On the CCA Maze Day, we had rain and therefore the showcase was done indoors. On that day we were also in charge of maintaining traffic control. Mdm Toh says it was very messy. I and the other CLTs have agreed that it was because that we do not have real time information by the OM and there was miscommunication between the primary school section and the secondary school. I feel that they have done a good job considering the situation they are in.
Next is that i found out that some of the part c don't even know how to wear their no. 3 belt properly some pointing towards the wrong direction and some don not even know how to tighten their belt when i ask them to do it. Part C APC pls take note. On a finer note, i feel that there was a lot of enthusiasm from the sec 1 in joining us. I even hear some of them turning off other cca groups offer to join their cca after looking at our displays and talking to our cadets. CLTs have also assured many parents about the programme our unit offers and give them some insights on our unit background and also at the same time assuring them that their child is in good hands. "Where boys become man". After the openhouse, we had a meeting for the unit with T/Os and also participation by specs holding key positions. Items discussed can be read below:
Minutes of the 6th Meeting
Location: MSHS Humanities Rm
Date: 13 January 07
Time Started: 1.12pm
Extra Notes: for this meeting only the SMs, S1,2,3,4 and main platoon sergeants have to attend.
Cadets Present:
1) CSM Jeremiah Lee
2) ASM Victor Tan
3) ASM Seah Wei Su
4) ASM Tay Wei Jia
5) ASM/S3 Aw Sze Jet
6) S1 Lee Wen Xiong
7) S2 Joel Loh
8) S4 Wyeley Loy
9) PS Elton Lim (Part B)
10) PS Joshua Ong (Part B)
11) PS Jeremy Teo (Part C)
CLTs Present:
1) S/CLT Bertram Chan
2) S/CLT Jason Tan
3) CLT Evan Kong
4) S/CLT Daryl Yap
5) S/CLT Ronald Liu
Teacher Officers Present:
1) Mdm Toh (CO)
2) Sir Teng
3) Sir Tan
Stuff Discussed:
1) Promotion
- by the first term, the part Bs will be promoted from private to LCP and the part Cs will be promoted from LCP to CPL.
- For the promotion of part D’s CPL, the proposal is already sent to Mam Goh but she said that we will have to get a few things done first before she agrees for promotion.
- Such things include: the workplan 07 for all parts, a confirmed appointment list, cadet evaluation list.
- CLTs don’t want to drag the promotion any further. They think promotion is a motivation to the cadets.
- Deadline set: Next fri, the 19th of January 07.
2) Badges from HQ
- the proficiency test badges and other badges have not been given.
- Mam Toh says she already check with Cap Oliver and is still waiting for a reply.
3) Recruitment Ex
- by Monday the 15th of January 07, the Sec 1 will submit their CCA forms. After that, we will call for a selection.
- By checking with Mr.Suresh, we can roughly know the number of Sec 1 who are interested in joining NCC.
- The intake for year 2007 will be 35 meaning no increase.
- However, CLTs think that there is a need to increase because some activities are expanding. Eg. For SEACOM, activities such as water rafting and dragon boating are added. Therefore, by increasing the number of intake, we do not have to stress our SEACOM teams so much as the load could be shared by more cadets.
- Mam Toh says that by looking at today’s CCA maze, we never really go all out to get Sec 1 to be interested in us. She also said that even if we have the quantity, it will be useless if there is no quality.
- To have quantity and quality, a selection camp must be held. However, not all part Ds agree with having a selection camp. This is because after the selection camp, it will be followed by a part A camp. Parents might be worried for their sons going for so many camps in the starting of NCC training and they might think that NCC is taking up too much time. Besides, the selection camp will be a tough one therefore, this might put parents off for sending their sons for the part A camp which is more important.
- Therefore, instead of a camp, we can try a short training for the selection.
- Last year 2006, recruitment was not good because the date of selection was wrongly announced. There was miscommunication.
4) Purchasing of Walkie Talkies
- we are planning to buy 4 sets of walkie talkies for communication during road marshalling and camps.
- Mam Toh says good idea for convenience. For road marshals, the walkie talkies might help us to be more efficient. For today’s CCA Maze a lot of cadets were seen slacking. And for road marshalling, it was not efficient. The message of whether the car parks were full or not were not transferred properly. Some part Cs were blur like as if they were part As. The whole situation was messy and the part Cs attitude were appalling.
- CLT Jason said that the situation was messy because we wasn’t told of the location which we were allowed to park. The opening of Primary School gate wasn’t confirmed properly. Bro Anthony said cannot open but Primary Sch General Office says can.
- Mam Toh says we have to know where is the best place to buy the walkie talkie.
- CLT Ronald says he went to SimLim Tower/Square and found that the prices there are quite reasonable. To buy the walkie talkies, we must first look at its range, battery life and frequency.
- Mam Toh says that if we do not use the walkie talkie frequently, we can loan it from the general office and it is not a problem.
- CLT Bertram says we can use it every training to communicate with teacher officers for dismissal parade and amongst ourselves.
5) Passing of HQ Information to the Specialists
- Jeremiah says that all HQ information must be sent to the S1 and himself who will then spread to other key appointment holders.
- Mam Toh says she is OK with it but she needs a list of emails to sent to.
6) Restructuring of Appointments
- CLTs say that there is too many ASMs in our company. (current situation: 1 CSM and 4 ASM). If the job of the PS and ASM of a part is the same, then why there is need to have these two appointments. Besides, the ASMs are doing more work then the PSs.
- Mam Toh says that having ASMs to each part, the cadets are able to learn more leadership from the ASMs. However, it isn’t good for the PS to free-ride on the ASMs and vice versa. It is not polite to change the situation back to 1 CSM and 2 ASMs because this was set by Mam Goh and it isn’t polite to just change it. She feels that she must talk to Mam Goh personally and will reply to us after talking to Mam Goh.
7) Acknowledge/Consent Form
- CLTs are wondering if there is a standard consent form we use for our unit.
- Mam Toh says that we normally use HQ forms.
- CLTs feel that there is a need for us to have our own consent form to let parents know the reasons for having training. This is so that when there is a sudden surge of training due to seacom or rehearsals, the parents will know the reason and understand us for taking more of the cadet’s time.
- Mam Toh says when we go for sea training, the booking of the centre cannot be confirmed immediately, the confirmation reply is normally given a few months after request booking. So, we cannot confirm the dates to put on the consent form also.
- CLTs say we can try giving the dates for the whole year which we will have sea training so that all the booking throughout the year can be confirmed at one time.
8) Handing Over of Unit
- O levels are pushed forward therefore the POP have to be pushed forward. Probably in June. POP and Handover can be done on the same day.
- Mam Toh says that the O levels have only been pushed forward a week therefore, there is no need to push the POP by a few weeks.
- In June there is not much activities left for the part Ds to take charge.
- CLTs say that it will not make much of a difference because in June, the part Ds will start to AWOL because of O levels. Besides, by handing over early, part Cs can get more time to familiarize. Certs can be handed to the part Cs when they take over. This is to give them a morale booster, their responsibility is very much fixed and there will not be many changes in appointments (which happened this year).
- Mam Toh says the Cert thingy can only be confirmed when the appointment list is confirmed.
- CLTs suggest that the POP can be held after school on NCC Day. This is because part Ds are needed to organize the parade. Therefore POP change to 1st July.
9) Project of Sea Units
- need some one to be in-charge to transfer info to other schs.
- Mam Toh says she will give the name by next Friday.
10) Change of Training to Saturdays
- holding trainings on Saturday would mean we have more time for trainings to hold games or lecture. More productivity.
- By holding training on weekdays we can confirm whether the absence of cadets is truly AWOL as we can see if they are in school in the morning. Disadvantage is that the timetables of cadets are different so the dismissal time is different too. So, hard to set a training where everybody can come down.
- Mam Toh says that everybody knows that Friday is a CCA day. Therefore, most of the cadets will be dismissed at the same time.
- CLT say by holding training on weekday, time will be wasted on lunch leaving us only 3 to 4 hrs of training. Therefore to make up there will be more than one training a week making some cadets unhappy. Besides that, the CLTs also dismiss from schools at different timings therefore, sometimes cannot confirm if they can come down. After school, the cadets are already too tired to do anything. Besides, PT cannot be held cause the sun in the afternoon is too strong.
- Mam Toh says the reason of tiredness is not really valid. To ask the cadets to wake up early in Saturday morning would also be tiring to them. It also gives them an opportunity to give excuses such as tuition and church on Sunday. About the sun, it is also not a valid reason as previous batches also did their PT in the hot sun. Besides, we are NCC, what’s the sun to us?
- CLTs says that Mam Goh banned us form doing PT in the hot sun and it is also according to the training safety regulations by the MOE..
- Mam Toh says primary schs have their PE in the afternoon. Even though it is held at 5pm we can follow the timing.
- CLTs said after PT at 5, there will still be dismissal parade and by that time, cadets are already too tired for the parade. By doing PT on Saturday mornings, it will be cooler, increasing endurance of the cadets.
- Jeremiah says that it is OK to have training on weekdays and PT 4 to 5pm but 2 days are required.
- Jeremy says that cadets will AWOL on Fridays because they are going into holiday mood. Therefore should have training on Wednesdays.
- Mam Toh says we should not have 2 days. Saturday training is hard to commence because the school might not comply to us. It mainly depends on the cadets’ attitude and commitment for them to go to trainings. On Saturday training people will tend to AWOL. On Saturday, the teachers might also not be free. It all depends on the commitment of everybody.
11) Part A Camp
- Mam Toh says it will be somewhere in mid March. Will announce the exact date later.
- Need 5 part Cs who are future SMs to go to the camp to familiarize how things work out.
12) Others (money matters/overseas trip/montly workplan/affirmation ceremony)
- receipts for the CCA maze have yet to be collected. Log spec must list the items down if they are in code.
- Mam Toh says pass to her on Monday. For the Overseas trips, she is still waiting for HQ to reply.
- Jeremiah says that once a moth after Friday training, PS must submit the workplan for the next month.
- Mam Toh says that this is a brilliant idea but after Friday’s training, too late. Submit on Monday after hall assembly. If PS have classes after assembly, find a person to take charge.
- Jeremiah says affirmation ceremony must be held in the Shaw Hall.
- Mam Toh Says can and she will book the Shaw Hall.
13) NCC Fund
- at the start of the year, we will collect money from all cadets.
- CLTs want to know the amount of funds we have so that they don’t have to work on budget and they can plan activities more efficiently.
- Mam Toh says that all the schools funds are under HSBC and a person in the general office is in-charge. She will check out the amount of funds and reply.
14) MSG
- a MSG will be voted by the SMs.
- There will be 3 MSG in the platoon (1 HQ and 2 internal)
- Mam Toh says she will discuss this issue with the CLTs and Teachers about the internal promo to MSG.
15) Unit-T
- a new dry fit Unit-T is suggested. It is dry-fit and better and cost about the same as the cotton T.
- CLT Ronald have checked with the Cosmos and FPT. He recommends Cosmos.
- Mam Toh says OK.
16) Thanks
- Mam Toh’s thanks for the effort put into CCA Maze. She is the new CO and things will be different with her around. Her style will be different. Only if there is something important then she will step-in. Safety is always FIRST.
- Time end: 2.22pm
That's all for the time being. And in the mean time let's work hard for our studies and the unit so that when most of us leaving this year can feel that we have place a foundation for our unit to carry on their march to glory even without CLTs which is our aim. A Specialist Unit.
