New Staff Training (NST) - Part I

Upon arrival in Fairhope, Alabama, I was immediately swept up into the melee of training at the small, one-building Outward Bound base. There were 19 trainees and a number of trainers all moving hither and thither, getting things ready for the beginning of our trip. We split into two teams of 10, with two instructors for each team, packed up dry bags and headed to our first campsite. Our trainers names were Katie and Jinky, and the members of our team were: Kristin, Nicole, Luke, Jesse, Liz, Jo Anna, Emily, Simon, Jim, and myself. (I may reference these people later, so now you know who they are.)

There was so much to learn, and most was learnt through the experience of being treated as students on the first few days of an OB course. In Outward Bound, as at The Adventure Centre, most everything is communicated through the medium of the group circle-up. So we learned a lot of things while standing or sitting in circles. One of the first things we learned was called a GPA. This stands for “Goal, Plan, Action.” Very simple, just as it sounds. Great time-saving mechanism. It turns everything into a timed initiative. “How long will it take us to unload this trailer? Can we do it in 9 minutes? Ok, circle break!” And suddenly everyone is rushing around unloading canoes, buckets, dry bags, and paddles – it was pretty amazing how such a simple thing like a time goal can make a team work together efficiently, or show rifts in the group.
One of the next things we learned was called craftification. In OB, with its focus on excellence, throwing gear around into piles was not acceptable. Since the first night we camped, Katie and Jinky had impressed upon us the importance within OB of do any job with craftiness. After setting our water jugs and gear bags in a line, they looked at us and said “now how can you make it better? Show us a crafty line.” This seemed like an odd request for water bottles, but we straightened them so that the handles were all facing the same way in line with our dry bags. Although it seemed picky, after a time it made sense. Paying attention to the little things and doing those with excellence translated into doing larger tasks with the same outcome – it made a lot of sense for the population we will be working with…or for anyone.

The next day, we took swim tests and headed to the river. We started on the Alabama river, although our journey took us through a number of confluences that eventually led us to Muir State Park, no less than 55 miles down river from where we began…probably more, but we paddled enough that I think I’m missing a couple days in there.

On the way to put canoes in the water, an event occurred that gave our team its name. After being informed by a good Samaritan that our canoe trailer was smoking, we pulled over to discover that the axel was rubbing against the side of the tire, wearing away the rubber. We changed out the tire, and Katie made a trip to one of the many dollar stores to buy a hammer to encourage the axel back into place, which we secured with duct tape for the time being. The next day, we declared ourselves not team A, but the Smokin’ Axels.

The first day on the river was dry and pleasant. At the first campsite we were introduced to the “personal job” rotation for camp duties. These included: crew chief, head chef, sous chef, smoky, environmentalist (responsible for trash and the groover), navigator, journalist, tubby scrubby (dish duty), and water medic (refills water jugs). On course, the students rotate through these jobs. Now, we were responsible for learning them.

We were also introduced to the groover. The groover was a 5-gallon bucket painted black, with a snap-on toilet seat. This was placed about 200 feet from camp along with another black bucket. Are you getting the picture? So we’re on the river, there are no pit-toilets and such, and at most places, we can’t get far away enough from the water to shit in the woods. So we shat in the woods in a bucket. Oh, yes. For de-grossification of this event, I will explain. The bucket with “the throne” is always empty, and you actually poop in a bio-degradable bag, which you then put into the OTHER bucket…so, we end up carrying around a bucket of poop, but you know, you can get used to anything.

More to come...