New Hampshire Wing Academies
Questions? Contact Us!
  • Home
  • Forms & Payment
    • Required Forms
    • Payment
  • Winter NCOLS Packing List
  • 2022 Video
  • Photo Archive
    • 2022 >
      • Sunday, 17 July 2022
      • Monday, 18 July 2022
      • Tuesday, 19 July 2022
      • Wednesday, 20 July 2022
      • Thursday, 21 July 2022
      • Friday, 22 July 2022
      • Saturday, 23 July 2022
      • Sunday, 24 July 2022
    • 2021 >
      • 2021 Summer Academy Video
      • Sunday, 25 July
      • Saturday, 17 July
      • Sunday, 18 July
      • Monday, 19 July
      • Tuesday, 20 July
      • Wednesday, 21 July
      • Thursday, 22 July
      • Saturday, 24 July
    • 2020 >
      • 2020 Winter NCOLS Daily Updates
    • 2019 >
      • 2019 Summer Academy Yearbook
      • 2019 Summer Academy Video
      • 2019 NCOLS Daily Updates >
        • July 13
        • July 14
        • July 15
        • July 16
        • July 17
        • July 18
        • July 19
        • July 20
        • July 21
      • 2019 Daily Encampment Updates >
        • July 13
        • July 14
        • July 15
        • July 16
        • July 17
        • July 18
        • July 19
        • July 20
        • July 21
      • 2019 Winter NCOLS Video
      • 2019 Winter Daily Updates >
        • Friday, 23 July
        • February 24
        • February 25
        • February 26
        • February 27
        • February 28
        • March 1
        • March 2
    • 2018 >
      • 2018 Summer Daily Updates >
        • July 14
        • July 15
        • July 16
        • July 17
        • July 18
        • July 19
        • July 20
        • July 21
        • July 22
      • 2018 Summer Video
      • Staff Selection Day 2018
    • 2017 >
      • 2017 Video
      • 2017 Daily Updates >
        • July 15
        • July 16
        • JULY 17
        • July 18
        • July 19
        • July 20
        • July 21
        • July 22
        • July 23
    • 2016 >
      • 2016 Academy Video
      • 2016 Daily Updates >
        • July 16
        • July 17
        • July 18
        • July 19
        • July 20
        • July 21
        • July 22
        • July 23
        • July 24
    • 2015 >
      • 2015 Academy Video
      • 2015 Daily Updates >
        • -1 Day
        • 0 Day
        • Day 1
        • Day 2
        • Day 3
        • Day 4
        • Day 5
        • Day 6 >
          • Encampment
          • NCOLS
          • Honor Guard Academy
    • 2014 >
      • 2014 Daily Updates
      • 2014 Encampment Video
    • 2013 >
      • 2013 Encampment Pictures
      • 2013 Video
    • 2012 >
      • 2012 Daily Updates
      • 2012 Video
Picture

Wrapping up Encampment

Wrapping up encampment, this past week has been filled with discipline, learning and fun. We hope cadets will live up to the standards taught throughout this week and also this afternoon because today was the last inspection. Making sure shirts were tucked in, insignia were correctly placed and beds were made, the cadets stood at attention while the Standards and Evaluations team inspected their rooms for the last time of the NH/VT encampment. Coming into encampment just looking around at all of the cadets, the uniforms were different, all sorts of ribbons and insignia not on correctly, drawers not standardized. Looking back at encampment all of the cadets left as brothers and sisters all standardized the same, one big family that may go on to be lifelong friends. 

Saturday Morning Inspection

Today is the last full day of encampment. The cadets are very excited for graduation, but have to make it through their final inspection. The passing score is a seventy-five out of one-hundred. For the past few hours, the cadets have been scrambling to make their rooms and uniforms look perfect. The tension builds as the cadets wait outside their rooms while the Standards and Evaluation Team inspect their room. As their rooms are inspected, the cadets are quizzed on various common knowledge questions, including the Chain of Command, the Cadet Oath, and various other Civil Air Patrol facts. Also, the cadets are having their uniforms inspected. After a hard morning’s work of preparing for this inspection, the cadets are going to do great on it!   

Cafeteria Staff

During this week the encampment cadets and staff have been served excellent food from the Norwich University (NU) Cafeteria such as various grill foods, salads, breakfast fruits, and many other things.  The place that the cadets get the fuel to do their exciting activities is this amazing NU cafeteria.  Some of the PAO staff sat down with Nora, the operations director and talked about what happens here to make the food so good.  Nora has been working at NU for two years and with Sodexo, the parent company since 1998.  This facility employs 140 to 150 employees during the school year and about 30 during the summer.  During the school year they serve about 1,800 people per meal and somewhere between 50 and 1,000 during the summer.  This is where the amazing food that the cadets run on is coming from.

Picture

Obstacle Course

It’s another hot and sunny day at Norwich, and the cadets were lined up for a briefing at the Norwich obstacle course. The two flights, Charlie Flight and Delta flight were competing against each other to see who would finish the course first. There were seven different obstacles that the cadets had to go through. There was a series of logs that the cadets had to rapidly jump over, a zigzag balance beam that they cadets had to walk across, a wall that they had to jump over, a rope that they had to swing over a log with, another series of logs that were closer together that they had to jump over without using their hands, a sort of latticework that the cadets had to weave through without using their hands, and a giant ladder that the cadets had to climb up and down. The cadets were all cheering each other on to encourage each other to do their best. Needless to say, the obstacle course was a huge success!

Water Survival

Today, these cadets learned about water survival. In this class, each cadet had to complete several tasks based on water survival. These tasks include treading water and swimming underwater, as well as some other things. The cadets also used various swimming techniques, such as the backstroke. Basic water safety was stressed. Each of these cadets enjoyed the class, as it was highly interactive and provided a break from being under the hot sun. Some exercises also involved teamwork and cooperation. 
The cadets now look forward to the rest of the day, especially Foxtrot flight, as they will undergo a “white glove” inspection with the standards and evaluations team.

Rappelling Tower

That’s a long way down! Today cadets did the rappelling wall, which is a huge wooden tower stretching forty feet high! A long walk up the stairs puts them at the top where they must rappel down it to reach the ground, but they aren’t alone. Instructors tell the correct technique and how to grip correctly with your hands, and obviously someone at the bottom, to stop them from falling, if they accidentally let go of their rope. Of course safety gear is worn at all times while on the tower. A helmet and gloves are worn to protect from bonking heads on the wall and to stop rope burn. A Charlie flight cadet says “The scariest part is leaning back to stand on the face of the wall because your body is parallel with the ground!” After leaning back, it is smooth sailing for the rest of the way. All you have to do is slowly let the rope slide through your hand and just walk down the wall! It is a great experience for the cadets because once they have faced their fears and gotten down the wall, they can look up at it and feel a great sense of accomplishment. 

Warning: This video could make you dizzy. This is a video of the type of rappelling descent that the cadets were doing and the camera is attached to the helmet.
Picture

CAP In the Public Eye Class

Cadets can sometimes forget where they are and who is around them. This class was designed to teach cadets that the public is always watching. All CAP members must know how to act and also how to appear while in public. Cadet Chief Master Sergeant Lanoue taught all of the things that you need to do in order to keep CAP’s reputation high. The way members wear their uniform isn’t just for the public though. If you have a good looking uniform, the wearer also gains respect for himself/herself and in doing that builds up confidence and leadership, which is what CAP strives to do. What the public sees at a fair, parade, or any activity that cadets attend in uniform, is a representation of the entire organization itself, so cadets must be on their best behavior and always look their best. Civil Air Patrol's public image is important to the success and continuation of our program. 

USAFA Briefing

Just as the morning fog cleared up over Norwich, the cadets marched down to the National Guard facility for a class on the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) given by Second Lieutenant Smedley, a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and a former Spaatz Cadet (Cadet Colonel). He did a short presentation about life at the Academy, but mostly answered the cadet’s questions about the USAFA. He also told the cadets about what goes on in the different grades, and how some parts of it sound surprisingly like encampment.  Lieutenant Smedley had a lot of interesting and humorous stories about CAP and the USAFA. This class was a great help for the cadets to consider attending a military academy.  

Air Force Tongue and Quill Class

Today, Cadet Second Lieutenant French taught a class on the Air Force tongue and quill.  The tongue and quill is the official Air Force way to write a letter, email, write an important document or communicate verbally. Lieutenant French went over the proper things to do when teaching a class, such as making sure you are not distracting your students with improper movement and making sure you are loud enough for everyone to hear.  Then Lieutenant French went over the parts of a letter, including subject, greeting, body, and closing.  She also went over the difference between writing a letter for personal or professional reasons.  The lieutenant talked about how you write a greeting in a letter and how you need to put the person’s name in the greeting.   She then went over what to write in the body of a letter and how long it should be for the circumstance. Lieutenant French then had the cadets each write a letter to their flight sergeants to practice the skills they had just acquired. Overall the cadets learned how to write and verbally communicate important things and how to do it well.

Picture

Chain of Command and Rank Class

Cadets often have trouble identifying and distinguishing rank and grade. Today, the first class was about how to tell the difference between rank and grade. They also learned about the different cadet promotions and their requirements. Each achievement is named after a notable person who is important to Civil Air Patrol. It boosted the knowledge of the cadets, staff and even senior members in the room because even though you know who the person is, you might not know that something they did could have started the spark that lead to being able to lift the first plane off of the ground! All the while, the cadets were writing notes, asking questions, and absorbing the knowledge that the instructor was telling them. Cadets left the classroom today with a better understanding of what the achievements are and why the people who inspired the achievements were chosen. Now when cadets go back to their home squadron, be it in Vermont or New Hampshire, they can teach new cadets and will start the cycle of learning and telling all over again.

Core Values Class

Today the cadets received a class from Chief Hillyer and Sergeant Washington.  The class was on the CAP core values.  These core values are integrity, respect, volunteer service, and excellence.  They emphasized that you have to use all of these in their everyday life and not just CAP.  There were plenty of other ways the cadets came up with of how to make use these in life outside of CAP, such as volunteering in different organizations.  It was a very interactive class with cadets giving them examples of when these core values should be and could be used.  They also went over possible dilemmas that these core values could encounter.  These included things such as if someone does not give you respect, do they deserve to receive it from you?  They went over how volunteering may not help you directly but why it is the right thing to do and how you don’t have to do big things to make it volunteer service and therefore the right thing.  The cadets learned a lot from this class and it will serve them well in life.

Barracks Inspection

Up in the barracks, the cadets are hard at work. They are cleaning their rooms for a “surprise inspection”. A surprise inspection is when the basics know there is an inspection, but do not know when. The inspection actually occurred around 10:45am, while they are at flight time, working on their drill. The cadets are working extremely hard to make sure that their rooms are perfect. One cadet told me, “We are all making sure that everyone’s rooms are standardized, like talking about which ribbons to display, and which to put on our blues.” Each cadet has been assigned duties according to his strength, such as one cadet is really good at insignia placement so he goes around helping people with insignia, while other people who are really good at making their beds go around helping people with their beds.  The cadets are really starting to become a team, with each one doing their part.


Picture
Picture
Picture

Firearms Training Simulator

On this gorgeous, sunny day at Norwich, the cadets had the chance to visit the Vermont Army National Guard center on campus, and use a virtual rifle simulation called F.A.T.S. In the F.A.T.S. simulator, cadets used authentic weapons modified for the simulator. The rifles were NOT carrying ammo, and were using a laser to hit a virtual target. They learned how to hold each rifle properly, how to stand correctly, and how to load their rifles. Then the cadets used these rifles in a virtual firing range. The goal was to hit the target, with limited ammo in each clip. They would also need to reload their weapons every 30 shots. The staff were allowed to use a 9mm pistol, and the cadets used M-4 rifles. The cadets now have a better idea of what real soldiers do, and have earned a new respect for them.



Picture

Motivation Check

Today is another beautiful (and hot) day at Norwich. After lunch the 31st squadron (Delta, Echo, and Foxtrot) marched up to the road outside of the barracks. There, they waited for the 30th squadron (Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie) to come up. Charlie flight was the first up and it was promptly surrounded by Echo and Foxtrot. This started a 10 minute cadence battle (loud chanting) until the 30th squadron had to return inside.



Picture


Leadership Reaction Courses

    An important part of Civil Air Patrol is learning how to lead. Leadership is applied to many different situations and must be applied correctly in order to succeed. Today, cadets were given leadership reaction courses also known as LRCs. These LRC’s are made to help the cadets test their leadership abilities. There were several parts to the LRCs, each one testing the ability to work individually and also as a whole unit. The first part was to move the entire group from one end of the room to the other without touching the floor. The cadets were given pieces of cardboard to lie down to make a bridge. After some difficulty, each flight made it through the first challenge. After that, the challenges became more and more difficult. Most included moving across the floor on the cardboard, but some involved different types of leadership, such as the human knot. Sometimes, as an added challenge, the cadets had to perform the tasks with just one person being allowed to speak, or nobody was allowed to speak at all. After all these challenges, the cadets must surely feel much more confident about their leadership skills!

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.