Cadets train up for challenge
Tent-raising, tripod-lashing among required skills for youth
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, September 10, 2015
LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
Seven youth are training hard to come out winners at the upcoming Army Cadet Challenge in Edmonton.
Warrant Officer Charles Blondin practises his groupings in the Thomas Simpson Secondary School gymnasium in preparation for the approaching Army Cadet Challenge. - April Hudson/NNSL photo
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The challenge runs from Sept. 25 to 27 at Canadian Forces Base Edmonton, where cadets will complete a series of tasks including erecting tents and lighting stoves.
The Fort Simpson Cadet Corp 2860 team includes warrant officers Charles Blondin and William Alger, Master Cpl. Teagan Hardisty, Master Cpl. Trenton Diamond-C, Cpl. Tanisha Grace and Cpl. Shaznay Waugh.
Sgt. Sky Lennie is slated to accompany them as a staff member and civilian instructor Michael Athey is scheduled to attend as their escort.
Capt. Steve Nicoll said the competition requires participation from first, second, third and fourth-year cadets and will give them a chance to demonstrate their skills, rather than their athleticism, which is showcased in other tournaments. Tasks include putting up a five-person Arctic tent, setting up a hooch tent, lashing poles together to form a tripod and improvising a pulley on the bottom to raise a weight, as well as leadership and navigation tasks.
They will also be demonstrating their marksmanship, with younger cadets shooting air rifles and third- and fourth-year cadets firing C7 rifles.
The team will be training hard over the next two weeks, but Nicoll said that has been made more difficult by the busy time of year.
"There is a lot going on. Kids are off to culture camps, but whether or not we have everybody in town we're just going to roll on," he said.
On Sept. 6, Blondin and Alger met with Nicoll at Thomas Simpson Secondary School to practise their air rifle shooting. Blondin has been named team captain in charge of leadership for the challenge and Alger is second-in-command responsible for giving orders, counting equipment and managing situations.
Alger said the cadets are familiar with many of the tasks they will be performing, especially erecting tents, which they do on a regular basis during winter exercises.
One thing they will not be familiar with is a two-burner Coleman stove, which Blondin will have to light after the tent goes up.
"We're not using the stove we're used to. Because (Blondin) has more recently updated familiarity with it, I trust him on that (task)," Alger said.
Blondin said he became familiar with that stove over the summer, when he spent six weeks in the RAVEN program, an aboriginal youth initiative offered by the Royal Canadian Navy that is similar to basic training that qualified him for enrolment in the naval reserve.
"The point of that program was to give us a taste of military life," he said.
Nicoll said he wants Blondin and Alger to return from the challenge with a better connection to the military ethos.
"They have a lot of experience, but it's the sense of finishing the job, high personal standards and care of subordinates that I want them to see constantly and bring back," he said. "We've been very successful in the past, thanks to our senior cadets. Having those qualities in our corp has made us successful."
