Operation Hill Top 22

Three CIC officers from Winnipeg came to Arctic Bay to visit the army cadet corps, and speak to me & the cadets.  We weren’t in trouble.  This was their first time travelling to the community and they wanted to see what cadet life is like in the far North.  I had met and worked with the officers before in Winnipeg.  They also assisted me with the weekend field training exercise (FTX) in the middle of September.

This year’s FTX was held on September 17 at Inuujaq School.  The corps usually camps at the Second Bridge, but circumstances beyond our control made that impossible.  Better to have a Plan B activity of some kind rather than nothing.

The FTX began at 9:30am in the gym.  The officers introduced themselves to the cadets and explained why they were in Arctic Bay.  One officer played a few icebreaker games with the cadets.  While this was going on, the other two officers & I discussed my plans for the training year and what resources & supports I needed for success.

The next lesson was on knots and was held in my classroom.  This class was led by a different officer.  He mostly taught basic knots but added a few advanced ones.  Several cadets demonstrated their knot tying skills for me after the lesson.

Lunch consisted of delicious Canadian-made Individual Meal Packages (IMPs).  The IMPs were a few months old but still edible.  The senior cadets fired up the Coleman stoves and boiled water while the junior cadets set up tables and chairs in the gym.  The cadets & visiting officers selected their meals and labelled their main meal pouches with black Sharpie markers.  I picked the Beef Ravioli meal.  The meal packages were boiled for 10 – 15 minutes and then distributed.  Lunch hour lasted for, well, an hour.  The last 10 minutes were spent cleaning up.

The afternoon was all about marksmanship.  The cadets turned the gym into an air rifle range by setting up backboards, targets, flags, tables, mats, spotting scopes, and a few chairs.  The Daisy Air Rifles, lead pellets, and safety glasses were brought out and inspected.  The visiting officers & I took turns running relays.

The first few relays were for familiarization and practice.  The cadets mostly shot grouping targets, but a few senior cadets shot competition targets.  A fun shooting competition was held at the end.  The target was a picture of a narwhal.  On the back of the page was a set of numbers in random places.  The cadets were not told where the highest numbers were located.  They had to guess and then shoot.  This makes the competition not about precision and encourages the lower skilled shooters to participate.  The winner received a small prize from the visiting officers and bragging rights.  The last 15 minutes of the FTX were spent cleaning up the gym again.

The day FTX finished at 3pm.  The visiting officers thanked the cadets for participating and looked forward to seeing them down south for future cadet events.  The cadets & I thanked the officers for their visit and lessons.

I let the cadets play sports for 30 minutes and then sent them home for the remainder of the day.  The visiting officers returned to Winnipeg on Monday.