How to experience military camraderie? Without joining the army?
July 12, 2015 7:41 AM Subscribe
Looking for ideas on ways to have short, intensive experiences with a group of adults working together towards an (important) shared goal.
It's the interpersonal experience of having a bunch of people thrown in together for a specific shared purpose I'm looking for. The specific milieu or field of study doesn't matter. Could be anything from emergency first aid to trombone camp.
So far I have:
-habitat for humanity projects
-volunteer vacations
-coding boot camps
Needs to have an explicit purpose or a goal that we are all working on either as individual projects or one big collective project.
Versus say a shared "experience" like a travel adventure or tour.
Short! Like 3 months or thereabouts. And full-time.
I.e. Not just volunteering at the local XYZ on Fridays...
Bonus if the outcome was a marketable skill or certification of some kind.
Thank-you!!!
It's the interpersonal experience of having a bunch of people thrown in together for a specific shared purpose I'm looking for. The specific milieu or field of study doesn't matter. Could be anything from emergency first aid to trombone camp.
So far I have:
-habitat for humanity projects
-volunteer vacations
-coding boot camps
Needs to have an explicit purpose or a goal that we are all working on either as individual projects or one big collective project.
Versus say a shared "experience" like a travel adventure or tour.
Short! Like 3 months or thereabouts. And full-time.
I.e. Not just volunteering at the local XYZ on Fridays...
Bonus if the outcome was a marketable skill or certification of some kind.
Thank-you!!!
Ropes course, sailing in bad weather, joining a posse, barn raisings.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 8:06 AM on July 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Mr. Yuck at 8:06 AM on July 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Outward Bound.
posted by theora55 at 8:15 AM on July 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by theora55 at 8:15 AM on July 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
If you have or get the right skills, the Red Cross sends volunteers to disaster areas.
posted by theora55 at 8:15 AM on July 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by theora55 at 8:15 AM on July 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Outdoor education companies like NOLS offer semester-long (i.e. 80 day) courses. Spending 3 months in the wilderness with a group of 14 other people can definitely create a strong sense of camaraderie. The two caveats about NOLS are that their courses are really expensive, and most people in the semester-long programs are probably going to be college-aged, even though officially they're 18+.
posted by colfax at 8:19 AM on July 12, 2015
posted by colfax at 8:19 AM on July 12, 2015
Working on a political campaign can be a little bit like this. You're working extremely long hours with a team of other people, often living in some supporter's spare bedroom, subsisting on pizza and whatever baked goodies random people decide to drop off at the office, and it feels like the fate of the world literally hangs in the balance. Typically, field organizers are young adults: I don't think I've encountered anyone at the entry level who was older than about 25 or so. I assume that's at least partly because older people don't usually apply for intense, poorly-paid, temporary positions, so it can't hurt to try.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 8:28 AM on July 12, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 8:28 AM on July 12, 2015 [7 favorites]
Bike tours. Specifically "Bike and Build" if you want the larger groups and "Habitat for Humanity" flavor.
Volunteering with your Fire, EMS, or CERT is not full time, but provides opportunities to train full-time for a weekend or a week at a time. If you're in Toronto, OVERT will train you for ground search and rescue, technical rescue, and marine rescue. In case of large-scale disaster (e.g., 9/11, hurricanes), you may well be deployed for a week or two at a time.
Having done a bit of EMS and known a bunch of people who went a lot farther into it, I can speak firsthand to the camaraderie that soon develops there. It doesn't take very many overnight shifts to get to know somebody.
posted by d. z. wang at 8:30 AM on July 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Volunteering with your Fire, EMS, or CERT is not full time, but provides opportunities to train full-time for a weekend or a week at a time. If you're in Toronto, OVERT will train you for ground search and rescue, technical rescue, and marine rescue. In case of large-scale disaster (e.g., 9/11, hurricanes), you may well be deployed for a week or two at a time.
Having done a bit of EMS and known a bunch of people who went a lot farther into it, I can speak firsthand to the camaraderie that soon develops there. It doesn't take very many overnight shifts to get to know somebody.
posted by d. z. wang at 8:30 AM on July 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
This kind of experience is exactly why people get hooked on working on political campaigns. You work really, really hard (like, flat-out) with a group of people towards one all-encompassing goal. You get to know people REALLY well on a campaign, warts and all.
If you are in the US and want to work on a campaign for a few months, many campaigns will be hiring field organizers next summer. (If you don't want to wait, many cities have municipal elections this year - not as many paid positions but you could certainly volunteer full-time)
posted by lunasol at 8:32 AM on July 12, 2015 [3 favorites]
If you are in the US and want to work on a campaign for a few months, many campaigns will be hiring field organizers next summer. (If you don't want to wait, many cities have municipal elections this year - not as many paid positions but you could certainly volunteer full-time)
posted by lunasol at 8:32 AM on July 12, 2015 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Independent theater or musical production, or performing in these shows. Very much can feel "like a family" (except everyone is having fun mostly), if you choose the right group.
posted by amtho at 8:38 AM on July 12, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by amtho at 8:38 AM on July 12, 2015 [7 favorites]
Work for a startup.
posted by deathpanels at 8:54 AM on July 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by deathpanels at 8:54 AM on July 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Greenpeace and other environmental activist groups. I visited a Greenpeace ship at dock in San Diego. These folks live on board for months at a time. Made me think of navy life.
posted by Jim_Jam at 9:47 AM on July 12, 2015
posted by Jim_Jam at 9:47 AM on July 12, 2015
Best answer: It's the interpersonal experience of having a bunch of people thrown in together for a specific shared purpose I'm looking for.
Live event production (setting up, operating, and tearing down stage, audio, video, and lighting equipment for concerts, non-profit fundraisers, corporate parties, etc etc) can be like this. This is what I do, and while there's a core group of company employees, almost every gig involves interacting with a different group of subcontractors, stagehands, band crew, venue and event staff and organizers.
(On-location catering or other support work (tents, tables, chairs, decorations) for these kind of events I think can also have an element of this. I suspect also film production - although I don't really have any first-hand experience working catering or film.)
Short! Like 3 months or thereabouts. And full-time.
AFAIK, pretty much anywhere with serious seasonal weather (winter and/or cold and/or heavy rains) will have a ton of live event production work in the spring & summer when the weather is nice. And if the weather is pretty pleasant year-round, companies that do this work often have busy seasons centered around tourism, when tons of people come to the area to escape winter in their hometowns.
"Full-time" kinda depends, though. If you mean 40+ hours a week, it can be easy to clock 40 hours in three or four days. But in the U.S. a lot of people who do this work are technically independent contractors, hired per gig (maybe paid hourly, maybe paid a flat day rate) and wouldn't actually be officially "hired" full-time unless they have demonstrable technical skills and/or lots of experience. So they wouldn't get the benefits of full-time employment in the U.S., like company health insurance and tax withholding and the company paying part of the Social Security/Medicare taxes.
Bonus if the outcome was a marketable skill or certification of some kind.
Depending on the events you work, you can eventually become eligible to join the stagehand's union, IATSE. Otherwise, the industry generally really isn't big on official training or certification, but experience counts for a lot. The more experience you have, the more likely you are to be called for gigs, and you can pick up technical skills on the job that will increase your pay and hire-ability.
posted by soundguy99 at 11:40 AM on July 12, 2015
Live event production (setting up, operating, and tearing down stage, audio, video, and lighting equipment for concerts, non-profit fundraisers, corporate parties, etc etc) can be like this. This is what I do, and while there's a core group of company employees, almost every gig involves interacting with a different group of subcontractors, stagehands, band crew, venue and event staff and organizers.
(On-location catering or other support work (tents, tables, chairs, decorations) for these kind of events I think can also have an element of this. I suspect also film production - although I don't really have any first-hand experience working catering or film.)
Short! Like 3 months or thereabouts. And full-time.
AFAIK, pretty much anywhere with serious seasonal weather (winter and/or cold and/or heavy rains) will have a ton of live event production work in the spring & summer when the weather is nice. And if the weather is pretty pleasant year-round, companies that do this work often have busy seasons centered around tourism, when tons of people come to the area to escape winter in their hometowns.
"Full-time" kinda depends, though. If you mean 40+ hours a week, it can be easy to clock 40 hours in three or four days. But in the U.S. a lot of people who do this work are technically independent contractors, hired per gig (maybe paid hourly, maybe paid a flat day rate) and wouldn't actually be officially "hired" full-time unless they have demonstrable technical skills and/or lots of experience. So they wouldn't get the benefits of full-time employment in the U.S., like company health insurance and tax withholding and the company paying part of the Social Security/Medicare taxes.
Bonus if the outcome was a marketable skill or certification of some kind.
Depending on the events you work, you can eventually become eligible to join the stagehand's union, IATSE. Otherwise, the industry generally really isn't big on official training or certification, but experience counts for a lot. The more experience you have, the more likely you are to be called for gigs, and you can pick up technical skills on the job that will increase your pay and hire-ability.
posted by soundguy99 at 11:40 AM on July 12, 2015
I am unsure why you ask for the sort of relationships one experiences in the military. When I was in the army, years ago, we had this saying:
When you transfer to a different post, you end both debts and friendships.
posted by Postroad at 1:28 PM on July 12, 2015
When you transfer to a different post, you end both debts and friendships.
posted by Postroad at 1:28 PM on July 12, 2015
Here in Austin we have something called the Austin Panic Room
http://www.austinpanicroom.com
You work with 5-7 others to solve puzzles and escape the room in less than one hour. It's a quick and fun team building exercise.
posted by quincunx at 2:55 PM on July 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
http://www.austinpanicroom.com
You work with 5-7 others to solve puzzles and escape the room in less than one hour. It's a quick and fun team building exercise.
posted by quincunx at 2:55 PM on July 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Help build a working historic railroad track or construct adjacent buildings for the railroad museum in Alna, Maine (they actually used volunteers from the US army for some of it):
http://wwfry.org/?page_id=28
http://www.wiscassetnewspaper.com/article/wiscasset-waterville-farmington-railway-museum-seeks-volunteers/51591
posted by Sa Dec at 3:41 PM on July 12, 2015
http://wwfry.org/?page_id=28
http://www.wiscassetnewspaper.com/article/wiscasset-waterville-farmington-railway-museum-seeks-volunteers/51591
posted by Sa Dec at 3:41 PM on July 12, 2015
A lot of good ideas here, and I wanna second theater especially. It's definitely not like the military, but it's hard work with a very clear goal, everybody bonds in a hurry, it's great fun, and theater geeks can be some of the best geeks you will ever meet.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:50 PM on July 12, 2015
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:50 PM on July 12, 2015
A writing workshop/boot camp?
posted by SisterHavana at 4:28 PM on July 12, 2015
posted by SisterHavana at 4:28 PM on July 12, 2015
Not exactly short-term but not long-term either. Surgical residency training--anywhere from 4-7 years of intense training with a close knit group/team.
posted by scalespace at 8:17 PM on July 12, 2015
posted by scalespace at 8:17 PM on July 12, 2015
Work in a pizza shop on Super Bowl Sunday.
posted by serena15221 at 8:47 PM on July 12, 2015
posted by serena15221 at 8:47 PM on July 12, 2015
On a real estate show today, I saw something called Beach Boot Camp, this was on the Atlantic coast near Myrtle Beach. Lots of ropes, tugging, running, games, strengthening, camaraderie, yelling, fun, for people who like that kind of thing.
posted by Oyéah at 9:24 PM on July 12, 2015
posted by Oyéah at 9:24 PM on July 12, 2015
Leftfield suggestion: nordic larp
Maybe this game particularly:
http://legion.rolling.cz/
posted by Erberus at 1:10 AM on July 13, 2015
Maybe this game particularly:
http://legion.rolling.cz/
posted by Erberus at 1:10 AM on July 13, 2015
Seconding (thirding?) amtho and chapps. If you don't want to perform, working backstage at a community theater is a fun, fully-engaging experience and you'll get use/learn skills like set design, construction, light design, electronics, sound etc.
posted by Geameade at 11:04 AM on July 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Geameade at 11:04 AM on July 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
Sail training.
posted by makeitso at 7:30 AM on July 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by makeitso at 7:30 AM on July 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
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