The Bivouac!

Okay folks...grab a cup of hot cocoa or something and get comfy. This is going to be massive. Quick Note: I'm referring to all cadets by their first names, simply to keep last names of my blog.

Let's start out by defining some terms.
Bivouac: Pronounced "biv-wack" or, "camping," this is where you go out in the woods and live in tent (pronounced "mud puddle") for a couple days.
MRE: This stands for Meal Ready to Eat. You'll find it in the military surplus store with the rest of the cat food.
24-Hour Pack: This holds all the stuff you would need if you were on a ground team mission for 24 hours, and I use "you" in the sense of "Daniel Boone."
Hike: This is what we call it when we go into the woods and walk, either on the trail, off the trail, in the mud, or...in the mud. Pretty much.
CQ: Charge of Quarters. They walk around and keep everyone awake at night, so that we will be alert if any intruders should intrude.

It began Friday afternoon, when 8 cadets and two senior members met up at our squadron's headquarters to ride up to the bivouac. We loaded the van (10 people plus all their stuff...) and headed out.

Once we got there, Sarah and I set up the tent we were sharing. Then we sloshed back through the mud, grabbed our gear, put it in our tent, and found whatever staff members we needed to talk to. I found Joanna (actually, she found me), who was the other public affairs staff member. We found schedules, and I started taking pictures. The cadets continued arriving and setting up. Friday evening pretty much consisted of in-processing, setting up, getting the cadets into flights, and The Building of The Fire. Well, the excitement consisted moreso of The Positioning Of The Grate Legs So The Grate Will Fit On Top, but whatever.

Around 2200, we headed out on a night hike. As our group walked through the woods, we observed several items, such as a vest, that we picked up as we walked on our way to the flashing SOS beacon that we saw. Unfortunately, we weren't supposed to a) pick up the items or b) find the beacon, so when we were informed of this by the second group, we melted into the woods in embarrassment at our prowess, skill, and observational abilities. Melting into the woods (and I use the term "melting" very loosely) meant that we had to rely on our cat-like vision to navigate around puddles, trees, logs, mud, other people, etc. Judging by the sound effects, most of the hikers did not have cat-like vision.

After a midnight staff meeting, we headed to bed (and I am also using the term "bed" loosely). A train roared by every so often, it was freezing cold, and the ground was bumpy. I was on the verge of sleep when my tent buddy said, "Would it be a bad time to say that I have to go to the bathroom?" We escaped CQ and went off (at least the girls were allowed to use the bathroom in the house...finding that out was a story all to itself, involving awkwardness and near-hysterical giggling after the incident occurred). Then, after we had gotten back to our tent...the cadet in the tent a couple inches away from ours started snoring. I'm glad to know that at least one person slept fairly well, I'm sure.

Finally, in the morning, around 0630 or so, Sarah and I rousted ourselves out of our tent. We bemoaned our one hour of sleep as we stalked to the bathroom to prepare for what we knew would be a long day. We both had a hatred for the birds, who chirped loudly, cheerfully, and incessantly. They had gotten a full night of sleep, so why couldn't they just shut up and let us be tired and grumpy, we reasoned. After breakfast and getting wood for the fire, Bravo Flight went on a hike to identify safety hazard. My camera and I attached ourselves to Bravo. After the hike, one of the cadet officers, Matthew, taught us a class on shelter building. After going over some basics, he had each pair of cadets build a shelter. Then, he walked around and identified what he liked, or what he saw that could be problems, with each shelter.

Next, Alpha and Bravo flights had a class on fire building. Then they set fire to the cadet commander's tent. NO! Then they split up into four groups and built fires. Then they tried to light them. Some had better success than others, by which I mean, they all got them lit -- it's just that some went out after about ten seconds. Then we had lunch.

After lunch, the cadets were taken out to the woods where there was a very large log laying on the ground. Each flight was given a cross-cut saw and instructions, and the competition was on! The flights were motivated, and they were really close. It took close to an hour to saw through, and at the end they used a log as a lever to break the bark on the underside of the log. After that, we moved the log to camp, put it next to the fire, and used it to sit on. Of course.

Okay...have you ever wondered how you transport people from a plane crash out in the woods to an ambulance on the road? It's called a litter, and the next thing we learned how to do was using one. Basically, you put the victim (but never call them that -- you make up a name for them and call them by that name if necessary) in the litter, strap them in, and off you go. Random Bit of Trivia: You can tip the person upside down and they won't fall out of the litter. So our motto is: We may drop you, but you won't fall out! Comforting words to calm the quaking soul... I personally was carried in the litter for about half of a half of a journey -- it was interesting, and by that, I mean the treetops were pretty, but it was a little scary listening to the commentary, which centered on warnings of obstacles and near-drops.

The rest of Saturday was a few more classes, supper, closing formation, and a night hike with the litter (and its occupants). Saturday night, even though the same cadet snored again, I slept much better. Maybe exhaustion level is related to the ability to fall asleep.

Sunday morning was it...the exercise. Somewhere out there was a (simulated) plane crash, and its pilot. We had to find him and get him out. My camera and I headed out with Alpha Flight, and we marched around in brush for quite some time, and then struck out through some wood. It was raining slightly, fairly chilly, and muddy. We came across an open area -- I couldn't quite call it a field, but it was fairly open. Bravo Flight had arrived before we had and was already scouring the area. We found pieces from the airplane, and when I arrived, the medics were already tending to the victim, named Dan. His legs were duct taped together, and he was loaded into the litter and we headed out. We all met up at camp and had closing formation. Okay, here's the funny part: During closing formation, the sky turned from completely gray to completely blue. Go figure.

We packed up...and...left. Pretty much. It was sad. And I have mentioned pictures...they are all on facebook. If you don't know how to see them, contact me and I'll send you the link. I frankly was too lazy to upload a hundred here when they're just a couple clicks away :)

Thanks for reading!