16 June 2009
ALERT ACADEMY, Texas – At encampment, the drive to excel is always the cadet leadership's aim. The stature of rank and position often stand as high as the pine trees that grace the ALERT academy's campus. Unfortunately, the road to success can be partially paved with failures. Such was the case with a planned night fire drill, implemented to test the responsiveness of cadets and their leadership at that time.

The exercise had been purposely designed to fail, in order to evaluate the level of responsiveness of those involved. The degree of failure would be based on how well cadets and their leaders worked together to achieve a safe evacuation. “Unfortunately, it did fail, and miserably,” said 1st Lt Tim Gandy, Deputy Commander for Cadets during an emergency meeting that was called on the following day. “The fire drill was very realistic, and a few people were where they were supposed to be, but a majority were not, “He added.

As the fire drill began, the Charge of Quarters (CQ) staff was immediately notified. When they arrived to the designated rally points, there was much confusion as to who was in charge. Cadet leadership quickly determined that CQ did not have control of the situation, so they decided to take over the evacuation. “In reality, CQ did exactly what they were supposed to do,” commented Capt Robert "Skip" Smith, the encampment commander. “The Texas Wing Fire Emergency Formation Procedures assign ultimate command to the CQ, effective as soon as the fire emergency is announced over radio communications or some other means.” Then he added, “All building occupants were affected by pride and authority conflicts.”

At the "post-mortem," Capt Smith discusses the CAP core values, which led him to ask, “Those who realized the drill was not being run correctly, and went back to your barracks to get your cadets, please stand up.” Some ten cadet leaders and a couple of senior members stood up. Capt Smith then asked the assembly, “All those who are in a flight associated with these cadet leaders and senior members, please stand up.” As cadets started to stand up, the crowd began to mumble in dismay as over 65 cadets stood up. With measured, powerful words, Capt Smith said, “This is the real failure of the drill, these cadets standing up represent how many possible victims a real fire could take, if not everyone did the job.” He then reiterated, “I want the seriousness of cadet safety to flow in every one's veins, and be firmly planted in every one's mind, starting right now.”

The Cadet Safety Officer, C/1st Lt Isaac Niedrauer, then gave a presentation on the evacuation procedures, showing diagrams and routes. Several questions were raised, most were answered, and closed his presentation by saying, “We had to pinpoint where the failures would be, so we could fix them.”

As the meeting was wrapping up, Capt Smith reassured his cadet leader team, “I have a fine cadet staff that is improving daily. Use this experience to educate yourselves. What occurred with this blotched fire drill was a lesson in planning and a lesson in leadership. I am confident that this will make you better, and this exercise will be a success in failure."

Story submitted by 1st Lt Rodrigo Saucedo, Encampment PAO