Training Leader Responsibilities:

Please follow these guidelines in planning your exercise or mission, briefing the squad and leading the evening training:

Rule 1: Make it fun!

Rule 2: Post the mission details on the Bravo BBS (and other boards if you want extra guests) as early as possible, never later than the Tuesday before.  As simple as that sounds and with 6+ weeks to plan, Wednesday night before practice ain't a good time to start planning.*

Rule 3: Make sure that any downloads required are clearly defined and available to all. You should try to e-mail mission files and scenery to all squad members and Wing Commander Bulldog, unless you are sure they are downloadable from a reliable site. In this case a link to the URL and file should be communicated on the BBS. (this will also allow guests to get the files without having to e-mail back and forth.

Rule 4: Try to make it something you have a particular interest in, be it ACM training (Air Combat Maneuvers) or historical scenarios. Part of the attraction of training rosters is to get some diversity in our Thursday nights.

Rule 5: Include an element of skill building in your scenarios. For example, if its a long flight, use it as an opportunity to practice formation flying or navigation skills.

Rule 6: Be prepared to lead the mission. Know the game setup requirements, starting coordinates, compass courses and ADF settings if required and be ready to transmit them to others.

Rule 7: Make it fun!

These practices do not have to be elaborate. A classic Bomb Run or a good team dogfight is a great change of pace once in a while. If you think of a type of game you like and we haven't done it for a while, go for it. If you are comfortable hosting a Brunhost game, and want to do an elaborate scenario with multiple start points, great. (I wish someone would show me how, lol.)

Now it would be great if all the members of RAF had Mshines talent for designing missions.  Well the fact is 90% of us don't know or just plain don't have the time or desire to learn.  But writing complex missions is not a prerequisite of belonging to RAF662 CFSG. The reason for practice rotation isn't supposed to be a contest to see who can dream up the best missions.  Rather it is designed this way so as not to put the burden of hosting on the same person each week.  An added plus is that it keeps practices fresh with new ideas. The way I've looked at practice on My Night as host is for one night I get to choose an idea that sounds like fun to ME, and I can count on 6-8 pilots that are gonna do their damdest to make it a success and have a good time or else say hey it was a good idea anyway even if it didn't work.*

Yes, some of our missions don't exactly come from the "How to run a successful practice" manual, but the authors that wrote them probably never felt it was necessary to include "Attendance".  As much as I hate to say it, some folks consistently have the dangdest time showing up for practice.  Yea I know its summertime, schools are out, vacations from work take some of us out of town, My mother-in-law stopped by for tea, etc. But for lack of a better word, well, its a courtesy thing to your squad mates who may have literally beat their head on the wall trying to dream up something interesting for your enjoyment.  It's even worse to come to practice looking to unwind for a couple of hours and find no host. Just call it a golden rule thing.

With all of the above said the only other thing I can think of to improve things could possibly be a review on proper use of zone messages or in our case MSN instant messages.  This can be a very annoying thing to have happen to you on final in carrier landings after you've replied to the past 12-15 in as many minutes.  Please refrain instant messages to just the absolute necessary ones during practice.  If you contact someone and they do not respond do not send another message - they just may be finally closing in on their target or in the midst of evading another pilot and your Zone or MSN message will be all the distraction needed to lose them the advantage they worked so hard for.*  Ill be glad to join anyone in an AOL chat room after practice that wants to hold a lengthy conversation.

On to a broader subject that I think needs addressing: "Just what's required of me after I become a member"?  Well not many things in life are this simple:

a) About 2 hrs of your time each week for practice

b) 1-2 posts a week, this can be as easy as congratulating someone that just earned the Ace award or dropping a simple bit of humor at Yanks

But, if all you do is a) and b) then you're missing the core of the RAF Experience...Nuff said

At this point we will assume everyone has and knows how to use multi-swap (MPSUtil) , and has all the required RAF662 aircraft and scenery installed. If this is not the case, please do so, or ask for help in getting up to speed. If you have some files to distribute which are too big for e-mail, contact  RAF_Angel, RAF_Trey or RAF_SaberFlash

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*Added 15-07-2002 by RAF_Angel

text edited for spelling, gramer, or document flow reasons

*Added 15-07-2002 by RAF_SaberFlash