be able to specialise in the things that suit them - we specialised in foot drill and hearing the word ‘no’ - I’m increasingly of the view that it happens because wings/regions are so poor at helping Sqns that don’t have specialist staff get the skills they need to also become specialist Sqns.
In every Wing I’ve been in/involved with, Wing AT/FC staff have seen their role as being to teach cadets things that are ‘higher’ than a basic Sqn level. None of them have seen their role as being to teach the staff at Sqns the basic level stuff, or to help a Sqn move from not doing X activity to doing it.
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