Military Training at RMC

[GGHG_Cadet]

Over the past year or so, RMC has reserved three weekends during the academic year for the purpose of military training. The intent being to practice and confirm basic military skills under the command of the Cadet Wing chain of command. We recently held our first military training weekend of the year and unfortunately it did not really meet that intent, instead it only consisted of a parade practice and a parade. It seems that whenever military training is mentioned at RMC it results in an inspection or a parade. Our end of the year activities (EPT) prove that when the right amount of initiative and planning are put into events, we (the OCdts) are able to hold useful and interesting military training. How can we bring that same training to our military training weekends during the academic year?

There is a lot of experience available on these boards, and I'm hoping to use it in order to develop some ideas that will benefit the Cadet Wing while fitting the intent of the Military Wing.

Activities must take into account the following:

• The level of training of the average cadets: 1st Years- Nil, 2nd-4th Years- Minimum BMOQ, with some having DP 1.1
• The size of the Cadet Wing: Approximately 1000 (About 250 in each year)
• The amount of planning required: It should be able to be planned by OCdts with minimal supervision from the College's NCOs and Commissioned Officers
• It will take place over a weekend

I have my own ideas, but I would very much appreciate views from the more experienced members on here.

 

[Wookilar]

The largest problem, IMHO, is not that you have 1000-1200 OCdts/NCdts, it's the fact that you must come up with training that encompasses all 3 elements. Invariably, any "military" training at RMC turns into a ruck march, which really doesn't do a whole lot for the Navy side of the house. Any training done should be towards a goal, not just for the sake of doing "military training."

Your second largest hurdle is lack of resources. RMC has no QM of its own, no real support staff (outside of the OR), and the Sqn staff are terribly overworked looking after the few problem children that cause most of the paperwork.

MOC weekend would be a good model to do some actual training that people would get anything out of. Instead of it being driven from the CoC down, have the snr Cadets do presentations on the next level of training the 1st and 2nd years will be doing over the next few summers. Instead of it being from an Army/Navy/Airforce perspective, have it from a Cadet perspective.

There are a crap load of pers resources in Kingston, from the different HQ's to Fort Frontenac. If you are looking for a speaker with a particular skill set to add info (maybe a very recent Grad, 1 or 2 years out), all you have to do is put it in a memo and fire it up. All they can do is say "no."

Wook
Class of '08