Searching for?

6 May 2019

Patrol Activity, 15 April

Hello Guides!

On 15 April, we had Patrol Activity(PA)! Here are some reflections from the Year 3s of each patrol!

Reflection by a Year 3 of Patrol 1:
On today's PA, the Year 3s and Year 2s were supposed to teach the Year 1s the steps to build a baggage rack and an emergency shelter. We took a longer time than expected to complete the building of the baggage rack and emergency shelter due to two main reasons, specifically because of the fact that we took the wrong type of logistics and that we have to also ensure the fact that the Year 1s understood the procedures to build the baggage rack. I have learnt the importance of allocating manpower more evenly so as to complete building of numerous items at the same time. Afterwards, the Year 3s and Year 2s also taught the Year 1s on the steps to build a dome tent. I felt that it had also served as good practice for us Year 3s as we would be going for PLTC the following week and it would thus be beneficial for us to brush up on our skills to build a dome tent which will be our sleeping accommodation during the camp. In conclusion, I felt that this PA has allowed me to brush up my hard skills just in time before PLTC.

Reflection by a Year 3 of Patrol 2:
On 15 April, we did Outdoor Cooking with P4. First, we built an indoor fire altar. We lacked in our sense of urgency and did not manage to build it in the expected amount of time, reducing our time we had to set up the fires and cook our food. Furthermore, we did not pick the correct type of twigs and thus had a very hard time starting and sustaining the fire. We were quite frustrated in our futile efforts and was quite disappointed in our performance. We ended up not able to set up our fires and overall we did not perform very well.

Reflection by a Year 3 of Patrol 4:
On Monday's PA, we had outdoor cooking! It was very fun teaching the Year 1s how to do outdoor cooking as it was their first time. However, we 过时ed for the building of the fire altar, and also forgot to retrieve some logistics, resulting in time being wasted. I think this is something crucial to be improved as it helps to save time and ensure things are going according to plan. When we first started the fire, it was difficult to sustain it as many of the twigs were waxy. However, this helped to remind all of us that we should not pick purple or waxy twigs as they do not burn well. Other than that, the Year 1s has the chance to try sustaining and lighting the fire, as well as roasting marshmallows over the flame. We even cooked instant noodles, where we boiled it in a mess tin. Along the way, we taught the Year 1s some details and things to take note of such as to add the twigs in an ‘X’ shape and to not suffocate the flame. Overall, i was glad that we had fun and bonded as a patrol during this outdoor cooking session.

Reflection by a Year 3 of Patrol 5:
My patrol had a combined PA activity with P3 to build structures with spars. We were split evenly into two groups. My group was assigned to build a kitchen table, while the other group was assigned to build a kitchen shelter. However, after we have gathered our logistics and started building the frames, the lightning alert sounded. We were hence forced to move indoors. Because of the limited space and height of the indoor venue, we were forced to improvise to solve the problems we have encountered. For the kitchen table, one of the tripods were too tall to fit in the indoor area. We had to retie that tripod. However, after we had tied most of the parts of the kitchen table, we realised that that tripod was extremely loose, but we have done most of the tying and there was not enough time to take down whatever we have been tying for the past hour and to rebuild the structure. Hence, we improvised by tying 木 strategically to that loose tripod. In the end, even though our structure was not exactly stable, it was much more stable than before. Through this, i have learnt the importance and necessity of improvising, as the weather is something that cannot be controlled and that it would affect any outdoor activities we would be conducting. Hence, for the activity to continue, we would need to know how to improvise to make use of the time we have left.

Reflection by a Year 3 of Patrol 6:
On Monday, my PA was to build a kitchen shelter in 50 minutes. After gathering all the required logistics, we began. For the first 25 minutes, I personally felt that I worked too slowly with little motivation. In addition due to the lightning alert, we had to move our kitchen shelter elsewhere, which was pretty tiring considering that we had more or less finished our mainframe. During the next 25 minutes given, I was glad that I had a greater sense of urgency and completed the structure more efficiently with good quality. Overall, I was quite disappointed in myself for this PA. Although I did improve in the end, my working speed and attitude could've been much better as a whole. This is one of our last few PAs and I should have put in more effort to make it more memorable.

Hope that this was an enjoyable PA for all!

Published by:
Hoong Yu Ning
50th Batch Secretary

No comments: