COVID-19 in Review: A National Training Perspective

May 26, 2021

COVID-19 in Review: A National Training Perspective

We are all too familiar how the devastation of COVID-19 has touched every one of us in one way or another. Loss of employment, loss of loved ones, emptying savings accounts, and the list goes on. I was asked to provide a review of the past year and half considering COVID-19 from a national training perspective. My first thought turned to our national training events. From January 2020 through May 23, 2021, we had 37 national training events scheduled. During that time, we had to cancel 22 of those events primarily due to low registration caused by COVID-19 concerns and restrictions. The good news is that we still were able to have the following events: (Note: Numerals were used for ease of reading.)

• 8 WCOs
• 1 NRMC
• 3 NEECs
• 1 JBEI
• 2 National/Advanced Academies

The lessened training schedule meant more time to create and update training materials. I’m pleased to offer the following list of accomplishments we were able to produce during this pandemic.

• Outpost Leader Orientation (OLO) introduced on May 11, 2020.
  • The National Communications and Outreach Action Team contacted (called) all district directors of this release within one week.
  • The OLO is a new tool to help introduce and integrate a new leader into the outpost quicker and more efficiently.
• Merit Camp (MC) was released June 23, 2020. The Merit Camp is a new junior training camp targeted for boys who have graduated 4^th grade. It is intended to be used before the Ranger Training Camp (RTC).
• Shooting Sports Action Camp (SSAC) was released June 30, 2020. This is our first official action camp packet that can be requested from the national office. A big thank you to Kasey Bruce and Oklahoma district for all their input.
• NRMC Trainee Notebook was updated June 1, 2020.
• NEEC Trainee Notebook was updated October 1, 2020.
• Preventing Child & Substance Abuse – Parent Guide booklet was discontinued in July 2020 because the content was outdated and did not reflect the most current material available.
  
• Child and Substance Abuse training module was removed from our online training on August 31, 2020. It was removed because it was outdated.
• A COVID-19 exception for the Trail of the Saber (TOTS) was released in Rangers NOW on June 10, 2020.
• A COVID-19 exception for the Adult and Junior Leader awards was released in Rangers NOW on October 14, 2020.
• Ranger Foundations (RF) was released online October 1, 2020.
  • The RF classroom experience was released November 12, 2020.
• Ranger Basics (RB) was phased out on December 31, 2020.
• Organizational Leader Training and Global University changes were released in Rangers NOW on January 27, 2021.
• The new Ranger Safety (RS) course was presented on the Saturday of LEAD21 as the only live version.
  • The new RS course was released online on May 5, 2021.

I’m glad to say that we are seeing a trend of less canceled events and some healthy attendance numbers. There are still plenty of national training events on the calendar. Check out our National Training Schedule. If you don’t see a particular training event near you, contact your district training coordinator. They are currently working on their proposed 2022-23 schedule for national training events in your district/network. This proposed schedule will be submitted to your regional training coordinator on July 23, 2021. It’s not too late to make suggestions to your district training coordinator of a camp you would like to see in your area.

Mentoring Future Men together/remotely into 2021,