ANONYMOUS SUBMISSION – “I think that the whole cadet program needs to figure out what its objective is and to focus on accomplishing it in a way that people will actually enjoy.” --Agreed. And cadets will keep quitting until it does: like this cadet did. Ok so this is basically why I’ve quit cadets: Most cadet corps that I’ve seen prioritize conduct rather than enjoyment. I understand that you should have your uniform pressed, your boots polished and your hat spotless, but I’m not a soldier. This isnt my life. I have a job, I have school, I have things I actually paid for. When people ask why I dont have my boots to a mirror polish, I tell them I didnt have time. Then they ask me if I watched TV this week or did other leisurely activities. Obviously i would have. Then they start to yell at me because if I had time to do that, then I had time to do my uniform. Well guess what? I have been working, and doing a bunch of homework, and I just couldn’t take one more thing. I sat down for an hour and watched TV, screw me, right? Then theres the issue of Cadets taking their ranks to the extreme. Like I’m supposed to worship these kids. Last I checked, you haven’t done anything more than I have other than show up for the past year and a half. Also, you don’t have any actual authority over me, and why should you? These people are like two months older than me, and theyre forcing me to do a bunch of asinine jobs, that they themselves were supposed to do. At least when I’m told to do something by a superior I don’t just pass it off to someone else. The worst I’ve ever done is told my cadets to help me with the job in question. Also, everyone puts such an emphasis on drill and uniform standards, but they never do anything about it if it’s not done. Why would anyone feel the need to do it if they know that they don’t actually have to? Now, some of you might be thinking that I’m just some insubordinate whiner baby. Well I’m not. I’ve never said any of this to any of my POs or CPOs. And it’s not that I don’t care about the program, or think that it’s lame, or boring. It’s that were asked to make all these sacrifices, and we don’t get any reward. But what about camp? what about it? You’re taking an entire summer to make maybe $600. And it’s not that I dislike camp either. But it’s just a fairly big sacrifice when I could make a few thousand dollars instead. I also find that all these problems are multiplied when you go to camp. Anyways, in conclusion, I think that the whole cadet program needs to figure out what its objective is and to focus on accomplishing it in a way that people will actually enjoy. If it’s to prep young people for later military service, then they need to do that. They need to find a minor friendly way of emulating the Canadian forces training. If it’s just an extracurricular activity, then they need to treat it as such and find more fun activities for the cadets (ie, shooting, orienteering, sailing, camping, maybe more camps). The current system just leaves everyone unhappy half of the time.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 19:20:25 +0000