Well, it's that time of the cadet training year! Our cadet sons have made their decisions and started the application process for their summer training courses. If the process works as they hope and they get their preferred selections they each could be visiting a different province this summer!
Although summer camps are often called "camp", they are in fact training courses. Cadets submit applications in the winter and go through a selection process. Some courses are selected regionally, and some nationally. The national courses are much harder to get into and have a more intensive application process.
Matthew, who became a member of 605 Tarry Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron last fall, will hopefully be selected for General Training. As a new entry into air cadets, and a Level 1 cadet, this is the only summer training course he is eligible for. Air cadet General Training takes place at Cold Lake Cadet Summer Training Centre and is two weeks long. There are three intakes throughout July and August so Matthew could be away any time during that period. General Training covers a little bit of all subjects that air cadets learn - aviation, survival, music, drill, etc. They also tour museums, go on familiarization flights in light aircraft and tour some parts of CFB Cold Lake. Another cool advantage is watching CF-18s and other CF aircraft flying around the base! It's a great introduction to the program for new air cadets!
Michael joined 259 Drylander Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corp this past fall. Having spent three years in Navy League and then joining Sea Cadets, he became eligible to join Sea Cadets at the Phase 2 level, (something that Matthew was not able to do joining Air Cadets, but that was his own personal choice that he was good with). This means that he's able to choose more advanced summer training courses. Michael's first choice is Basic Sail, which would take place at HMCS Ontario Cadet Summer Training Centre at Kingston, Ontario. This course teaches the cadets how to sail small sail boats. It is a three-week course. He has also applied for Basic Seamanship as his second choice. This course teaches general seamanship skills and takes place at HMCS Quadra on Vancouver Island, BC. As Michael's summer experience so far is the one-week Navy League summer camp, this is a big step for him to move up to a three-week course!
Being in Level 4, and 15 years old, Mitchell is eligible to apply for National Courses. This is something he has a little experience with as he was able to apply for the Aircraft Maintenance last year. Unfortunately he wasn't chosen and attended Advanced Aviation at Comox, BC last summer instead. This year he has applied for the Glider Pilot Scholarship as well as Aircraft Maintenance again. As I indicated above, National courses require more time and effort to apply for. It required a narrative letter for each course in which the cadet states why they want to apply for the course and why they are a good candidate. They also submit a copy of their current school report card. In the case of the Glider Pilot Scholarship they also attend Ground School to learn the basic rules and theory of flight and must pass a test at the end of it. This test Mitchell wrote on January 10 and did well, achieving a mark of 70%. The next step is to prepare for Selection Board interviews. These are conducted in Regina at HMCS Queen, and the cadets go before an interview board in full uniform. They are judged on their dress and deportment, and asked questions ranging from their experience in cadets, to current events, to current members of the government, to extracurricular activities. And they attend an interview for each course applied for! So there certainly is a healthy amount of stress involved for Mitchell! He has a third choice on his application as well which is Air Rifle Marksmanship Instructor Course. Mitchell has been on the squadron marksmanship team before and has excelled within the squadron with the air rifle so it's a good choice as well. No matter what course he's selected for there will be a lot of travel. Glider training takes place at Gimli, MB (where he attended Basic Aviation Technology and Aerospace two years ago). Aircraft Maintenance is at Canadore College in North Bay, ON. ARMIC is all the way up at Whitehorse, YT! They are all six-week courses, too!
I certainly wish all the Ms the best of luck in their selections, but they're awesome cadets and have all put a tremendous amount of effort into their duties. That goes a long way in getting these opportunities. Hopefully in about six weeks we'll start to hear some results!
