At the risk of being harshly chastised, can anyone tell me or
factually clarify what happened to the AFA Cadet XC Team attending
R-11 or any of the info. presented below? I was informed (by a AFA
team member) in Parowan during the Region 9 comp. the reason why all
five AFA XC team members blew off the Final (Day 7) was to get to the
Region 11 contest in time, perhaps I was misinformed as to the
destination but not the reason for leaving early.

I and others also noticed during the Parowan contest, on one day, all
but one of the five Cadet teams curiously didnt come close to
completing the task. On another day all but one zeroed. I was told the
Cadets were ordered not to exceed a 40 mile distance from the Parowan
airport on one day, negating any possibility of completing the task. I
don’t know what happened the other day. The rumor (?) is the commander
was disciplining the entire team for an individual’s mistake. This
somewhat myopic action was the likely reason the entire Sports class
was devalued that day, affecting all participants, not cool in my
book.

I love seeing the Cadets at the Regional’s but I've questioned in the
past and once again I surly question the AFA commands narrowly focused
mindset and pre-contest preparation at these civilian events. These
fine AFA Cadets have so much they can learn and positively take away
from this civilian contest experience by earnestly taking part from
the beginning to completion of such an event. I find it a bit
disappointing that they seem to be short changed with this unique and
fleeting opportunity. That’s three wasted days out of a seven day
maximum subscribed contest, IM not so HO, One should be all in or all
out.

Respectfully,
21