Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Arviat (Dec 12/01) - Arviat's 2992 Royal Canadian Cadet Corps has been rejuvenated.

The corps has been on probation for the past three years, mainly due to a lack of civilian instructors.

Warrant Officer Wayne Jure showed up in hamlet senior administrator Darren Flynn's office this past March.

Jure delivered a letter notifying Flynn the corps was going to be shutdown in September.

Flynn asked the warrant officer to wait in his office a few moments. He then walked across the road and talked to his friends, Ron Locke and Dave Pike.

"I told them the dilemma we were facing and that cadets is a good program for our youth we didn't want to lose," says Flynn.

"I was willing to jump in to save the program and they agreed to sign up as well. Dave had to step down after being assigned as a justice of the peace, so, right now, we have three instructors."

Due to the lack of instructors, there were rarely more than 12 kids turn out on any given night during the past three years.

The first night this year saw 20 show up and it's grown to an average of more than 40 a night.

Flynn says Jan Gill has been the commanding officer for the past four years and deserves most of the credit for the corps' rejuvenation. "We even managed to get a drill team together to take part in the annual inspection this past month.

"There's been a lot of support pledged to us through Northern headquarters and we're looking at doing some joint exercises with the Rankin Inlet Corps to keep the interest alive."

A chain of command is required, so Gill had to promote three cadets to sergeants, making each responsible for a section.

As the cadets develop, ranks such as corporal and master corporal will also be brought along.

"The whole program is primarily based on kids teaching kids, with their instructors helping out along the way. You have to have a rank structure for that to be organized," Flynn says.