Great feedback!
I think it is totally ethical to pose as a real situation. My strongest argument for this is the realization of it actually happening. There are psychological barriers in running announced drills. I believe it is impotent to have your staff feel that emotion and if possible debrief the feelings and how important it is to maintain the order of the camp.
An example of this could be a lost swimmer drill. The raw emotion that could come over the staff in a real drill will make sure they take each drill with the utmost responsibility. With always knowing of the practice drill, if something did arise that the staff would have already had that feeling once of "OHHH MYYY GODDDDDDDD!". Not that the feeling of that will go away ever in any situation but will hopefully contribute to their actions in maintaining order if a real situation did arise.
Also with that, I believe the aquatics staff, especially young and inexperienced, doesn't totally comprehend the true responsibility of their job. This is a general statement of coarse but I have seen many examples of this and they must be corrected right away. Some younger people get certified and think their responsibilities are getting a tan. Can you tell i'm a waterfront director? :-)
With that said, I would say a real drill can be very emotionally draining. If you do put one in place I think it would be best for early in the season and definitely debrief it as soon as you can. This will set a standard for the season.
Might I add this is a great topic of discussion!
