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REPULSE BAY
A group of Repulse Bay cadets were out on the land to take part in a winter field training exercise this past month.

Repulse Bay cadet Jeffrey Uttak erects a tent pole under the watchful eyes of Jennifer Perry, Loretta Nimiqtaqtuq, Veronica Uttak and Matilda Putulik, from left, during a training exercise on the land near Repulse this past month. - photo courtesy of Marianne den Haan

Cadet corps are expected to conduct at least two field exercises per training year.

Repulse Bay 3055 Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps commanding officer Jennifer Perry said the group was combined of green, red, silver and gold star cadets.

She said the main focus of the exercise was to have the cadets participate in a substantial hike.

"We hiked up past Old Water Lake, about four km, and then set up our campsite," said Perry.

"The red-and-green-star cadets stayed for the day, having a couple of meals with us and playing team games.

"The silver-and-gold-star cadets trained on setting up a camp, living in it and staying overnight.

"We had 25 cadets take part, with 16 staying at the camp overnight."

Perry said this was the first time for most of the cadets to actually hike somewhere before staying overnight on the land.

She said they usually travel to a campsite by Honda, Ski-Doo or boat.

"We packed our backpacks, loaded them onto our backs and walked all the way up there.

"The only thing loaded on trucks and brought to the site were our tents and sleeping bags because we used cadet-issued ones and they're huge.

"But hiking all the way to the camp, and then the whole way back, was a new experience for most of them."

Repulse cadets are used to being on the land, so there's not always a lot for their instructors to teach them.

Perry said the training lessons they found interesting this time out were on radio communications, the phonetic alphabet, call signs and the global positioning system (GPS).

She said although training on the GPS was only new to a few of the cadets, all of them love training with the system.

"We were fortunate to have Marianne den Haan with us for the GPS instruction because she did a lot of it during her university career.

"Our numbers are up to 35 cadets this year, about 80 per cent of whom I'd class as regular attenders.

"So, we're looking forward to a solid year, once again, with our cadet program."

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