North West Cadets in Canada
Each year Cadets Branch, HQ Army Regional Command, in conjunction with the Royal Canadian Army Cadet (RCAC) organisation, manages an International Cadet Exchange.
Three groups of 13 UK ACF and CCF cadets travelled with their two adult leaders to three Canadian Cadet Camps in New Brunswick (Argonaut), Yukon Territory (Whitehorse) and Alberta (Rocky Mountain). The UK were fully integrated, with hundreds of cadets from all over Canada enjoying a challenging annual camp programme from 9 July to 21 August 2016. Canadian cadets also visited the UK.
Rocky Mountain
Cadet Leadership & Mountain Course, Alberta. Exercise areas: Rockies, glaciers, rivers and mountains. Transit through Calgary; sightseeing in Banff and Calgary included during the course.
Whitehorse
Cadet Expedition Instructor Course, Yukon Territory. Exercise areas: Yukon and rivers. Transit through Vancouver; local sightseeing included during the course.
Argonaut
Cadet Expedition Instructor Course, Gagetown Camp, Fredericton, New Brunswick. Including sightseeing in Bay of Fundy and Prince Edward Island during the course.
Training and experience was provided in a variety of subjects from Watermanship, Wilderness First Aid, Hiking, Bike Maintenance and riding skills, Abseiling, Rock Climbing, Marksmanship and Canoeing. The courses also included an element of Drill, Citizenship and Community activities and physical fitness. At Whitehorse and Argonaut the course included a 30 hour solo exercise as well as an 18 day team expedition.
UK cadets were chosen by application and selection assessment event held in March 2016, organised by HQ Regional Command. The cadets were challenged and stretched throughout the programme and gained new skills and confidence as well as life skills. All of them represented the UK cadet movement well and several were individually commended by their Canadian hosts. All of them graduated successfully. Lieutenant-General PF Wynnyk, Commander of the Canadian Army, took the salute at the 2016 Whitehorse Cadet Graduation Class.
ACF Training Advisor, Col Clinton Riley, said: “It’s great for the young people to have this life-changing adventure. Building on this year’s exchanges, Lt Col Jimmy Beggs, who has recently been appointed OC Regional Command Exchanges, already has plans in hand to expand the opportunities for our Cadets.”
The cadets have now returned home buoyed up after what for many was the experience of a lifetime, ready to return to school, college , university or the world of work. We caught up with some of our North West Cadets who told us about the experience.
Cdt Sgt Emily Hoyle, Levenshulme Detachment, Greater Manchester ACF – Whitehorse 
“It’s really difficult to pick a favourite moment from the six weeks as there were so many memorable and enjoyable moments. The views throughout the biking were memorable and made the uphills worth it, with the MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) only tainting it slightly. The music from Cpl Black’s truck at the rear kept spirits high even during the hardest parts of the biking and everyone in Bravo team was pulling together.
“The next phase, the hiking, also brought some spectacular views, especially from the summit of Mount McIntyre. The rucks proved uncomfortable at points but Disney tunes from the front and moments like Maddy landing on her back pulled everyone through.
“Finally, the canoeing phase brought its own set of new challenges, especially surrounding teamwork and communication with your canoe partner. The first part of the first day proved the most difficult and we very rapidly had to work out how to steer the canoe on choppy water – improvements through the week were evident.
“Overall the 18 days was thoroughly enjoyable, as well as bringing new challenges with seemingly constant laughter and just having all round great fun. A truly amazing six weeks.”
Cdt Sgt Ben Wilson, Kirkham and Weeton Detachment, Lancashire ACF – Whitehorse 
Throughout my whole six week experience in Canada I have learnt and experienced many new things. My most memorable and favourite activity was canoeing on the 18-day expedition, however, I really enjoyed the 36-hour solo exercise. Canoeing was one of my favourite activities as the views were outstanding, the water was crystal clear and turquoise of colour, and we also got to see wildlife such as bald eagles and beavers. The whole canoeing stage lasted five days and within this time we also visited Moktuck dog kennel which is home to over 120 sled dogs, we did some work around the kennel then took the dogs for a walk, watching how powerful these dogs are and how clever they are was amazing. This whole six-week course has been an opportunity of a lifetime and have loved every minute of it. For anyone who loves adventure and surprise this is the course for you!
Cdt S/Sgt Henry Greaves, Kings School Chester CCF – Rocky Mountain
My first week on camp was the Rock Climbing cycle. It was an awesome week. This was the first full week at the camp after a few rest days recovering from the long flight from London. The first cycle day was spent doing PT tests and safety briefings. This would later decide the groups for our future activities. Rock was a great cycle. Although it rained pretty much the whole week we had fun and did some really good rock climbing. I learnt skills in movement, weight distribution, belaying and multi-pitch climbing. The next three days of the cycle were pretty similar with the last day being rained off forcing us to do a high ropes course instead. Overall it was an amazing week.
The kayaking was definitely one of the top cycles. With limited white water kayaking experience, and hearing the ‘horror’ stories from the eight other Brits who had already completed the cycle, I was slightly on the worried side but it turned out to be an amazing week.
The first two days were spent mainly in the water practicing rescuing yourself, a buddy and generally trying not to drown which was quite accurate of the stories gone before.
The next three were spent out of camp covering around 20km of the Red Deer River, including lovely rapids with inviting names like “Black Mamba” “Twin Fang Falls” and “Shark Tooth”, the best of these being “double edge” with a 70% flip rate which was amazing to go down and complete
Overall the cycle was less scary than expected with less flipping and a lower water level than the last few weeks gone by allowing for a more enjoyable time. The best and most rewarding cycle so far!
Cdt CSgt Chloe Cowan, Kings School Chester CCF – Rocky Mountain 
Starting with a lovely 0600hrs PT (Physical Training) session on Monday morning after a relaxed weekend of a British group day out to Lake Louise and the Sulphur hot springs on Saturday and the Freedom of Banff Parade on Sunday, we were split into our new groups for this week’s cycle: Rock Climbing. Cdt Sgt Thomas Morgan of Drumahoe Detachment, Northern Ireland, WO1 Jay Moore and I were put into the same group along with five other French-only speaking cadets for the week. This was daunting at first for the other two (being basic French speakers) but for myself proved very useful as I was able to practice my French language, especially during my leadership position. Our first stop was the rock walls at Yam Bluffs where we learnt the basics of the climbing techniques (edging and smearing), knotting (the figure eight knot) and belaying. The importance of being able to correctly carry out all these techniques and drills is paramount during climbing as safety is obviously a big concern when one is climbing up a rock face several metres off the ground. Once the instructors were satisfied with us and our setups we began our first climbs of the week, which proved to be brilliant fun. The next day we travelled to the walls of Zygote, and were introduced to the use of quick draws (clips that attach to the rock wall to aid us in keeping on route) and rappelling (aka abseiling), which is how to lower yourself properly from the top of a wall. The week is designed so that each day builds on the next – the skills that we learn on day 1 are transferrable to day 2, and so forth. We were then able to practice our climbing on more difficult rock faces. I was vaguely apprehensive about the mountain biking cycle as the last time I went mountain biking (several years ago) it ended extremely badly with me having a severe injury, going over the handlebars after hitting a rock at high speed going down a very steep hill. Nevertheless it became apparent that speed was not the important aspect for this cycle – skills and safety were. After being split up into groups, we were introduced to the ‘attack stance’ – the stance by which you are the most secure and steady on your bike when going downhill, so that you avoid such ridiculously dangerous instances as I have described above. During Day 1 we were also taught the importance of gears, tight turning and carving. We each took a small assessment on a trail on camp to determine our final groups for the rest of the week, and fortunately I was placed in a group with fellow Brits Cdt Sgt Thomas Morgan and our Escort Officer Lt Matt Sanders. The morning of Day 2 saw us being taught the mechanics of the bicycle and how to repair various aspects of it. This was in preparation for another assessment on Day 4. We were taught how to change a tyre, how to change the brake pads, how to break and put back together a chain, and how to adjust the derailleur. We then headed out of camp on our bikes and practiced our skills on various trails, only to be slightly interrupted by a massive torrential rainstorm. However, this didn’t put us off our biking – in fact our group very much embraced the rain and ended up having a great time – especially when Lt Sanders and his bike ended up getting mightily stuck in a knee-deep puddle. For Day 3 we headed to the Canmore Nordic Centre and spend the day riding along some amazingly fun trails to further increase our confidence and skills. The weather was great, as were the views of Rundle Mountain around us when we stopped for lunch. The week’s work had us prepared to do our mechanical assessment and to also climb Yate’s Mountain (next to Barrier Lake) on our bike for our final day, Day 4. This was an incredibly hard day in terms of climbing the mountain, as for several hours we were essentially only going uphill. Despite being the most physically demanding day of the week, we made it to the top before lunch and were greeted by some great views of the lake below us. After lunch, as a finish for the week, we all biked down the mountain, which was a million times more fun as it took a fraction of the time, and of course was downhill. Overall another brilliant week, but definitely one that was one of the more physically demanding.
Of course it is impossible to pick one single favourite moment from this summer, however, among many, one of the best experiences that we were fortunate enough to have was being able to go the Calgary Stampede on our first R&R day of the camp. Beforehand I had absolutely no idea what to expect, but in short the Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, festival and massive fair. After only being in Canada for a week, being suddenly exposed to the massively different Canadian culture in its entirety was a vague shock to say the least.
After walking around all the fair rides and exhibitions we bought tickets to the rodeo, which is deemed to be the most famous of its kind in the world, and watched several rounds of bronc riding and steer wrestling, where cowboys fought to stay on bucking horses and wrestled baby calves to the ground as quickly as possible. It was interesting and honestly fairly shocking – none of us Brits had ever really seen anything like it. One of the more peculiar experiences of the day was definitely the Canadian public’s reaction to us British cadets – which in hindsight wasn’t terribly surprising as we were a large group walking around wearing our British military pattern uniform. We were stopped several times for photos and even a couple of autographs. We also were able to try out some food typical of Canada/North America. We tried the classic Canadian dish poutine, funnel cake, some brilliant ribs and root beer (which, be warned, is disgusting – it tastes like tooth paste).
Overall it was a really enjoyable day – a good chance to get off base and a wonderful opportunity to experience Canadian culture.
Cdt LCpl Daniel Stone, AKS CCF – Argonaut
The selection process for Argonaut involved two stages, at a regional level and also at a national level. Both of these required the cadets to demonstrate a high level of fitness, complete various leadership tasks and all of the cadets were interviewed. This process resulted in twelve cadets being chosen to travel to Canada for six weeks and undergo the Expedition Instructor course.
The expedition Instructor course involved an eighteen day expedition during which we would kayak the St. John River through Gagetown, canoe the St. Croix river which traversed the border between Canada and America, and hike the Fundy Footpath which overlooked the Bay of Fundy. This expedition proved to be difficult at some points with the added challenge of leading a team. The scenery was outstanding and was certainly one of the aspects of the course that I will never forget. Also during the Expedition Instructor course there were many other opportunities such as abseiling, cultural tour and taking a leadership role.
Overall the experience was enjoyable and interesting, it had some memorable moments and I have definitely learned some lessons. I think it’s safe to say that during the course I have made friendships that will stay with me for a long time.
