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The Cadet Experience
My name is Michelle I am 14 years old and I would like to tell you a bit about my experience as a sea cadet.
I joined the Airdrie and Coatbridge sea cadets when I was 12 years old. We have two parades a week on a Monday and Wednesday night. During my time in cadets I have made many friends from all over Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North of England.
Our unit is a smaller unit but is in no way at a disadvantage as this allows us to have more concentrated lessons and we can often complete tasks and qualifications at a faster pace than we may in a large unit. Another advantage of being in a smaller unit is the staff can take the time to help us on a more one to one basis if the need arises.
Work within the unit includes, drilling, evolutions, clocks and watches as well as our tasks books which we must complete. In the boating season we go canoeing at a local loch which is free of charge and again a qualification can be gained. We participate in area swimming competitions as well as the area football competitions. We have parties in the festive season and Halloween takes on a whole new meaning of the word in our unit. At present we only have two female cadets but this in no way makes us feel awkward as we are all a very close team.
While I have been in the sea cadets I have gained many qualifications and life skills that I could not gain anywhere else at my age; some of which are seamanship, writer stores, competent crew and camp craft. During district camp last summer I was able to complete part of my Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award by participating in an expedition, this involved a 24k walk and camping out over night in a bivvi.
Earlier this year I was promoted from cadet to ordinary cadet and I am hoping to be promoted again later this year to able cadet. With each promotion there also comes some more responsibility and this has given me more pride and confidence within myself.
Being a sea cadet is far from boring, as not only do we have the opportunity to attend sea cadet camps where we can gain many qualifications but we are also allowed to
attend marine cadet camps too. Here we can gain qualifications in shooting, map reading and navigation as well as weapons handling. In total there is the opportunity to attend a combination of around 15 camps which run between February/March and October each year. Although there is no pressure to attend camps once you have experienced your first camp you cannot wait for the next one to come round.
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