Caribou Meat & Spring Biathlon

Warning: Some readers may find the images contained in this post graphic.

School continued on April 12.  Overall, my spring break was alright.

Inuujaq School received a large order of caribou meat to be distributed to the student body.  The frozen meat arrived on April 13 and was packaged in plastic bags & cardboard boxes.  The boxes were taken down to the Home Ec room.  Two staff members placed flattened cardboard boxes on the floor and then placed the meat on top of them.  Using knives, axes, and hammers, the two staff members cut & divided the meat into smaller portions.  These portions were then placed in plastic bags.  Classes were called down to the Home Ec room to receive a bag of meat before heading home for lunch.  Teachers were called down last.  I took one large piece.  Everyone was grateful for the free country food.

I’m not a meat expert, but I think the order included most parts of the caribou.  There were boxes that contained caribou heads & hooves!  I probably should have taken one, but I don’t have a large enough pot to prepare a head and/or hoof.  If I ever do get one, I’ll have to find out how to cook it from coworkers or neighbours.  If not, there’s always Google & YouTube.

In late March, the Commander of Cadets & Junior Canadian Rangers made the decision to cancel “all in-person cadet training activities through the summer of 2021.”  This is because the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) “continue to be dedicated to the mission of protecting Canadians during the pandemic, [and], as a result, will not be able to provide the resources required to safely run overnight Cadet Training Centres.” 

The cadets & I were greatly disappointed by this announcement.  We were hoping conditions relating to the pandemic had improved, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.  Looks like COVID-19 still refuses to be banished to the history books.  Another summer without camps & exchanges will further lower the morale & enthusiasm of cadets.  In Nunavut, out-of-town & territory trips are a major incentive to join & stay in the program.  You take that away and cadet retention becomes difficult. 

In an effort to retain cadet interest, I organized a spring biathlon competition for Saturday, April 17.  Participation was voluntary.  I’m not sure when the last one was held.  The corps mostly holds fall biathlons in October. 

The one major benefit of holding a competition in April is that there is snow for the cadets to ski on.  However, the cadets would ski out on the ice instead of the roads to avoid serious accidents.  They would also be timed separately because I didn’t want them sprinting across a main road with their skiing equipment.  Our volunteer biathlon coach would supervise & time the cadets skiing around a simple track.  Frank would help me time & keep score of the cadets shooting in the gym.

The participating cadets converted the gym into an air rifle range by setting up tables, chairs, scopes, plinker targets, sandbags, backboards, and bowls filled with 5 lead pellets each.  They also set up a hot chocolate & coffee stand.  The last items they brought out were the air rifles.  I used the same scoring cards I prepared for the fall biathlon, but made several alterations.  Once the gym was ready, the cadets were instructed to prepare their skis.

I held a quick briefing with the cadets & volunteer staff, going over the rules of the competition and the schedule for the day.  The cadets could begin their relays in any order.  The competition began at 11:30am. 

A few cadets completed their relays while the senior cadets boiled water on a Coleman stove.  Frank & I ran the range, making sure the bowls were full and the cadets not competing stayed out of the way.  We called a lunch break at 12:30pm.

Lunch consisted of Canadian-made Individual Meal Packages (IMPs).  They’re better than the American made MREs because the menu is more varied and the packages include candy.  Frank & I confiscated the matches for the safety purposes.  We also feasted on homemade chocolate donuts, prepared by a parent of a cadet. 

The competition continued at 1:30pm.  The routine was the same.  The cadets shot a relay, and then walked down to the ice to ski.  They repeated this process two more times.  The competition finished at 2:45pm. 

I collected all the score cards & placed them in an envelope.  The envelope was then placed in the cadet office, away from the prying eyes of curious cadets.  We put everything away and cleaned the gym.  I let the cadets play sports while I reviewed the score cards and calculated the final results.  The cadets formed up for a quick debriefing when it was time to go.  I congratulated them for participating in the competition and informed them that they would know the final results of the competition at the upcoming Annual Ceremonial Review (ACR) Parade on Wednesday.  The cadets were dismissed for the day.