Originally posted by:
ableman
I beg to disagree AP. I have stated this before and I'll state it again. I wholeheartedly believe that the old muster drills went a long way to instill a sense of seriousness in a lot of people (not all of course, there's never a 100% buy-in) that an actual emergency aboard a ship at sea will be a big deal, and they had better pay some attention to what's going on.
Yes, I agree, its hot and uncomfortable having to stand shoulder to shoulder with total strangers for 20-30 minutes in the Miami sun. But it instilled an "awareness" (especially to newbies that are parents with small children) that the newer, more "frivolous" drills do not.
Again, I am not stating this is an absolute. There will always be people who do not take anything seriously. But I will state that I believe if that when actual emergency occurs, a higher percentage of people would display a higher level of situational awareness had they had a more serious muster drill than people whose only experience are the new methods.
I will also state that I believe that anyone on this board will do better than most in an actual onboard emergency, precisely because we've had the benefit of having to endure many of the old muster drills. It's been "imprinted" on us.