Friday, July 22nd 2022
NCOLS
Today, NCOLS woke up and prepared for their morning classes, squared away their barracks and practiced morning hygiene. They then had their initial formation to inspect uniforms and have roll call. After this was completed they had Reveille(morning formation) with the rest of encampment. After a nice breakfast, they set out for close order drill practice and review. After drill, they headed to the classroom to practice public speaking by giving short presentations to their fellow NCOLS students. Public speaking skills are important for leaders to have, so everyone will get a chance to present. Then it's off to lunch for them before they head down to the Obstacle course and tackle the rappel tower. After going down the rappel and having a great time doing it, they changed into PT's and worked on Physical Fitness. As a leader, it is important to have both mental and physical fitness, so NCOLS makes sure their cadets have both. Then they had a more active class on land navigation out in the Upper Parade Field with a time to practice what they learned right after dinner. After the practice time, they headed back to the barracks for Mentor Time and Class Leadership. After both of those were complete, they got ready for lights out and finish up their day
Encampment
On Friday, the cadets were woken up for a short PT session and morning formation. Charlie flight was announced as honor flight today which means that they can talk at meals and look around. They can also eat what ever junk food like pizza or soda they want. After an outstanding breakfast, one squadron changed into ABU's and headed for the O-Course to do the Rappel Tower, Leadership Reaction Course, and the Obstacle Course. The Rappel Tower is a wooden tower near the O-Course that the cadets will rappel down, and learn something while doing it. The Leadership Reaction Course is where cadets can learn to work well as a team. They are put into certain situations like having to get an oil can over a wall, or carrying an ammo-can across a river. They are given a few objects to help them complete the mission at hand, but no outside help other than that. The O-Course is a series of obstacles such as climbing a rope, scaling a wall, or even vaulting logs! It takes staff around 5 minutes to run it, and usually takes the cadets quite a bit less. The other squadron will change into their Class A's, or Blues. This is so they can have one last inspection on a squadron level before the command staff inspects their rooms. The point of inspections is not to make sure the cadet in making their bed properly or to ensure that the uniform is being work correctly, but to promote teamwork within the ranks. If one cadet can't roll socks right, and another does it perfectly, then it will provoke the cadet having trouble to ask the other for help, creating teamwork! After the inspection is over, the squadron headed over to Jackman Hall to get photos taken of them as a flight and as a team. After some photos take by the Public Affairs Officers, the squadrons had a quick lunch switch. The cadets who were on the O-Course headed back to the barracks and changed into blues to get ready for their inspection, while the cadets who were getting their pictures taken changed into ABU's so they could have time at the O-Course. After both squadrons were done, they met together again for dinner and then headed to the Upper Parade Field for some drill. The flights were evaluated on their drill so that the staff could see their progress from the start of encampment to the end. After the drill evaluations the cadets headed back to the barracks to finish the day with a shower and a blister check.
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