Hello Guides! :-) Last Friday, we had Patrol Activity, where various patrols carried out their own activities. Here are some reflections from the Year 3s entailing what they did, as well as their thoughts on the activities!
Thoughts from a Year 3 from Patrol 1…
During today's Patrol Activity, my patrol built a kitchen table. First, we were given around 7 minutes to carry 10 红木, 6 青木 and 2 白木 from the backstore as well as 麻绳, dome tent and kitchen table to the area near the general science lab. Afterwards, we were given 50 minutes to build the structure. Eventually, we finished the structures on time, but most of the lashes were loose. This could be dangerous if we were really going to use the kitchen table for an extended period of time as the whole structure might fall apart. I also felt that we could have had a greater sense of urgency as we took quite long just to finish tying the first two tripods. We could also have taken care of our belongings better so that we would not waste manpower in completing the physical training given because our belongings were taken away by our seniors. However, I felt that our patrol morale was quite high as we constantly cheered.
Thoughts from a Year 3 from Patrol 2…
Our patrol was given 6 minutes to take the logistics needed to build 3 emergency shelters and a kitchen table. Regretfully, we 过时-ed by 3 mins and thus had to do a forfeit of running to 孔子and back to the GSL in 30 seconds. However, we 过时-ed again. We were then given 3 minutes to build 3 emergency shelters. I have to confess that I had already forgotten how to build an emergency shelter and was thus unsure on what to do and how to instruct the year 2s. In the end, it turned out that most of us had forgotten how to build an emergency shelter and in our panic to try and figure it out, we 过时-ed yet again. We were then given 1 minute to 拆掉 everything and place them neatly. We failed to do both. The seniors then had to give us a demonstration on how to build an emergency shelter. I feel that this should not have happened at all. Being year 2s and 3s who have gone through ATC, this was not the first time we were tying an emergency shelter, and hence we should have been clearer on how to build it. We also would not have 过时-ed so many times if we 报时-ed more often and asked for time extensions sooner. Overall, we could have worked faster if we had communicated more to ensure everyone was sure with what they were doing and cheered more often as well to help boost patrol morale.
Thoughts from a Year 3 from Patrol 3…
For Monday's Patrol Activity, we had to build both a baggage rack and an indoor fire altar for the 2nd time during a PA session. This time, we were sure of the steps to build these two gadgets, which is an improvement. However, I feel that our performance was far from satisfactory. We had to rebuild these two structures thrice with time limits of 25 minutes, 20 minutes and 18 minutes respectively. The first mistake was that our lashes were really loose and not up to standard to a point where the 木 could easily be slid out. We need to improve on this as a patrol as it is dangerous if the baggage rack and fire altar fall apart with bags and fire on them respectively. Next, our belongings were often being taken away from us due to our negligence. The moment we turned our back, our logistics would be gone. This is a learning point and it teaches us to how take good care of our logistics as during camps such as PLTC, we would not have any more belongings to work with, should ours get taken away. We also overran our time limits, and I think that this can be solved though better communication and a greater sense of urgency. Seeing how this Patrol Activity went quite unexpectedly bad and I was the Patrol Leader for a while, getting scolded a whole lot was rather demoralising. However, in the end, all that we've gone through will only help us become a better guide and prepare us for PLTC.
Thoughts from a Year 3 from Patrol 4…
Overall, the Patrol Leader and Patrol Second could have stepped up a lot more to give clearer instructions. We (Year 3s) should have also delegated manpower more efficiently and improve on our sense of urgency as well as communication. Some of the mistakes we made were that we did not measure height of tripod lashes, did not tie 顶脚s, nor did we measure the base for tripods, and all these are crucial details when building structures. Furthermore, for the structure we came up with, the ponchos and groundsheets did not really serve their purposes of protecting one from rain as there were many holes. We should have been more creative and discussed more effectively when we were given the chance to brainstorm about our idea. Our failure to do so resulted in a lot of time wasted throughout the activity. Next, for Inspection, our sense of urgency was very low initially, and we did not laying out things in clear and distinct rows. Since many of us were allocated “injuries” which meant that we could not more either our hand or our leg, there were only a few able people and I feel that they could have worked faster when laying out the logistics. Yet on the bright side, we received feedback that we did improve with every try.
Thoughts from a Year 3 from Patrol 5…
Patrol Activity on Monday required us to build a kitchen table using two tripods. I was the Patrol Leader for this PA. For me, it was the first time I was building a kitchen table so I was quite nervous initially. For the first 15 minutes or so, things were moving along quite slowly but after that, we had a better sense of urgency and was able to complete the structure (after some time extensions). I feel that this PA taught me what it means to look at the bigger picture and how to allocate different roles as well as oversee the whole process of the building of the kitchen table. After the entire process, I felt rather proud of our patrol as I thought we did quite a good job and it was stable. I am definitely looking forward to more PAs in the future that are as fulfilling as the one this time!
Thoughts from a Year 3 from Patrol 6…
Firstly, Patrol Activity started off with an attire check. However, not everyone came in standard attire and we had to do a forfeit, which was running 5 rounds around level 2 of the GSL. All of us cheered as loud as we could and was constantly 报时-ing, which was a good improvement for our patrol morale. Next, we were required to build a Kitchen Shelter (KS) as part of our Patrol Activity session. We were given 5 minutes to retrieve all logistics for a KS and 集合 at the field, but we were off to a rocky start. The 深蓝木 was placed at a high position and we could not reach it. Furthermore, the frontier was locked, which made it impossible to get a canvas sheet. We ultimately 过时-ed and had to ask for a time extension. After that, we were given 35 minutes to build the KS. I was assigned as the PS for this activity and I tried my best to instruct all Year 2s to do something instead of slacking off. However, it soon became clear that we were not very sure of the building of a KS. We made multiple mistakes along the way and this led to time wastage. We had to keep 倒-ing and 起-ing the structure. What made things more unfortunate was our low patrol morale. We were feeling low thus the seniors had to keep reminding us to 报时 and cheer. We were running short of time so as we were about to secure the 麻绳 to the arthurs, the seniors gave us instructions to 倒 the KS. Since we could not complete the structure, we had to carry out a forfeit and run 2 rounds around the field in 4 minutes. It went well initially but some of us did not notice that others were lagging behind and thus did not wait for everyone to catch up. Due to our inability to 等人 and cheer loudly, we had to do 10 pumpings as forfeit as well. I felt extremely disappointed that we did not manage to finish the KS but we received a few pointers on how to build a KS, from our seniors, which was a good thing. Overall, this PA session had been rather enriching and I hope that I can succeed in building a KS one day.
Published by:
Chen Wei
48th Batch Secretary
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