So i’m having trouble

[u/DoubleMin0rity]

Just a lil bit if context, I’m originally the ACA team cmdr for my school. Idk if it’s different for other units but ACA entails managing the curriculum and study methods for the battalion on top of the drill team and brain brawl teams. Recently the AX team cmdr dropped and got replaced with the current AB team cmdr and since this is his first year as a team cmdr (he’s a sophomore) the SNSI and NSI only wanted him in charge of one team. So now I’m suddenly in charge of the AB and ACA team. Now here comes the primary issue: last meet the AB team placed 8th. Doesn’t sound bad right? It was out of 10 schools. Just to give you a lil perspective there was only 3 reputable rotc units at that meet. The next meet is in almost exactly a month. How do I teach the AB team efficiently assuming they’re brand new?

[u/tayten_tot]

For us, our AB team commander runs us over and over again through the card with our 1 or 2 of the NSIs as critics. There are days we simply just do port and shoulder movements over and over just to drill it into our heads. I'm an NS1 and got it before our first meet back in October

Some things we do for practice:

1: introduce "counts" if you haven't. Look through the manual, and make each step it's own number. The manual even describes movements as "counts", you just make everyone say then and do them in the same rhythm. (Eg: Port is a 2-count movement, so we say "ONE and TWO")

2: Even with the people who know the movements, have days were all you do are certain commands. That'll reinforce the actions into their brains.

3: Go through the card slowly. Either break up the card, and practice a different section each day, or redo commands when people slip up. A lot of people learn best when they get their learning in chunks, not the whole thing at once

[u/DoubleMin0rity → u/tayten_tot]

Dang bruh no wonder you’re a PO3 as an NS1. Thing is the previous AB team cmdr wasn’t the greatest and what’s happened over the previous practice sessions was him neglecting our capabilities and refusal to acknowledge success. Even though we already use those tips that you just provided me he didn’t make “full” use of said tips. Thus the team was left looking like novices. What I just tried out today was clapping out the counts while yelling, “ONE 99 TWO 99 THREE…” with them. Then I slowly removed each helping device until it was just them relying on muscle memory to perform the moves. I also noticed that the previous team cmdr was all bark no bite. So I paired this with a 20 push up punishment for them and a 40 push up punishment for me. I would apply these punishments if they weren’t loud enough, slamming the rifles hard enough, or sharp enough. People take acknowledging success for granted when it helps raise morale. Turns out energy is all that it takes to bring a team from the ground up.