The Volunteer - NWRFCA - Northwest Reserve Forces & Cadets ...

LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY
OTC
were all getting on fairly well just
in time for the leaderless tasks,
followed by the command tasks.
It was much easier to work within
the team to solve the problems,
as they say, multiple brains are
better than one, and the tasks
seemed more difficult than any
I had ever done through the
OTC. When it was time to do the
leadership tasks, we each were
given the opportunity to lead the
team through the challenge. We
would be individually briefed, as
the team leader, then were given
two minutes to think of a plan
and then relay all the information
to our team.
Most members in my syndicate
were very capable and breezed
through the tasks, so by the time it
was my turn I had become pretty
nervous. I was briefed and took
my two minutes thinking time,
while my loyal syndicate patiently
awaited my plan. However, after
two minute passed I remained
clueless. I reeled off a pretty
poor plan, only to be corrected
by one team member, who had
done this particular task before.
He explained how to correctly
complete the task, (which I still
didn’t understand!) and with a lot
of support from the boys, we still
failed the task!
Next came the current affairs
discussion. We all gathered
around and had intellectual
discussions about things like
Trident, the rights and wrongs
of abortion and other important
and topical matters. All I can
say is, reading ‘The week’ on
the train on the way up isn’t
enough to make you look like
you know what you’re talking
about! The embarrassment of my
lack of current affairs knowledge
continued into the evening as
we had a current affairs pub quiz
in the bar. Luckily teamed back
with the other Officer Cadets from
Liverpool OTC we managed to
get a respectable score, with Miss
Miller acing the geography section
and the boys all chipping in with
the politics. I was in charge of
writing it all down, a vital job.
The next day comprised of the
fitness aspect of the weekend,
a multi stage fitness test, sit-up
and press ups, which most people
seemed to pass with ease. We
were then piled back into the
classrooms to be given our topics
for the lecturettes. These topics
were chosen from information
we gave about ourselves in
the ice breaker session. After
having ten minutes to plan out
our given subjects, mine was;
“Discuss the conflict between
being a vegetarian and having
a job that may result in having
to kill a person.” We each spoke
for 20 minutes with the rest of
our syndicates as our audience.
Other people spoke about their
experience doing airborne
student, working as a martial
arts instructor (which included
demonstrations!) and even ‘the
ultimate way to sleep!’ Apparently
the more you sleep the more your
skin will glow!
The weekend’s activities
finished with the assault
course, a syndicate effort and a
competition. This was a fantastic
way to the end the weekend, we
all got soaking wet legs, dragged
over walls and slipped around
on the monkey bars. Apart from
my syndicate, who took it very
seriously, and this combined with
amazing teamwork, won the race.
The staff from the weekend
debriefed us as a group, then
gave us feedback as individuals.
Liverpool OTC seemed to receive
some strong feedback, with
positive suggestions on how
to succeed at main board and
become officers. I personally
was told I need to work on my
leadership skills, which can’t be
that much of an issue wanting to
be an officer in the army and lead
people as a career can it?! Overall
it was a beneficial weekend,
everyone left with very useful tips
and knowledge of what they need
to improve on and how.
I would recommend everyone
who is thinking of doing main
board does a Military Training
Development weekend, it was
an indispensable event to help
prepare for the real thing!
www.nwrfca.org.uk THE VOLUNTEER 49