Instructing opportunities with thousands of acres ????

[R-Bowskill]

Does anyone know if the adverts for instructors for the Army Cadets include the opportunity for people who'd like to start teaching bushcraft to get experience of passing on some of their skills and knowledge?

I appreciate that some of the members of this group might not agree with the army but others do ad it might be worth considering, also it would give access to all those thousands of acres of MOD land !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even I'm tempted to contact them.

 

[Kath]

Um not exactly sure that it will provide you with access to lots of MOD land. Usually a rather grotty hut and the odd weekend away somewhere...

Here's their website. http://www.armycadets.com and the registration form for adult volunteers is here: http://www.armycadets.com/acf/registration/form.aspx

:-D

 

[PurpleHeath]

yes they will probably won't mind in fact they will probably like it, but join the air cadets as a staff member they will be starting a adverts in feb also you might even get the charge to go flying. also in my experince air cadets are much more willing to learn than Army cadets, but i am bais. if you wish to look into it then here is a link.
www.aircadets.org/joinstaff.html

basically what i am trying to say is go to the air cadets!!

 

[Paganwolf]

I was in the army cadets for about 5 years, im tempted too, i loved it..

 

[Neil1]

I instructed for 8 years, had some very good times and met some very good people. I mostly did Adventurous Training for our unit, but also did some of the exercises too, our unit had some very good contacts and hence we worked with some very good reg & TA units
Neil

 

[Kath]

That sounds a lot more exciting place to be in the cadets than here! :?:

 

[falling rain]

I'm a Civilian Instructor with the ATC and we do get access to MOD land. We have a large training area near Bramley and we can light fires etc to our little hearts content. If you're thinking of doing it let me tell you it is very rewarding indeed, there is also the chance to do some qualifications that you would normally have to pay a lot of money for. I recently completed my BELA and am looking at doing ML next time a course place becomes available. There are loads of opportunities to go away for weekends and even weeks on summer camps, but the biggest reward is teaching and seeing the cadets faces when they've acheived something they never thought they could.

 

[Neil1]

What you do have to remember is that it is a military organisation first & foremost. Your ITC (Initial Training Course) is a military Methods of Instruction Course where you are expected to teach military subjects, skill at arms being the primary subject, but also drill (marching) ie - you stand on a square and bark commands at a squad of adults (this is not for everyone). On my course your first experience of teaching is giving a ten minute talk about a subject of your choice (easy?) - not, your carefully prepared talk lasts 2 minutes and you spend the next 8 minutes stood @ the front looking like a right lemon.
The time commitment is quite high, two nights per week, may be a weekend per month and a two week annual camp, this is all voluntary and there is no "bounty" each year as you would get in the TA.
The syllabuus you teach from is all military, and while there is some crossover between this and bushcraft, your oppurtunaties to to teach bushcraft is very limited.
Venture Scouts offers for more chances to practice bushcraft IMO.
Neil

 

[Womble]

That's if Venture Scouts still existed, Neil, which unfortunately they don't. Explorers (14-17) and Network (18-25) replaced Ventures 2-3 years ago.

In any case - scouts's better than cadets* - less drill and more camping!

*opinion, obviously...

 

[Neil1]

Out of date info again :?: Sorry guys.
As I said its primarily a military organisation.
Neil

 

[tomtom]

why did they call them network scouts?

 

[Womble]

No one really has any idea tomtom, all I can think of is that it's a different word to what's been used before; and that as adults they "network" instead of meet up...

 

[falling rain]

What you do have to remember is that it is a military organisation first & foremost. Your ITC (Initial Training Course) is a military Methods of Instruction Course where you are expected to teach military subjects, skill at arms being the primary subject, but also drill (marching) ie - you stand on a square and bark commands at a squad of adults (this is not for everyone). On my course your first experience of teaching is giving a ten minute talk about a subject of your choice (easy?) - not, your carefully prepared talk lasts 2 minutes and you spend the next 8 minutes stood @ the front looking like a right lemon.
The time commitment is quite high, two nights per week, may be a weekend per month and a two week annual camp, this is all voluntary and there is no "bounty" each year as you would get in the TA.
The syllabuus you teach from is all military, and while there is some crossover between this and bushcraft, your oppurtunaties to to teach bushcraft is very limited.
Venture Scouts offers for more chances to practice bushcraft IMO.
Neil

I think it depends on the CO at the Squadron. 594 ATC has a great CO, a Welsh chap and he pretty much gives me free reign to teach Bushcraft and Navigation as well as D of E.
You're right about the commitment though Neil. I enjoy it thoroughly though and am not bothered about not getting paid for it. The teaching and prepping of lessons comes with experience and I always have an emergency back up plan to go into if things go really quickly and i'm left with time on my hands.... even a game of some kind related to what you're teaching. I taught English for 3 years in Japan, and learnt a lot about teaching kids in those years. Their attention span is limited and a fun game or activity as a back up always did the trick if things started going pear shaped.