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OPERATION - TOETOE Activity Type: Bushcraft exercise for the Squadron Objective: To build on knowledge gained and confirm understanding of the bush covered in lectures. Location and Date: Zone 3, Waiouru Training Group. 28-30 October 2005. Exercise Numbers: Staff: 6 NCO's: 6 Prof: 2 Basic's: 20 Total: 34 Report:
The first group at ATC just after 1600. Roll checked and any cadets who had insufficient clothing were issued with a swandri. Vans and trailer, loaded and we departed for Waiouru. We had arranged for takeaways for all at Waiouru and as we departed Taihape we phoned ahead. These were ready for us on arrival. Our contact Captain Dave Leonard was unable to meet us and he had been emailed nominal roll, training programme and medical problems, which he had passed onto the main gate and base hospital. While the cadets were having tea I dropped of the indemnity forms to the main gate. All at Club Med around 1915. A quick orientation of the area and all were quickly into setting up the campsite before the onset of darkness. An evening briefing covering safety, personal hygiene, Saturday's training programme and the food was also distributed. Cadets returned to their respective campsites, hot drink and lights out.
All up by just after 0700 and breakfast under way. A recheck of the weather and the decision was made to complete river crossings. All in the briefing area at 0800 for an update on the days training programme, a check of medical conditions, cadet welfare and the distribution of any equipment that was not uplifted the previous evening. Cadets had another orientation in better light and the 3 sections collected firewood and continued to set up their respective camp sites. A briefing on requirements for the river crossings including clothing, food and equipment and we headed of for the Waipakahi Valley . WO Campbell stayed with the vehicles and radio checks with him were made during our time away. Once at a suitable place, I gave a briefing on how to cross and demonstrations on mutual pack support and individual pole methods were given. Cadets practiced these on the banks under the watchful eyes of FGOFF Frericks and Miss Hawken. Once these had been practiced the cadets entered the water where FLLT Cleveland, Miss Smith and myself were in the water with UO Smith down stream as a "catcher" as a precautionary measure. The area used was one of the best we have used, as at the spot the river was shallow, wide and moving below walking speed. It did still offer the cadets with enough to appreciate the care required when completing river crossings. Following the debrief and lunch we conducted a leadership exercise and walked out back to the vehicles. Returned to Club Med around 1500, snack break an then all equipment for building the confidence course and leadership exercises was moved to an area under some trees on the other side of the creek. We conducted three very interesting and varied leadership exercises, which were completed in sections. The tasks, to which some of the cadets had only participated on one before, sheep herding, (Miss Hawken) all took around 20 minutes to complete. The other exercises, "on the mat" (Miss Smith) and "magic hat" (FGOFF Frericks) were keenly entered into by the cadets. Whilst these leadership exercises were been undertaken UO Smith and I started building the confidence course along with some help between exercises by the SNCO's.It took a little longer for tea as due to a lack of experience fire lighting and cooking on these fires. A short evening walk to a knoll over looking the Desert Road where we provided information on other activities we have undertaken in the past including tramping in and compasses courses. With a few drops of rain falling we returned to camp. We decided not to hold a night exercise allowing the cadets more time to ensure they had dry wood for the morning, then a hot drink and into bed. Staff did a final check of the campsites around 2130 and all was quiet. All up by just after 0700. Breakfast and in the briefing area at 0830. While FLTLT Cleveland completed the briefing for the Search and Rescue exercise, UO Jason Smith departed to "get lost" leaving various clues along the way. The three sections under the control of the SNCO's conducted a sweep search finally locating UO Smith. Miss Smith carried out a small 1 st Aid lesson focussed on the patients "known" medical condition and on treatment to be provided. Cdt 0N) Campbell S was put on the stretcher as the patient, and all cadets participated in the carrying back of the stretcher over varying terrain to the car park of Club Med. Debriefheld and cadets returned to camp site. With rain still falling, for safety we decided to use just 4 of the confidence course activities and these were completed in sections and these proved to be worthwhile with morale staying high during this time. Lunch, cleanup inspection by staff, followed by the last emu parade and we departed for Wanganui. Arrived back in Wanganui, vehicles cleaned, and nearly all the equipment into the Army garage for drying and airing. The tents and other equipment will be cleaned and returned to the store on Wednesday's Parade night. Last Cadet was uplifted around 1700.
Even with a higher number of basic cadets than on some previous exercises we still managed to achieve a wide range of training. We did not cover map and compass this time focussing on the river crossings. Map and Compass work will be conducted in the Waitotara valley on a future exerCise. The leadership exercises proved very interesting, and along with the benefit to the cadets they help us identifY future NCO's. Again our safety margin was greatly enhanced by the use of the Squadron Swandri's for cadets who did not have adequate clothing, the use of Jerry cans for drinking and the loan of the 5x6 metre tarpaulin that provided shelter for briefings etc. We were also carrying spare sleeping bags and clothing as a back-up measure. The benefit of having all 6 staff on the exercise was noticeable as we managed to keep training running smoothly while others prepared for the next part of the training programme. We continued with the practice of small sessions of lessons/ information giving and then practice and the "doing". This also worked very well and was due to the staffs ability to mix and match and this is also another benefit of having 6 staff. An emailing has been sent to Captain Dave Leonard, Operations Branch, Waiouru thanking him for his efforts in providing us with assisting. Overall an enjoyable and successful weekends training.
Report By: 11 November 2005 |
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No. 9 (City of Wanganui) Squadron |
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