I only realised there was a workshop last week, when I couldn't attend. I finally went this week - it was my first time there, and I didn't really know what was going to happen. Here's some feedback from a first experience:
It was clear a lot of people had already done it before, but some of us hadn't. I was very lost at first. Talk of lanes, blue and red members, etc. I was very lost for the first round at the shooting range. The second one was much smoother, but perhaps it might be interesting to ask if anyone has NOT done the routine before executing it. If that is the case, they can probably be explained in under 30m.
Something simple like: "We are divided into fire teams of 4 elements each. There are two fireteams per lane, one on the left, one on the right. In each FT, two elements are RED, two elements are BLUE, assigned by FTLs. We will be doing bounding overwatch, which means RED provides covering fire while BLUE moves forward. Then BLUE covers while RED moves to BLUE's position. Then RED moves while BLUE covers, and so forth. Same thing coming back. The objective is to keep most of the targets down and to avoid creating FF situations in close quarters."
Another idea would be to put out a little guide or video with the routines that should be watched before attending. This would reduce explanation time during limited workshop time.
I felt the intersection part worked very nicely with the asking questions about how and why things are done the way they are. I didn't realise that you were acting out things as you were explaining. Perhaps it might be a good idea to call out attention to that with a "gather up" or "look this way" or something like this. I missed the initial part of the manoeuvre. Perhaps have a couple of volunteers who know what they are doing to demonstrate at the beginning to see it done proper.
Finally, I really enjoyed the commanding part of the workshop (as I did the other parts), but it also felt like it was assumed that people knew what was going to happen. Our first CO was interested in CO'ing (since he volunteered) but seemed at a loss as to what exactly was expected. I eventually volunteered for Bravo SL (with Bravo SL promoted to CO), but also didn't know what to do exactly. Were we drilling the battle plan phase only? Are SLs allowed to put markers down and interrupt with suggestions and/or ideas for the general plan? How about for their own squad (independently of the others)? Perhaps Alpha and Bravo couldn't coordinated their joint attack with bounding overwatch manoeuvres? Or is that too much? And are we supposed to react in real time as events unfold? At one point the CO was shot - someone took over. Should the other SL's order their squads around at this point, say, into a more defensive position before the acting CO has time to figure things out?
Mostly, I was afraid to interrupt and overstep myself, so I just kept quiet.
I hope this elucidates the experience of at least one first-timer in the workshops
All the best!
I had never got them before, so I don't know what was up. Perhaps someone was doing some downloads in the house? It's strange, because I think I only had problems with VON, and not with TS.
~ Ferrard