Skills Training, 2nd February

Hi Guides!

This 集合 took place in the form of a Mini Camp Development (Camp D) session, with the objectives of nailing down the juniors’ knowledge on standard Camp D structures, serving as a platform for the appointed Year 3 Patrol Leaders (PLs) to plan and execute an activity, with minimum help from the Year 4s, as well as testing the Year 3s’ time management, standardisation and prioritisation skills.

Here is the introduction:

This 集合 would be a Mini Camp D session, where you will build standard Camp D structures.This activity is for you to nail down your knowledge on the standard Camp D structures and you should make use of this opportunity to clarify any doubts you have with your seniors. In this 集合, not only are we testing your hard skills and time management, but also the quality of your structures. Make sure that all of your structures are stable, if not you would have to 拆掉 and rebuild it, as instructed by your respective Year 4s. Your Year 3 PLs would be leading this activity by planning the overall timeline and making sure that all patrols are working at a standardised pace. Everyone is to build the structures within the time limit they set, if not there would be consequences for the whole 团. Do work together as a patrol and listen to the instructions of your respective Year 3 PLs. To gain the most out of this activity, we hope that everyone can take this 集合 seriously and work as fast as you can.

Each patrol is to build a Kitchen Shelter (KS), Kitchen Table (KT) and a flagpole. P1, 3 and 5 will each have to build a dome tent, a shoe rack and two emergency shelters while P2, 4 and 6 will each have to build an 8-men tent. Each patrol is to retrieve 3 helmets from the Guides and Scouts’ 团部s, and you must wear them when building the KS and KT. You have 3 minutes to discuss the logistics you need as a patrol. You will not be able to return to 团部 or Backstore to retrieve any more logistics once you start building so make sure you take what you need. If you realise that you do not have the logistics you need once you start building, you can either improvise or do Physical Training (PT) activities to retrieve the logistics, as instructed by your Year 4s. You have 10 minutes to retrieve your logistics.

A Year 3 from each patrol was appointed the PL, to let them step out of their comfort zones and help them develop their soft skills, like confidence and time management, through this 集合.

Briefing for Year 3 PLs:

You would be taking charge of the activity for today’s 集合, thus the success of the activity would be dependent on how well you lead your patrol. You will be given 13 minutes to discuss the Camp D  timelines, both dry weather and wet weather, as well as a standardised campsite layout. Your timeline has to include the building of individual structures, patrol debrief, 拆掉 and buffer. The activity would start at 3.15pm, after the retrieval of logistics, and has to end by 6.15pm. The time limit you set for the 团 must be feasible, if it is not achieved by the end of the 集合, there would be consequences for the whole 团. The PT punishment for not completing within time limit will be set by all of you. Remember that you are developing a campsite, so do start off with the most important structures. All structures must be stable and all lashes need to be tight. We would 集合 you all whenever needed, to check on the progress. You are also encouraged to meet up at certain time intervals for discussions, and all important information is to be relayed to your Patrol Seconds (PSs) and patrol members. Everyone should be notified of the time you have set for each structure. You would have to solve any problems that crop up along the way by coming up with the most realistic and plausible solutions.

We hope that as PLs for the activity, you can help to increase your patrol’s sense of urgency and morale. This is also a rare opportunity so take this opportunity to step out of your comfort zone and lead the 团!

The Year 4s will also pull out a Year 2 every 15 minutes to check on the patrol for 3 minutes. The Year 2 is to look out for area for improvements for the patrol and relay these AFIs to the patrol after joining back.

Here is a reflection from the Year 3 PL of Patrol 1:

To be honest, I feel like we did not push ourselves to our limits on Friday. It took us three times the standard timing to 起 the Kitchen Shelter, as we had encountered many physical problems along the way, such as the canvas sheet breaking, a 红木 being too short, and the 麻绳 snapping. As the PL, I had to decide on the time given to 起 the KS. I feel like I wasn’t thinking through it thoroughly, as I had only thought about how long it would take to 抽 all four corners of the KS, and I did not consider allocating buffer time in case the 麻绳 snapped, which it did in our case. From this Mini Camp D, I also found out that my Year 2 juniors were not sure of how to build a Kitchen Table, and I spoke to them the next Friday morning to teach them how to build it, along with other standard structures and tents that they weren’t clear of. Although my patrol had only managed to set up the KS and a dome tent, I feel that this 集合 had been fruitful, as it had definitely trained our on-the-spot problem solving skills, our ability to step up and look at the bigger picture ( be it our own structures or the progress of the whole 团 ), and our communication skills.

Here is a reflection from a Year 3 of Patrol 2:

Last Friday, we did Mini Camp D for 集合. Our patrol was tasked to build a Kitchen Shelter, a Kitchen Table, a flagpole and an 8-men tent. When we were building the Kitchen Shelter, we faced the difficulty of having too large a canvas sheet, thus we had to wait to find a proper canvas sheet before we started. As it was raining that day, we had to brave the weather and complete the structures using ponchos to shelter ourselves. After we 起-ed the Kitchen Shelter, our 麻绳 broke repeatedly when we tried to 抽 it, causing us to have to do it multiple times before it finally stayed put. By then, we had spent too long on our Kitchen Shelter and had to work quickly. However, we continued to work slowly. There were a lot of communication problems and missing logistics. In the end, we were unable to complete our Kitchen Shelter and did not even have an 8-men tent up. I feel that we had the potential to complete all our structures and could've worked much faster. We could've allocated our manpower more evenly as well. Overall, the 集合 was able to give us an opportunity to find out what we did not know, and help us point out our flaws to prepare us for the year ahead.

Here is a reflection from the Year 3 PL of Patrol 3:

I felt a sense of achievement that day even though we 过时-ed a lot, as we were able to get through it together as a 团. Although at times, we were very stressed out and unsure of what to do because of the rain, and not having enough time to finish the Kitchen Shelter, we pressed on and worked faster. I felt happy that my patrol members were able to follow my instructions closely and were very dependable so that I could take time out to communicate with the other Patrol Leaders. In the end, we were very happy that our patrol managed to complete the structures but I think we should improve on taking more care of the other patrols so that we can complete everything together as a 团. I also realised that communication is really the key, especially when we are doing something as a 团 because we will be better aware of everyone’s progress and also be able to standardise things more easily. Even though I felt really drained after the 集合, it was truly enjoyable as I felt that I had achieved something by stepping out of my comfort zone and stepping out to give instructions to everyone. Thus I am glad that I learnt a lot from that 集合 and I also enjoyed the experience of being a Patrol Leader.

Here is a reflection from a Year 3 of Patrol 4:
During the Mini Camp D 集合 on the 2nd of February, we were tasked with building a Kitchen Shelter, Kitchen Table, flagpole, and a dome tent and shoe rack for Patrols 1, 3 and 5, or an 8-men tent for Patrols 2, 4 and 6. At first, my patrol had quickly laid out the canvas sheet, 深蓝木 and 红木, but afterwards there was a bit of confusion over the tying of lashes. Furthermore, when tying the clove hitch for the four 青木 at the corners, a lot of time was taken to measure out the length of the 木 from the 脚 to the clove hitch. This eventually slowed down our progress enough such that we were one of the slowest patrols. When we finally 起-ed the Kitchen Shelter, while taking the pacings for the main guylines, the angle was not 45˚, so we had to constantly take out the arthurs and retake the pacings. When we finally got the main guylines up, the other members of the patrol had already prepared the other guylines, and we got ready to 抽. However, we faced some obstacles as the canvas sheet was not taut enough and rainwater kept collecting on top of it, and sometimes the guylines themselves were not taut enough or they simply broke. Eventually, one person focused on ensuring the guylines were able to support the Kitchen Shelter while the others started tying the Kitchen Table. Two people separated from the group to get the 8-men tent up, while the rest of us tied the two tripods. Afterwards, we measured the width of the tripod to be equal before beginning to tie the 顶脚s. Unfortunately, we had forgotten to factor in the length of the tableboard, and had to remove the 顶脚s to re-measure the width with the tableboard in mind. By that time, a few time extensions had to be asked from the ICs. By the time we finished tying the new 顶脚s, the extended time was up and we had to 集合. Afterwards, we began to 拆掉 the structures and 搬 back the logistics. We quickly took down the Kitchen Table and the 木 for the Kitchen Table was brought to the backstore first, while the other patrol members proceeded to 倒 the Kitchen Shelter. When the Kitchen Shelter was fully 拆掉-ed, every member began to 搬 back the remaining logistics. At the end of the 拆掉, the whole 团 集合-ed together while waiting for the rest to get back. However, it took longer than expected and those that were already present had to start doing PT for the rest. In the conclusion of this 集合, it is important that we learn to exercise a greater sense of urgency and better time management so as to not trouble those around us and unknowingly punish them. In addition, we all have to learn to tie our lashes more quickly as it took too long to tie the structures and if possible, do more revision on the basic structures like the Kitchen Shelter to familiarise ourselves with them, thus reducing any confusion in the future and quickening our pace when it comes to similar activities in future.

Here is a reflection from a Year 3 of Patrol 5:
We were very stressed out during Mini Camp D as our patrol did not have much manpower and we had to build 4 structures and collate the number of logistics we needed in total. However, we were not sure of how to build certain structures so we did not know how much logistics we needed in total and we ended up asking the other patrols, which took up a lot of time. When we started building the Kitchen Shelter, there was confusion among the Patrol Leaders on the orientation of the structure and there wasn't anyone stepping up so the rest of us were also confused. We took a lot of time to 起 the structure and that made us more stressed about completing the rest of the structures in time. After we tied the main guylines and the guylines at the side, we thought we were done, but a 青木 suddenly loosened from the clove hitch and slipped out, causing everyone to panic and hold on to the structure to prevent it from falling. We had no time to re-tie the structure, so we tried our best to make the structure as stable as possible while tying back the 青木. After that, we quickly built the other structures and did our best to finish as many structures as we could in the time left. Overall, it was a very stressful 集合 but it did help in increasing our sense of urgency, as well as tying tighter lashes to prevent accidents.

Here is a reflection from a Year 3 of Patrol 6:

On Friday, we had Mini Camp D and it was rather unexpected. Firstly, we had to build a Kitchen Shelter and we took quite some time before we could even 起 it. This was because we had initially spent quite a long time deciding on where to build it. Our 麻绳 also kept snapping and we had to 重抽 multiple times. Thus, I feel that we should have allocated our time more wisely, knowing that some  problems might arise while we were building our shelter. Next, we had to build our Kitchen Table. However, we could not do so as we did not have enough 麻绳. Hence, we should have counted if we had sufficient 麻绳 before even giving them away to the other patrols. This is very important as without any 麻绳, we would be unable to build any structures. As for the flagpole, we could not build it as our 麻绳 was covered with mould. This would not have happened had we taken better care of our 小队箱 and kept it cleaner. Lastly, our tent pegs kept coming out from the ground while we were building our 8-men tent. Our metal pole also broke while we were 抽-ing and this might be due to our lack of communication as the people on both sides of the tent did not 抽 at the same time. Overall, I think that Friday’s 集合 was rather disappointing as we only managed to build a Kitchen Shelter and this made our patrol look relatively incompetent as compared to the other patrols. Even so, I feel kind of proud as even though it was raining and the soil was super muddy, all of us still persevered till the end.

Hope that everyone has had a few takeaways from this 集合!

Published By:

Arielle

49th Batch Secretary