Qualified army cadets can land government jobs and free summer travel(Image from a public domain photo by holgi/Pixabay)
Cadets Canada offers summer jobs each year to Canadian youth from all over the country. Today, my oldest army cadet traveled close to 4,000 km across the country, headed for a staff cadet job at a summer camp in Ontario. She joins a group the adult staff at the camp like to call “Canada’s finest,” ready to face the challenge of providing instruction, supervision and support services to the thousands of younger cadets who will arrive at camp next week.
A job as a staff cadet is one of the best summer jobs a young person can hope to get. A qualified army cadet as young as age 16 benefits from a coveted government job, working for the Department of National Defence. It’s a fun job, despite being quite demanding. It’s also a chance to earn money while travelling and to meet other army cadets from all over Canada. What an adventure! And boy, does it look great on a resume! So much better than a summer job flipping burgers . . .
It may seem extraordinary for a teen as young as 16 to be working so far away from home. But Cadets Canada structures its summer camp programs so our sons and daughters gradually work up to a long stay away from home. There is plenty of time to get used to travelling without Mom and Dad, and to being away from home for ever-increasing periods of time.
During the first year, at about age 12 or 13, a cadet is only gone for 10 days. Subsequent summer camps last 3 weeks and then 6 weeks. By the time your child gets a summer job as a staff cadet at one of the camps, she will probably have attended 2 or 3 sessions of 6 weeks at camps that specialize in teaching fitness, leadership and survival skills, marksmanship, military drill, or music. She will be used to the daily routine at camp and the expectations of the staff cadets and officers. You won’t believe how confident and independent she becomes, by the time she turns 16!
Getting emotional when your teen leaves for a government job at a cadet summer camp
Please pin and share on your social networks – help other sentimental parents to cope!
(Image from a public domain graphic by monreal312)
First of all, stock up on Kleenex! It isn’t easy to let even our oldest children leave for an entire summer away at camp. My MamaOzzy is almost 19 years old and is attending her 7th consecutive summer camp with the cadet program. She has logged more than 20,000 km of travel throughout Atlantic Canada, the Central region, British Columbia, and even “North of 60” in the Yukon. Do you know what? I still get teary-eyed when I talk about her going away!
Years of training as army cadets may help our kids mature and grow into some of the finest young leaders Canada will see. Unfortunately, Cadets Canada doesn’t have any programming to help parents overcome our sentimentality when it comes time to say goodbye for the summer!
The most important piece of advice I can offer to other parents whose young cadets are leaving home for summer camp is to trust that they’re in good hands and to not worry if they don’t call home very much. Many of the summer training programs involve overnight expeditions and, even when cadets are staying on the base, there isn’t much time for making phone calls.
Do equip your young cadet with a long distance calling card or cell phone to use during her travels, but don’t be surprised if you only hear from her a couple of times while she’s away. This is especially true once she qualifies for a job as a staff cadet. Remember that it may be called camp, but a position as a staff cadet is a serious government job. Staff cadets often work long hours – including overnight and on weekends. Your cadet will eventually call home – as they all do. Just don’t be worried if the first call isn’t for a day or two after she sets out for camp!
Original content © 2016 Kyla Matton Osborne
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View Comments
@Ruby3881
Was this the first time that your daughter travelled that far without you? Was she alone or were there others with her? I marvel at your decision to let your 16 year old take on this challenge. Kudos to you. No doubt your daughter will be back with more confidence.
@bestwriter My daughter has been travelling like this since she was 12. She is now almost 19, and this is her third summer as a staff cadet.
There are often other cadets on the flight with her, though when she has a staff position she does usually make at least one leg of the journey alone. There is always a military officer at each stop to meet her and see her on her way again. If she ever failed to make a check-in at one of those points, we would hear from the movement officer right away. But the kids are very good at travelling because of cadets. I never worry about her arriving safely.
I do think this is the furthest she has travelled with cadets. But she has been to that particular installation several years ago when we were living much closer to it. And it's definitely not the first time she's had several thousand kilometres to travel. The past two summers, she made a long voyage to Canada's north to work at a camp in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.
My middle daughter left in the wee hours of Sunday morning for her own camp. She put in a good bit of travel too, though in her case it was partially because she was on chartered buses and planes that are making multiple stops to pick up more cadets. She travelled from 2 am to about 10 pm of the same day, before she arrived at her destination. If she'd travelled in a straight line, she would have arrived in about half that time.
I think this might have been the program my husband was in when he was 16 and living in Canada. That was back in the 1950's. He says he was a cadet, but describes it more like summer training. He says they trained n summer but could have been called into service if needed during the rest of the year. Sounds like a great opportunity for Canadian young people. You must be a proud mama.
Barb, that sounds more like the militia, or reserves. Most of our reservists train one night a week, one weekend a month, and then for about 6 weeks in summer. Many of the young cadets do eventually join either the reserves or the regular forces once they are old enough. They can join at 16 with parental consent, or at 18 on just their own consent. There is also the Royal Military College, which offers young people a university education during the school year and then puts them to work, with the rank of Officer Cadet, during the summer. These young people are considered reservists as well.
The cadet program is mostly about training during the school year. The summer training is an earned privilege. I believe at this point, about 1 in 3 cadets will be offered summer training for anywhere from 10 days to 6 weeks. Staff cadet positions are even more precious because the young people work for the government and are paid to attend the camp session.
Cadets are not part of the military, and cannot be called into service. There are a number of cadets who do choose to join the military upon ageing out, but it's not required. My MamaOzzy is planning to take her recommended time off in order to attend to her studies; she then wants to return first as a civilian instructor, and then as an officer with the Cadet Instructor Cadre.
Yes, I am a very proud Mama!
Although those ages are quiet young I am sure any parent would worry about their child being sent off to camp with a bunch of people and being far away. But I think this is a terrific program and surely it helps to mature these young adults into fine respectable adults. I think letting them call their parents once in a while is a must, I know i would be worried sick if they did not let them call me, they must be brave little ones and so must the parents. We have something similar to this in the USA and it is truly amazing the changes it does for these kids.
Angel, I wasn't aware the US had a similar program. I know about ROTC but it seems like that's quite different. I've actually been told by many Americans that they wish there was a cadet program like ours in the US.
I also wanted to reassure you: cadets are allowed to call home whenever they have liberty - which is usually several hours after supper Monday - Saturday, and all day on Sundays. They may or may not be allowed to keep a mobile phone with them during training, depending on the rules of their particular camp and course. But they are always given the phones back while on liberty, and there are pay phones they can use when they have the time.
Kids are just very busy at camp - especially staff cadets! Many times they arrive late on their travelling day and so cannot call home that day. But by the time our young cadets go to camp even the first time, parents are used to them travelling with other cadets for shorter field training exercises. We know they're in good hands, between the senior cadets and all the adult staff. They all watch out for the younger ones especially, and there is ALWAYS a phone call home if a cadet is even late for a regular training night at the local headquarters.
The cadet program is a really safe place for our kids to make friends, learn new skills, and mature into exceptional adults. They have everything at their disposal to become, truly, Canada's finest young people.
There are camps for thee disabled that are fantastic. I do not understand why they have to be so expensive. Even with a scholarship it could cost 600 dollars.
Yes, some camps for children and adults with disabilities do charge a lot of money. I would assume their operating expenses are very high. They have to have far more staff - and staff that are highly trained, unlike most summer camps who simply hire 18-year-olds who've been campers themselves a few times.
They also need to have much more extensive medical facilities and staff who can cope with very specific medical and personal care needs such as the care of urinary catheters or administration of insulin. Like the cadet camps my daughters attend and work at, disability camps are a very special type of facility. This certainly explains in part why they are so expensive.