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Hello, fellow Whyvillians. It is goten10 here, reporting for something totally
new. How many of you have heard of "Cadet's"? Well, from what
I know, most people think it is a BAD THING. I ask then why they say this, and most of
them say, "Why would I want to join cadets? It's boring and I don't want
to go out and fight for my country. If I were to do that, I'd join the
army, which I'm not going to do." Others say things like, "It's a waste of time, who'd want to dress up in a funny uniform anyways?"
That's where I come in. I want to get this straightened out! For one thing, when
you join cadet's they DO NOT train you for join the military as many people
believe. It is a way to teach young kids self-discipline, and not training for
overseas.
Right now I am in air cadets. This is my 4th year, and I've actually quite
enjoyed it. I am now a Sergeant, as I have been promoted this past week. My
Squadron, 702 Lynx, is in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and is fairly large, with over 100
cadets, and a whole other Squadron within our city. My city has 5 separate
Squadron's.
If you've ever wondered what types of cadets there are, here's a list of them:
Sea, Army, Air, and Medical. It may sound as if they would send you out to war,
but I assure you they won't!
Each respected core/Squadron (these are things we call our whole groups) are what
define the activities we do. Army cadets do many different things; some of them
include going into the bush (in my Squadron we call it "Survival" and everyone
enjoys it) with so to say "skin and bones" equipment. And they provide you with
food. The food they provide is called "rations," which are packages of food that
can be packed away for more than 2-5 years. It may sound sick, but actually it
tastes REALLY GOOD! They also go on trips to perform what their Squadron/core can do,
and they do drill, lots of drill. Drill is following commands of what you do.
For example, attention: you
stand straight up, arms by your side, with fists and thumbs on seams. It may
seem bad, but you get used to it very quickly.
Here I'll describe the different groups; I got this information from the
websites below.
In Sea Cadets, you learn about naval traditions through participation in a
variety of activities on-and-off the water. They specialize in sailing,
seamanship, shipboard life, naval communications, power boat handling, boat
repair, marine engineering, tall ship training and ship deployments. Sea Cadets
can earn a chance to participate in a national sailing regatta or to sail aboard
a tall ship.
In Army cadets, adventure training is one of the many
ways that makes it a challenging program. Through active outdoor
pursuits like trekking, canoeing, rock climbing and survival training, Army
Cadets gain valuable life skills, knowledge of themselves and an awareness of
their environment. Army Cadets also learn about army traditions and participate
in a variety of national and international expeditions that focus on adventure
training, like whitewater rafting, horseback riding and canoeing.
Each year, Army Cadet Adventure Expeditions involving hundreds of cadets are
conducted across Canada. Past expeditions have been held in places like Iceland,
Morocco, Australia and Mexico!!!
In Air Cadets, you do basically the same things as the name, hence you
do flying. They do things such as FAM flying, which is taking a Cessna plane (one with
a motor in it) and a pilot along with maybe a few others -- they take
you up high, and allow you to FLY the plane! Also they do gliding trips (which
is flying a plane without a motor, they also let you fly that, too)! Gliding is one of the more popular aspects of the Air Cadets and it provides
a solid base for learning how to pilot more complicated aircraft. They also
take you on trips for "Survival." Man, is Survival ever fun!
Air Cadets learn about the traditions of the Royal Canadian Air Force, and
participate in flight-related activities. Cadets have a chance to earn
their civilian pilot licenses through the Air Cadet program.
In Medical Cadets, you basically learn about medical things, like what first aid
is and those sort of things. They go on trips as well. They also have a range
for shooting guns -- Daisy rifles, which are basically pellet guns, if you're
worried --
and survival weekends.
All cadet cores get a chance sometime or other to go anywhere within their
respected living area. Cores in Canada travel all over Canada. I myself have
traveled to Edmonton, Vernon and recently to Victoria. All cadet cores get to do this,
not just certain ones, though it depends on how much financial support your
Squadron gets.
Every cadet, no matter what type they are, gets the chance to go into
cadet camp!!! Sounds fun, eh? Well, it is! What you get to do is go somewhere for
a camp -- depending on what camp, you might get to go ALL over Canada/U.S.A./Great Britain, etc. Each camp runs from 2-6
weeks long (7 if you're a staff member). You get
paid $60 a week in Canada -- I'm not quite sure about everywhere else. You get many opportunities to make friends acquire new knowledge and well, just have
FUN.
One day I was walking around Whyville -- well, it wasn't really "walking," but I'm
sure you get the drift -- where I found JuzaQT; we started talking about cadet's. She was telling me about how she was in Air cadets, as
I was, too. We had a nice
little conversation about how cadets work and what we did in both of our
Squadrons. This is some of our conversation that we had:
Why should you join cadets?
Because. It's a GREAT pastime. It's also where I met one of my best friends
ever, 2cute7, who also has Whyville!
What's so great about it?
It's an awesome place to meet new people, get scholarships, and gain leadership
experiences (it looks great on a resume). Me: Its really does!
Literally!
What do you get to do when you join? You don't exactly GET anything.
Me: You get the feeling of being
a leader, actually. You are paid $60 a week for going to camp. And there are
even international exchange camp programs you can be a part of.
Why did you join it?
I just wanted to check it out. A friend asked me to join, and so I went, made
friends and have been in cadets for 3 years!
What things do you do in it?
Let's see, we go on Bush Trips, Auroras, Glider Flying, Camp, Citizenship Trips,
Band Seminars, Parades, Car Washes, Dances, Biathlon, Rifle Coach, First Aid,
Drill Competitions, and LOADS of other stuff.
Who can join it?
Well, anyone.
Where do you join it?
Just ask around at school, find someone who goes to cadets and ask them where
their squadron is. When you go there, you'll be given forms you fill out, and
hand back in. And *poof* you're a cadet.
When do you join it?
You can join ANY time throughout the year (except summer). Question being: When
do you WANT to? RIGHT AWAY!
How old you have to be to join it?
You have to be at LEAST 12.
Thank you very much, JuzaQT, for this little chat with me. I hope many, many, many
of my readers will now rethink what they once knew about cadets. Along with the bottom here I have put the websites of many of the cadet
programs and where you can get a hold of your nearest Squadron.
Cadet's Canada: http://www.cadets.ca/
Air Cadet's Britain: http://www.air-cadets.org/
Australian Cadets: http://www.defence.gov.au/ascs/. The URL wouldn't work for me,
so
it might not for you either.
Cadet's World Wide: http://www.aircadetcentral.com/site/index.asp
US Navel Cadet's: http://www.seacadets.org/
Dutch Sea Cadet's: http://www.zkk.nl/
Australian Sea Cadet's: http://www.anc.adfc.gov.au/
British Navy Cadet's: http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/
Marine Nationale (French Navy): http://www.defense.gouv.fr/marine/
Belgian Navy: http://www.mil.be/navycomp/index.asp?LAN=
One other interesting site you may want to check out is the Duke of Edinburgh's
Award: http://www.dukeofed.org/
This is Goten10 signing out, Peace out!
P.S. If you have any questions about cadet's, email me and I'll try to help you
out with anything that concerns you.
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