Scouting Ireland CSIScouting Ireland CSIIncidents Bases - to test your Patrol
Alligator Swamp, Rescue Work, Chain Reactor, Precision Activities, Brickhenge, Obstacle Courses, Acid Drum,
Disease Control, Weigh Lifting, Telephone Wire, Mug Tree, Snake Pit, Noises Off, The Island, The Wire, Radioactive Drum, Nervetester, Time Bomb, Cross Cut, Flood warning, Disturbed Hornets, Water Transfer,
Lighted candle, Electric Fence, Blindfold String Trail, The Ignorant Native
An electric fence is set up using a fruit cage net or the netting used to protect newly seeded lawns. The problem is to get the whole Patrol over the net. As it is electricfied it cannot be touched, and anyone that does so requires one minute's artificial respiration by another member of the team. A suitable collection of materials to enable the task to be completed should be available around the area.
Two buckets are connected via a single pulley. The bucket on the ground is full of water, the bucket up the tree is empty. Attached to branches so that they just reach the branch below are mugs. The top mug will reach the top bucket, and the bottom mug will reach the bucket on the ground.
The problem for the Patrol is to get the two buckets to balance exactly (meeting halfway) by transferring water up the tree from mug to mug. The Scouts should strategically position themselves up the tree so that it is possible to collect water from the bottom bucket and pass it up the tree to the empty bucket.
Arrange eight used tyres (large tyres) so that they hang at varying heights from strong rope or a spar. ( You may find that a local tyre dealer will let you have a lend of some used tyres) The object is to get your whole Patrol through them in the quickest time.
In 20 mins red ants will come out at dusk arrives. They are very dangerous but are not known to climb above 2 metres up trees. You are to get your whole Patrol above the danger zone, and prepare and eat supper consisting of tea, and sausage sandwiches.( gas stoves should be used, but a small platform should be constructed to cook on). If you cannot get your whole Patrol up one tree, distributing supper should prove interesting.
There is little to beat a well planned blindfold string trail over various obstacles. All the Patrol should be blindfolded except the Patrol Leader who directs the Patrol around the course. An effective way of blindfolding the Patrol is to provide each member with a pair of swimming goggles smeared with Vasoline - it is impossible to see out of them.
Variation (1)
is to suddenly declare the whole Patrol, apart from the assistant Patrol
Leader, snowblind and the APL has to direct the whole Patrol across an ice
flow one at a time using two icebergs (boxes) to walk on.
Variation (2)
using the swimming goggles pitch a tent.
Variation (3)
Set up a string trail which goes around trees ,over branches, under logs
etc. A number of mugs are connected to the string through the handles of
the mugs. A bucket of water is provided at the start of the trail and an
empty bucket at the end of the trail. The Patrol are invited to carry mugs
full of water over the string trail without spilling a drop and depositing
it in the empty bucket at the end of the trail.
This requires a versatile Assistant Scout Leader
Your Patrol is stranded on one side of a river bank. The river is deep and fast flowing. On the opposite bank is a tree, and leaning against it is a friendly (but 'thick') native who doesn't speak English. You have with you a long rope, and you notice that there is a convenient tree on your side of the river. What you have to do is persuade the native to tie the end of your rope around his tree with a round turn and two half hitches at a height that will allow your Patrol to cross the river.
The `native` does not speak any other language your Patrol might try, and you will not only have to mime to him what you want him to do, but also get him to do it, and what if he misunderstands you ....
( it is important that you select someone carefully to play the role of the ignorant native because to be play someone who is really ignorant requires considerable ability.)
Your Patrol while retreating from a hike because of injury to one of your Patrol have come across a swamp full of deadly snakes that can reach up to three feet. You must cross the swamp to reach the hospital in time otherwise your Patrol member will die as a result of his injuries.
Equipment: Two sets of rough stilts ( or gear to make them) some light rope.
This river stretches for miles in each direction. The telephone lines across it are made of a new substance which is only destructible by fire. Your job is to destroy the cable as near the centre as possible. The cable may not be touched by hand.
Equipment: what the Patrol request within reason.
In times of emergency it may be necessary to concentrate on the job in hand under difficult circumstances, so for this incident the Patrol are given a simple project to do, during which all sorts of distractions are provided. A suitable project maybe to encypher a message in morse code and send it on a morse key over a distance. The morse buzzer may also have to be connected up.
You have arrived at a swamp which is infested with alligators. Within the swamp is a number of small islands created by tuffs of grass. On the ground beside the swamp is a short plank which originally belonged to a bridge that crossed the swamp. The problem is to get your Patrol to safety at the other side of the swamp. You can only stand on the tuffs of grass and cross between them by means of the plank. You cannot jump between the tuffs, nor can you throw the plank across the swamp, therefore you must bring the whole Patrol across as one group.
There are many variations of this incident depending on the buildings available. Smoke can be produced by lighting a fire in a steel bucket and covering it with grass but it maybe necessary to wait for about 15 minutes for the building to fill up to make an effective incident. The incident may involve some of the following: calling the Fire Brigade and taking appropriate action; searching for casualties including crawling through smoke and taking the appropriate safety precautions; putting the fire out; moving casualty or lowering by rope and applying first aid treatment for burns or asphyxia. The casualty should be in such a position that he can only be reached by crawling through the building but at the same time he has plenty of fresh air to breath while waiting.
It should be pointed out that this is only an exercise in teambuilding. It should be pointed out to all Scouts that in the case of a fire they should get out of the building as quickly as possible and not go back inside for any reason.
This may involve abseiling down the cliff to the casualty and moving him/her to the top or bottom. If the casualty is to be lowered by rope then a fireman's chair knot or better still a triple bowline should be used. Anyone climbing down the cliff should be protected by a safety line fastened around their waist.
It is not necessary to do this activity on top of a 100 foot cliff a small out crop or steep hill will provide the same conditions. Remember this is a training exercise you do not want to put your Patrols in danger or create your own real incident due to carelessness.
This is a variation of the last incident for use when a cliff is available. To make the situation plausible the casualty could be an airman or parachutist. As with the previous incident the `injury' should be minor such as a broken arm.
The making and construction of stretchers provide the opportunity to develop a number of incidents. A good stretcher is hard to make therefore it may be necessary to give some preliminary instruction to your Patrols. The carrying of an injured person over difficult ground or an obstacle course will provide the Patrol with a teambuilding exercise in itself aside from the building of the stretcher and the care of the injured person.
The Patrol have to deal with a child who has climbed a tree and has become too frightened to get down.
Rather more imagination is required to set up this incident. A hole is required so that part of the casualty is above the ground and ladder or something similar should be available but it need not be placed in too obvious a position.
Rescue from a swamp
Drowning
Electric shock
Rescue from island or flooding
underground rescue
Rescue of person trapped in derelict building.
Allow 5 minutes for the solution to this problem. The retreating enemy have sabotaged the pontoon bridge by removing all the manhole covers from the pontoons. At the moment the manhole are above the water level, but as soon as vehicles come to the bridge, the pontoons will be depressed and will flood. A long line of vehicles is waiting to cross the river in pursuit of the enemy. You are in charge. You have no way of replacing the manhole covers. What would you do?
Let each Patrol construct a ` Chain - Reactor System' which from the initial impulse will trigger - off a series of movements of the greatest possible variety: e.g. a string is burnt through by a candle flame and releases a weight which raises a miniature portcullis which allows a stream of pebbles to cataract down a channel and into a tin which upsets the balance of a lever which sets a pendulum going which ....and so on. The `Reactor - System' which has the greatest variety of movement and lasts longest is the winner.
The purpose of this exercise is to test the ability of your Patrol Leaders to convey precise verbal instructions to their Patrols and then carry them into effect.
Begin the activity by calling the Patrol Leaders together and informing them that you are about to issue a series of precise instructions which must be carried out to the letter by their Patrols.
Allow the Patrol Leaders to brief their Patrols, then call them back for their first instruction.
The following are suggestions only. You could have fun dreaming up your own `Precision Activities'. The aim should be to create an impression of great urgency, so that the Patrols react at twice the normal speed. Instructions should follow in quick succession, allowing the Patrols no time to relax.
1. In exactly one minute from now the room will be plunged into darkness for the space of sixty seconds. You therefore have one minute to organise yourselves so that , when the lights go out - not before, you can build a human pyramid three Scouts high which will still be intact when the lights go on again.
2. Without using knots, join six ropes together to make the longest line possible which will hold together when held by its extremities clear of the ground. (One way of doing this is to tuck each rope under the lay of the other twice)
3. Organise your Patrol so that when the signal is given in about 3 minutes time all the following tasks can be carried out simultaneously in one minute or less:
- Set a map with the compass provided
- Put a bandage around an injured knee
- Make a tripod with three poles and a length of light rope.
- With a handkerchief only, demonstrate how you would drag an unconscious person from a smoke filled room.
- Without the aid of a compass, draw a arrow that will point NNE
4. You have exactly three minutes to organise a relay race in which each Scout in the Patrol carries every other Scout from one end of the hall to the other. Be ready to go when the signal is given.
5. You have 2 minutes in which to master the first circle of the semaphore code as a Patrol. Be prepared to prove your efficiency by reading accurately a number of words transmitted in quick succession from the far end of the room.
Mark out an area about six metres in diameter and place in the centre, about one meter apart, two jam jars, one containing a lighted candle. Provide ample sisal twine.
Instructions- Working outside the area, reverse the position of each jam jar in relation to each other. If the light goes out, your failure will be complete. You have been warned!
A `channel' about three metres across. In the middle, two billy cans without handles, one containing water. Staves and sisal are provided.
Instructions - Working from both sides of the channel, pour water from one billy to the other and back without spilling a single drop.
On flat ground mark out with sisal and tent pegs a river 4 metres wide. On the far bank, opposite each Patrol place three plastic bottles filled with water and tied loosely together at the necks.
On the near side provide each Patrol with an identical assortment of light spars, cordage and soft wire.
Instructions - Without crossing the river, improvise an apparatus which will enable you to recover the bottles without spilling any of their contents.
An explorer has fallen from a tree knocking himself unconscious and breaking his left arm above the elbow. First aid must be given where he lies and he can only be moved on an improvised stretcher. In falling he has disturbed a nest of vicious hornets, whose sting is known to be fatal. The swarm is hovering in an angry horde just five feet above the injured man and are descending at a rate of 12 inches every minute. The rate of descent can only be slowed down by dense clouds of smoke.
Within ten minutes the whole area will be flooded to a depth of four feet. Darkness is approaching rapidly. A beacon fire must be lit to warn the villagers across the valley. The only gear available is six spars, four lashing ropes, an old billy lid and a box of matches.
Working from outside a circle approx. 12 feet in diameter created by pegging out sisal on the ground cut a stake with a bowsaw. Patrols are provided with a bowsaw and sisal.
A bomb has been found. A wiring diagram of its layout is available. The problem is to de-arm the bomb. The problem is that the drawing can only be seen by one person who is in a safe location away from the bomb. Communication is possible by walkie talkie. The Patrol member must tell the Patrol what the bomb looks like inside the box and how they must de-arm it.
This exercise is a version of the blindfold trail. It will be necessary to build a nerve tester circuit with an electrical buzzer and some cable.
In this exercise the Patrol must negotiate a short obstacle course as well as keep the nerve tester loop from touching the `live' wire. An extra difficulty is to blindfold the Patrol members except the Patrol Leader and the Assistant Patrol Leader. The course should only be about 30 - 40 feet long as this is a difficult obstacle to overcome successfully.
Radioactive material in drums must be kept stable to ensure safety. This is achieved by placing the drums, 9 in total, in a square 3 drums by 3 drums. The drums have a radioactive value printed on them, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15. To ensure safety, however, the drums must total 30 on each branch ( vertically, horizontally, and diagonally)
An oil platform in the North Sea has lost its power supply due to a blown out connection box in the undersea power supply. The problem for the Patrol is to re-wire the connection box. The task is made difficult by the fact that the water is murky as the connection box is on the seabed. To simulate these conditions each member of the patrol must wear swimming goggles smeared with Vasoline. Visibility is totally impaired. Colours can be distinguished, but numbers, writing or connector boxes - no way. A connection sequence is provided on the surface ( from a position 20 yards away)
The problem is to cross a pond to an island. The planks available are each two short to reach the island by about 2 - 3 feet. No other equipment is available except the two planks.
A straightforward exercise in block and tackle skills. It is surprising the number of Patrols who find it extremely difficult to lift a weight when it cannot be lifted by brute force alone.
In this problem the Patrol must rescue a man who has been trapped under a large slab of concrete on a building site. When he has been rescued first aid has to be administered as required.
Most Patrols fail to complete this exercise due to improper knowledge in how to rig a pulley system.
A container in a germ warfare laboratory has been opened in an unsafe environment. The problem is to put the lid on the jar and replace the jar in a metal box. You cannot enter the room ( a pegged out area 10 ft around the objects )
Equipment available - string, a rubber band, and one or two coat hangers
A drum of acid has fallen of the back of a truck and landed on a bridge. Acid has seeped from the drum and has prevented access to it from 15 feet in every direction. The problem is to lift the drum onto a special sealer ( piece of cardboard). Time is short as the acid is eating through the steel of the bridge.
Equipment available - a rope and two poles.
A trestle frame is constructed as shown. The Patrol must pass over and through the frame and bring what ever equipment used with them. No part of the frame can be touched. The Patrol must work from an area 6 feet from the frame on each side.
Equipment available - a barrel, and a 12 foot plank.
The problem for the Patrol is to build a miniature Stone henge, using bricks. The idea is to build the model using labour saving devices as shown in the sketches below. The bricks should not be touched by hand at any stage of the operation
Stage 1 is to mark out a plan of the model on the ground (radius 1 metre) to represent part of the stonehenge monument.
Stage 2 is the moving into position of the bricks. The bricks maybe moved by using cane or dowel rollers and thin string or wool for pushing. Thin sticks can be used for maneuvering or pushing.
Stage 3 Each brick has to be lifted into position using a series of levers or pulley methods. As with stage 2 only light string or wool is provided to complete the task.
Stage 4 The upright bricks can then be buried in sand or clay so that the capping stones can be placed on top of the uprights or a wooden ram built.
This exercise is designed to show how stoneage people built these great monuments and structures. Your patrols will be trying to reconstruct this feat in miniature, therefore it is important that they do not have `strong' materials for completing the task, thus the suggestion that wool or light string is used. Extra marks should be given to those Patrols that bind the wool together to give it more strength and employ levering methods to lift the blocks into position.
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