31 October 2006
AUSTIN, TX - The evening of September 29 at 1800 marked the start of Pegasus Squadron's Fall 2006 FTX, held at the Lost Pines Boy Scout ranch, near Camp Swift, in the Group III Area. As instructed, the trainees hiked their gear to camp, following a marked trail that ran through the woods. Once there, they dumped their gear and the camp staff in-processed them.

After taking care of the administrative details, the students began setting up their shelter. Late arrivals added some temporary confusion – soon integrated into the orderly routine – and by 2200 there were 14 cadets and 8 seniors for a total of 22 participants. A briefing covering safety and ground team assignments followed at 2230, a Charge of Quarters (CQ) list was posted, and the first sentries took their posts for an hour each.

At 0600 on the following morning, the cadets started a new day and the assigned Kitchen Police (KP) crew busied itself with breakfast preparation. With all the activity, they were hungry and soon finished eating and cleaning up. 1st Lt Ford of Phantom Squadron led a moral leadership class, and the last cadet arrived, bringing the number of participants to 23.

After a short break, 1st Lt Jaeger and 2nd Lt Bos instructed the trainees on “familiarization and preparatory training” for ground team member level 3 qualification. MREs for lunch presented a new experience for many of the cadets, a break soon followed by LPER/ELT training by Maj Pope. Capt. Benavides and 1st Lt Wreyford of Apollo Squadron demonstrated the use of the tape measure Yagi-Uda antenna. After everyone had had an opportunity to use both the H-antenna and the Yagi, Maj Draper taught the ground team trainees orienteering and map reading, while 1st Lt. Jaeger trained the more advanced students on ground team leader tasks.

The students soon put their newly learned skills to the test on a 6-point orienteering course that was nearly 3,000 meters long (about two football fields’ short of 2 miles). Three hours later, at 1800, the last team returned to camp just in time for dinner, which was dispatched seemingly in seconds, since they were eager to hike back up the trail to an open field, set up the HF radio, and check into the net at 1900. Capt Benavides’ clear instructions helped the cadets set up the radio in record time.

That night, both Pegasus and Apollo Squadrons successfully signed onto the net. Immediately afterwards, the net closed at 1930, the cadets took down the radio, and the ground teams prepared for their first practice ELT mission. Within an hour, the only team equipped with a Yagi antenna located the ELT and returned to base. The other two teams searched for nearly another hour before locating the ELT and returning to base. With six hours left until reveille, one of which would most certainly be spent on CQ, the trainees were grateful for whatever sleep they could get.

After a light breakfast – a healthy combination of fruit and donuts – the ground teams re-formed and set off, each one on its own mission. Within two hours, each ground team had independently located the ELT and returned to base. Tired but happy, smiling as they relished their success, they spent the next few hours taking down camp and performing the most time-consuming task of all: picking up micro-trash. 

Once the project officer was satisfied with the campground’s condition, everyone hiked their gear back up the trail to the vehicles and loaded them. Some thought they had left something behind, because the gear didn’t seem to be as heavy as they remembered it from nearly two days before. It was now near noon, October 1st. The FTX had lasted for 42 hours, not quite 2 days, but they had completed almost all of the requirements for GTM3, with some earning nearly fully-qualified Ground Team Leader status.

Article and photos submitted by C/2d Lt Steven Hamman, Asst C/PAO