Chapter 8: HONOR FLIGHT/SQUADRON COMPETITON

Overview.

The competition for Honor Flight and Honor Squadron may involve the following elements of competition on a daily basis:

Barracks inspection

Uniform inspection

General knowledge inspection

Drill evaluation

Bonus points for teamwork, motivation, etc.

In addition to these daily activities, there are one-time competitions that may factor into the honor flight totals, if conducted:

Volleyball competition

Field day events such as tug-of-war, pie eating contest, dizzy bat

"Class A" inspection (formal stand-by inspection at end of encampment)

The daily inspections are coordinated and performed by the Standardization and Evaluation Team (Stan/Eval). Selected staff judges the special activities, discussed later. Encampments may add additional elements to the honor flight considerations, based on any special situations (ex: an aerospace encampment could have a model rocketry competition added.)

Daily Drill Competition.

Method. The drill competition is to be conducted using drill cards, as is at National Cadet Competition (NCC)

Stan/Eval will create drill cards (Attachment 10 is a sample), along with the training staff. Cards will be created for each day’s drill training, reflecting specific commands to be learned by the flights on that given day.

Innovative drill competition may be instituted at the option of the cadet commander. Stan/Eval will create the necessary score sheets and evaluation system.

Emphasis will be placed mostly on the performance of the flights and not the flight staff’s ability. However, some bonus points should be awarded for flight staffs that are proficient.

Stan/Eval is responsible for insuring that proper areas are set for all drill competitions. In addition, the commander will insure that the host base unit is not inconvenienced and that the areas are safe for team drill. The order of teams competing will be sorted by schedule.

Scoring. Each judge will use the Cadet Drill Card Evaluation Sheet (Attachment 5) to record each flight’s performance. These sheets will be collected and double-checked by the chief judge. Stan/Eval, The Cadet Commander and the Commandant of Cadets will confirm the results prior to any announcements of the results.

Rules. Upon reporting in on the drill pad, the designated flight commander (the flight sergeant or commander, determined by Stan/Eval for the day) will take one of two or three drill cards from the judge. The commander has up to 30 seconds to silently review the drill card. Once the 30 seconds is up, the judge will call "time" and the drill card should begin. The flight has 3 1/2 minutes to complete the drill card. The commander may refer to the drill card while giving commands, but should not stare at the list. The flight commander may add any commands at their will. Boundaries are placed on the drill pad, with points deducted if anyone in the flight steps out of bounds. Judges are to evaluate only the commands on the card, not any extra commands added by the commander.

Skipped Commands. During a drill card, a commander may add any commands they see fit. Since the judge can never know for sure which commands were intended to be from the card or simply added on, the judge must evaluate only the first occurrence of the next command on the card. If the commander skips a command, continuing with the card, the judge cannot score the remaining commands until the next command on the list is met because they cannot tell for sure if the commands are added or not. It is imperative that the flight staffs ensure they cover all the commands, especially ones in the beginning.

The 54 commands of standard drill. This sequence of commands was used at NCC for many years for the standard drill competition, until 1993. This list is provided for historical reference.

1. Present, Arms	28. Column Right, March
2. Order, Arms	29. Forward, March
3. Parade, Rest	30. To the Rear, March
4. Flight, Attention	31. To the Rear, March
5. Right, Face	32. Close, March
6. Close, March	33. Forward, March
7. Extend, March	34. Extend, March
8. Left, Face	35. Forward, March
9. Dress Right, Dress	36. Column Right, March
10. Ready, Front	37. Forward, March
11. Left Step, March	38. Right Flank, March
12. Flight, Halt	39. Flight, Halt
13.Open Ranks, March	40. Forward March
14. Ready, Front	41. Left Flank, March
15. Close Ranks, March	42. Column Right, March
16.Right Step, March	43. Forward, March
17. Flight, Halt	44. Right Flank, March
18. Right, Face	45. Left Flank, March
19. Eyes, Right	46. To the Rear, March
20. Ready, Front	47. To the Rear, March
21. Left, Face	48. Eyes, Right (marching)
22. Dress Right, Dress	49. Ready, Front
23. Ready, Front	50. Column Right, March
24. Right, Face	51. Forward, March
25. Forward, March	52. Flight, Halt
26. Change Step, March	53. Left, Face
27. Count Cadence, Count	54. Present, Arms (Flt/CC salutes Chief Judge)

Barracks Inspection.

The barracks inspections will be performed on a daily basis by the Stan/Eval team. The inspection is done while the cadets are attending classes or training. Stan/Eval will leave post-it notes by items that are good or incorrect to provide feedback to the cadets when they return to the barracks. The Stan/Eval team will determine scoring. Forms used can either be pre-existing or custom made. Attachment 13 is provided as the recommended inspection form.

To save time, and enable the Stan/Eval team to complete the inspection in a timely manner, they can elect to score only three or four cadets per flight for inspection, while giving quick feedback to the remaining members of the flight with post-its. The Stan/Eval team should inspect the same numbered cadets, i.e. cadets 1, 5 and 11 (for example) in each flight. (Flight staff must number the cadets first, for this purpose, and also for roll calling when falling in or during evacuations).

Common use areas should also count towards honor flight points. It is up to the Stan/Eval team, along with command approval, to determine scoring of common areas for each flight.

Volleyball competition

Purpose. The encampment volleyball program is designed to encourage teamwork and sportsmanship. Competitive sports offer the flights an additional means of interaction. The program is made to relieve stress and stimulate motivation. Cadets should be made to feel that the teamwork they display is more important than winning or losing. Flight staff are encouraged to practice during flight time. It is vital that each cadet participates, with a feeling that they have contributed to the team effort. A TAC Officer or the Medical staff can only excuse cadets from play.

Competition Structure. The Cadet Commander will appoint a project officer to conduct the volleyball tournament, arranging for equipment, tournament rules and order of play. The project officer will appoint referees for each match, with the group or wing 1st Sgt as the chief judge of the final event (or a squadron 1st Sgt if there is no group or wing 1st Sgt)

Volleyball Rules. See the National Cadet Competition guidelines for the volleyball court arrangements and rules.

Class "A" Inspection. The Class "A" inspection is normally conducted as a standby inspection. The Class "A" inspection should contain the same events that are inspected daily. If time permits, the cadet commander may expand the Class "A" to include other events, such as the volleyball competition, the CPFT, or even conducting a complete cadet competition (mile run, panel quiz, etc.)

The Cadet Commander will select judges for the competition. Command staff or seniors (except flight or senior TACs) are recommended.

The Cadet Commander will designate the uniform. The usual uniform is summer blues.

Judging staff should be comprised of at least three people, one whom is a senior.

Scoring forms should be the same as the daily inspections, however doubled or tripled. For example, If three people inspect drill instead of one, count all three scoresheets, instead of the average

Honor flight and Honor Squadron. The honor flight and honor squadron scores are calculated in similar manners, with exception to squadron scores including, or weighting more, the scores for common use areas during inspection.

Daily inspection. The honor flight competition should be based simply on the sum total of each of the events listed in 9-1. For honor squadron, emphasis on common use areas to each squadron should be placed. The score is determined by summing the honor flight totals for the squadron, and adding in common use area scores. First, second and third for each category (for honor flight) and first second and third overall should be announced at the end of the day sometime.

Encampment Honor Flight. Honor flight for the encampment should be determined primarily by score. Adding up the grand total for each flight across the whole encampment, then ranking it will provide a recommendation list. Based on this list, the Stan/Eval team, along with command staff and any others deemed appropriate, determine from those candidates who should be honor flight. See chapter 12 for more details.

Encampment Honor Squadron. Honor squadron should be determined in a similar fashion as honor flight, by adding up the squadron scores across the encampment, and taking the top candidate(s), and determining with the same people as honor flight, who the honor squadron should be for the encampment.

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