Coastal Bend Cadet Squadron Practice Missions- May 2012

Kingsville, Texas—There is an old notion in military units that goes something like this… “TRAIN LIKE YOU FIGHT!” There is also an old tenet of the business world that says that “HAND’S ON TRAINING IS THE BEST TRAINING.” There is wisdom in both of these approaches. In light of that wisdom, the Coastal Bend Cadet Squadron is taking its Emergency Services Training very seriously.

“I want cadets in this unit to know a great deal about how CAP missions work before they ever set foot at a SARex or REDCAP,” said Major Joe Ely Carrales, unit commander.

Major Carrales and the unit’s cadet command structure have taken the step of structuring the meetings and training in the 2nd quarter to teach and train cadets in the Incident Command System (ICS) by teaching them to “live it.”

“We can teach this via ‘PowePoint,’” continued Major Carrales, “Or we can teach it by DOING IT.”

Major Carrales went on to say that ICS can be overwhelming for cadets, so it is important to teach it in small digestible sizes adding more complexity as skills are learned.

“Rather than just teaching BCUT in isolation as a we can run COMM exercises based on how a CAP MISSION WORKS” elaborating Major Carrales, “We introduce those small lessons (like mission numbers, CAP FORMS and Incident Command Structure) that can be confusing if done online alone along with Radio Procedures and Protocols.”

Because of this there were several “LOCAL” MISSION NUMBERS issued at the squadron designed as practice. These are designated by the “YEAR” followed by the designator “MMS” to show “MEMORIAL MIDDLE SCHOOL” and a digit to follow showing the order of the mission.

Here are the ones so far…

12-MMS-0001/ 17 May 2012: This was the first part of a two part mission designed to begin the training in CAP COMM and the INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM. This mission was provided as a test of communications equipment. The unit practiced RADIO CALL PROCEDURES with locally provided hand held radios acquired from local discount stores. The objective was threefold; 1)Become familiar with the idea of a MISSION NUMBER 2)Practice recently learned materials on CALL SIGNS, PRO-WORDS and radio telephony, and 3) test the effective range of the RADIOs. All objectives were met.

12-MMS-0002: 17 May 2012: This was the second part which included dividing up into several “ground teams” which would expand on the lessons learned on the prior mission. Additionally, it would introduce CAPF 110 Air to Ground Log, with more organized Mission Radio apparatus would be set up. The unit was divided into 5 de facto ground teams and on COMM station representing “Mission Base.” The objective was more expanded… 1) Introduce the whole of the unit to COMM procedures (including CALL SIGNS, PRO-WORDS and radio telephony), 2) continue a testing of the radios on into the local neighborhoods, 3) “stress” the communications apparatus and demonstrate situations where a “radio net” would be used (the concept of a radio net is introduced, but only as a concept), 3) effectively fill out a CAPF 110 while mission was in progress.

12-MMS-0003: 22 May 2012: This included many of the objectives from the two prior activities, however, the CAPF 109 was introduced with only two teams. Mission Radio duties at “Mission Base” were done as a detail of three assisting with the CAPF 110. The difference in this activity was the inclusion of orienteering stills, including the use of a COMPASS. Additionally, the concepts of briefing and de-briefing was introduced and implemented on a small scale. The objective was more inclusive of the ICS system, 1) Use a Lensatic Compass to acquire 4 targets (small postal sting tags) located at obscure locations throughout the MMS campus by finding clues and using compass headings and pacing to find tags, 2) Deploy MISSION RADIO procedures to support the activity, 3) introduce the idea of a “status board” and “sorties,” 3) hold a briefing and debriefing in accordance with CAPF 109, and 4) produce a report as per CAPF 109 that outlines mission activities that is clear and easy to read.

As an amended activity…a “call tree” for a “phone alert” was begun that will be sent out to all cadets for future use in the spreading on information.