TISDALE 鈥� The #624 Tisdale Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron seen a successful year, with both individual membership achievements and an overall growth of the squadron.
For the past year, the numbers of first-year cadets joining has doubled.
鈥淭here were eight or nine first-years. This is usually not the case. It鈥檚 normally one to five,鈥� said Mike Benjamin, commanding officer (CO) of the squadron. 鈥淪o that鈥檚 pretty cool.鈥�
He believes this boost is from the cadets themselves.
鈥淭hem talking to their friends, telling them how much fun they鈥檙e having and us being more in the public eye now a little bit, is definitely the case,鈥� Benjamin said. 鈥淭he minimum age to join cadets is 12 and that鈥檚 where we saw the number increase this year.鈥�
These numbers were shown as the squadron held their annual ceremonial review on June 5. The review serves to give awards and promotions to the cadets due to their hard work throughout the year.
Carrot River Valley MLA Fred Bradshaw was present as the cadets鈥� reviewing officer.
This was Benjamin鈥檚 first annual ceremonial review since becoming CO of the squadron about two weeks prior.
鈥淯p until now I鈥檝e been the training officer. So this was my first one as the CO and it went really well. We had some good opportunities to recognize the cadets for the good work that they鈥檝e done all year.鈥�
In the highlights from the year, Benjamin reflected back on taking the cadets to two field training exercises to Camp Saskadet.
鈥淭his was always a blast and this year we did some really good training with the kids out there.鈥�
Another highlight for him was their flight introduction.
鈥淲e actually took them out for a gliding day, and the gliding centre is actually based out of Tisdale for the next five years, so it鈥檚 nice to have the training centre local.鈥�
A final highlight for Benjamin was three of the cadets this year receiving national level training for this summer. One of which will be training to earn their pilot鈥檚 license.
鈥淕iving three cadets a national level course was huge for our squadron. It鈥檚 not something that happens very often. So that was a big event for us.鈥�
Next year, he is planning to do an introductory scuba diving type experience for the cadets.
鈥淪o that鈥檚 one of the additions we鈥檙e going to be doing,鈥� Benjamin said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e also looking at expanding our music program, our drill program, our marksmanship program, so there is quite a bit in the planning stages.鈥�
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Awards 听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听
Top Cadet Level 1听听听 Lac. Tomas Baptist
Top Cadet Level 2听听听 Cpl. Samuel Benjamin
Top Cadet Level 3听听听 F/Cpl. Caitlyn Blythe
Top Cadet Level 4 听听听 F/Sgt. Rachael Benjamin
Top Cadet Level 5 听听听 Wo2. Nathaniel Lewis
CO Award Most Proficient Senior Cadet听听听 F/Sgt. Rachael Benjamin
RCMP Best Senior Marksman听听听 Wo1. Anna Nahosha
RCMP Best Junior Marksman听听听 Cpl. Samuel Benjamin
Esprit de Corps听听听 F/SGT. Cole Roszell
Esprit de Corps听听听 F/SGT. Keenan Roszell
Esprit de Corps听听听 F/Sgt. Rachael Benjamin
Top Uniform听听听 F/Sgt. Cole Roszell
Top Uniform听听听 F/Sgt. Keenan Roszell
Ray Baumgartner Memorial 鈥� Citizenship听听听 F/Sgt. Rachael Benjamin
Morgan Phillips Memorial - Most Improved听听听 Cpl. Kade Aseltine
