HI Bob,

On Mon 2038-Jul-05 17:05, Bob Klahn (1:124/311) wrote to Richard Webb:

 RW> Yep, and sometimes that's just waht you need to do, jump as
 RW> in react to the stimuli without having to do the "what do I
 RW> do next?"

 RW> THat old adage, "what you do in training you do in combat."

BK>  Yep. Not 100%, but a whole lot better than without it.

OF course, muscle memory of a sort kicks in.

BK>>  And you could learn to break down and unjam a rifle in the dark.

 RW> OF course, or any number of things that need to be done to
 RW> keep the unit fighting, whether that means operate a radio,
 RW> dig a trench, cook dinner, unjam a weapon, or ...

BK>  When I said break down and unjam a rifle in the dark, that was 
BK> specifically for you. Think about it.

Caught onto that one .  YEp do that sort of thing with
abilities of people on teams I build all the time.

 RW>>> get a high school diploma young people should undergo cert
 RW>>> training.

BK>>>  I have often thought about that.

 RW>> At first I went into that course thinking it would be just
BK>>  ...
 RW>> knowledge that I'd either find it a waste of my time but
 RW>> complete the course for the paper, or I'd find it was
 RW>> great.  With this instructor and others like her it's a
 RW>> damned good course, and every American should take it.

BK>>  Lotta stuff like that. But it ain't the 3R's, so they won't fund
BK>> it.

 RW> THey should.  WHat's not to like?  Gives them some first
 RW> aid, some fire suppression, some rescue.  IF nothing else

BK>  I believe the purpose of the schools is not just the three Rs,  but
BK> to teach them to function in our society. And the emergency 
BK> response part is a good part of that.

I've always said that's what school is supposed to be, we're preparing
citizens to take on the responsibilities of
citizens.  Even this old fart noncomformist believes that
there has to be some preparation of young people to perform
the duties of the citizenry.  ONe of those duties is to
protect oneself and not wait for some bureaucrat to come
wipe one's nose every time something happens.

 RW> it helps one answer the "should I or shouldn't I?" question
 RW> when it comes to even attempting the rescue.  At even more
 RW> elementary level than that it teaches one how ot to become
 RW> a further victim while assessing the situation.

BK>  Yeah, that last part is an important part.

the *most* important part.  Be part of the solution, not
part of an even larger problem.

 RW>>> meanwhile my lady's sitting there in her wheelchair.  I
 RW>>> pushed her forward and said something like "she may not be
 RW>>> able to operate a lever, but she should get a shot at

 RW> Maybe, but he was being gung ho about getting the body, as
 RW> he probably would be in the real life situation.  THat's
 RW> your first rule, don't become *another* victim.

BK>  Yep. And that's why obeying the chief's orders is important.  Aside
BK> from being more experienced, he's also in a position where  he might
BK> see things you don't.

OF course, looking at big picture, and a bit removed.  Hard
to remember not be be gung ho when you've got the mother
yelling "but my baby's under there."  SOmebody's got to keep the
clear thinking going on.

 RW>> assignment they come out to see a tripod antenna mast and a
 RW>> bunch of gear set up ready for operation.

BK>>  Yep. Get them interested, show them, don't tell them.

 RW> OF course, then after the exercise we do a bit of just
 RW> playing with it, if the hf is wired to a good working
 RW> antenna make a contact on 20 or 40 meters, play a bit of
 RW> repeater tag with area vhf/uhf repeaters.

BK>  Getting hands on is a very important part of training. Gives  both
BK> experience and confidence.

OF course, they've heard the pep talk about why getting a
ham license is beneficial, and then they see it, up close
and personal.  THe lady teaches that course usually has us
talk to them a bit about what we were doing our last week in NEw ORleans.

 RW> ONly thing I"ve got to do yet is see how quickly we can get
 RW> Kathy to assemble tripod and vhf/uhf antenna by her
 RW> lonesome, from the wheelchair.  IT might be tough, but she

BK>  Not only accomplish the mission, but show others what can be  done.

YEp, Kathy's already been an example the teacher trots out
when somebody says "I'm not real able bodied, I'm not sure
I'm who you want in your program."

 RW> could sit in the back of the van at first while she began
 RW> the process of unloading tripod mast and antenna, transfer
 RW> to the chair, tilt the boom over on the tripod stand, hose
 RW> clamp antenna to it, lever the boom back standing vertical,
 RW> tighten down the fastener which holds it that way, then
 RW> possibly telescope the whole assembly further.  I've meant
 RW> to see if she can accomplish all that from packed to
 RW> operational, but I'm usually in a hurry so we haven't run
 RW> her through the complete drill yet.

BK>  Time to work on that. Get to it buddy!

YOu got that right .  I usually forget it and say
"next time we set up you get to do all this" then when we
set it up I'm doing the hurry up so we don't have her do it
from unload to setup by herself.  THink that's this
weekend's project in the cool of an evening, we'll set her
in the back of the van and run the stopwatch.  fOr me it's
15 minutes from roll in to on the air.

WIth big audio truck with its mast it's about the same
length of time to be on vhf/uhf, 20-25 for hf, because even
though mast on the truck has a pulley to raise wire antenna
I've still got to find supports for the ends.  I've tried
cutting that 15 minutes on the big truck, but almost no way
I can do that.  Have to get the ladder out,  go around toe
passenger's side of the cab, climb ladder, guide mast up
through air conditioner frame, attach short piece of mast
with pulley and the vhf/uhf antenna once it's threaded the
framing members, then the rest of the way up, tighten down U bolts, we're
rockin' and rollin' then.

Regards,
           Richard
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+