On the 集合 on 29th August, we had Lash Training before building a Kitchen Table. We had to tie a square lash and a diagonal lash each using a 白木 on a 红木. This was one of the Year 1s’ first times doing pioneering, so it was quite challenging for us. This lash training is very important as it ensures that our structures are stable, will not collapse easily and that our lashes are tight and under the standard timings. First, we did a square lash. I had taken a long time to tie the lash and the lash was not very tight. However, after I had 重抽-ed, I could move on to the diagonal lash. I had to 重抽 many times and I even 过时-ed after several time extensions. Throughout this activity, I realised that I have to improve on a lot of things. Firstly, I think that we could have 报时-ed more. We needed a lot of reminders to 报时, and even then, only the Year 2s 报时-ed while the Year 1s did not do it much. Secondly, I could have 抽-ed tighter. I had to 重抽 many times throughout this activity because my frapping was very loose and overlapped. If I had 抽-ed tighter, my lash would have been neater, tighter and more secure. Lastly, I can work on holding more tension. Even after I had 抽-ed tighter, my lashes were still quite loose because I did not hold enough tension. By improving on 报时-ing, 抽-ing tighter, and keeping tension, I can tie better lashes and improve more. All in all, this was a really challenging but enriching way to improve my lashes.
Our Lash Training on 29 August was one of the most challenging CCA sessions of late. That day, the weather was rather unforgiving as the sun was scorching in the field. We were tasked to conduct lash training that day and the whole experience of bending over our lashes in the hot sun was draining and uncomfortable. At first, we began by collecting our logistics for the lash training. We ended up exceeding the set time by a lot as we kept 过时-ing and not allocating manpower well. I think this set the mood of the session to be relaxed and it impacted the rest of our activities as we did not carry a sense of urgency. However, I think all of us were feeling the heat both physically and mentally. As for lash-tying, I think we all got rusty with it. Despite the constant 报时 by some people, there just was not a strong sense of urgency. That lack of drive led us to exceed the time by more than twice the amount given and very few of us completed the lash to a standard we could be proud of. Later in the 集合, we felt the consequences of this relaxed mindset when we struggled to build a Kitchen Table and respond to the simulated Cat 1 emergency. I think everything fell back to our lash-tying skills and our lack of sense of urgency. Looking back, it was not exactly the lashes themselves the seniors were trying to teach us but the attitude we had and how we handled pressure. Even though lash-tying alone might not seem important, I have come to realize that these trainings are about much more. They teach us to work together and how we all contribute to an outcome together. We all have to do our part in tying the lashes for us to successfully complete the task. When we walked away, there was a sense of disappointment, knowing we could have done better. But in a way, disappointment was a form of motivation and a wake-up call for us. I hope to have a stronger resolve to do better not just in lash training but in the attitude I bring to Guides.
We built a Kitchen Table during our 29th August 集合. It was a very exhausting experience, and also extremely stressful. Despite that, there were many learning opportunities throughout this 集合. We started the session by collecting our logistics, and I was quite proud that I could remember all the items we needed, having revised my Guides notes earlier. However, we did not have a good sense of urgency and did not finish collecting our logistics on time and 过时ed. After collecting the logistics, we conducted lash training in the field, where we revised our pioneering lashes. In the future, I will definitely try to work faster and make my lashes tighter, especially since our Annual Training Camp is approaching. After that, we began constructing the Kitchen Table. The Year 2s guided us very well and we made relatively good progress at first. Then, we simulated a Cat 1 Emergency, and that was where things started going downhill. None of us were familiar with the procedure, and we lacked a sense of urgency while also making many assumptions, which caused us to move extremely slowly and 过时 many times. This was very disappointing, and we will strive to do better the next time we simulate this. Finally, we resumed the building of our Kitchen Table at the Media Resource Library, and we Year 1s learnt new lashes like the super square lash. We only managed to finish our Kitchen Table after working the entire afternoon, which was highly unsatisfactory. Not only did we exceed the standard timing by a lot, our lashes were also not very tight, posing a safety risk if the Kitchen Table was actually used. During future 集合s, I hope we will work with a much stronger sense of urgency. Furthermore, I will try to work harder and faster during lash training sessions, and practice my lashes at home to improve both the speed and tightness. Hopefully, our efforts will make the next 集合 more efficient and far less disappointing.
On the 29th August, we built a Kitchen Table after Lash Training. I think we had a lot of room for improvement as a patrol because we did quite badly. From the start, when we were tying our tripods, one of them was very loose and had 飞脚-ed very badly, so we spent a lot of time 重抽-ing, when we could have tied it once, and tied it right. I think we also should have done better in allocating the manpower, and choose the right Year 1s for respective tasks based on their strengths and weakness that we had observed, such as who to tie lashes or who to take measurements, especially since the tripods are the most important part of the entire KT, as it ensures the stability of the KT. After that, we tied the 定脚s, which we spent a lot of time doing, because we did not 顶 the structure properly, and we kept having to remeasure the tripods. After the Cat 1 evacuation simulation, whereby it was raining and the lightning alert was on, we were very slow overall across the whole 团. As we did not get our priorities right, we had 搬-ed the loose Pioneering Spars before our structure, which was our structure’s main frame. When 搬-ing our tripod, the 定脚s completely fell apart and we had to redo a few of the lashes, as they came loose during the transportation of the logistics, and was very messy. I think we should have worked with a better sense of urgency when tying the lashes, as we spent a lot of time tying each lash, and it still was not very tight, which is not good as we would have to waste time 重抽-ing the lashes, when we could be starting on other parts of our structure already. In the end, we were able to complete our structure, though our lashes were not very tight. I think that there could have been many areas of improvements that could have been done, and that our KT should not have been unstable and loose. Next time, we will allocate manpower better according to our juniors’ strengths and weaknesses, have a better sense of urgency, 顶 the structure properly and tie our lashes tightly the first time round so that we can save time on 重抽-ing.
