I'm 16 and I just joined army cadets.......

[beyondsblue]

Yeah, I will ask my CO this Wednesday about accelerating my process. Hope he agrees.

 

[Saorse]

I experienced the same thing, joining in as a nearly 15 year old cadet just about 3 years ago. It was tough at first, knowing that these 12 year olds were where they should be and that I already had the basic knowledge and capacity for at least silver, and it was my CO himself who came up to me and told me that I would be accelerated through the program. Now in my third year, just turning 17, I am writing the NSCE as a qualified Master Corporal, and regardless of the situation when I first started out, I wouldn't trade any of my cadet experiences, especially here in the Army League, for anything at all.

Speak to your CO; he'll definitely give you some insight.

 

[beyondsblue]

Yeah, my CO said something about get me (and all the 15yrs or older cadets) into red star, but I wanna ask him again this week and see if I can get FASTER-tracked.

 

[Zedic_1913]

Typically cadets can be fast tracked through Green Star and Red Star in one training year, this would qualify a cadet for promotion up to Master Corporal.  Going from a Cdt to a MCpl in one training year (as it can take 2 to 3 years otherwise) would be quite an accomplishment, and personally I don't think further fast tracking would be appropriate.

 

[Chang]

cdt to mcpl in one year? damnnn took me 1.5 years to get from corporal to master and another year to sergeant

 

[GGHG_Cadet]

I agrre with C-17. It's taken me just about 3 years to get Sergeant. I joined when I was 11 and I thought I made it up pretty fast.

 

[beyondsblue]

Well, for 12 or 13 years old cadets, cadet to mcpl in one year is a bit too fast for them to handle all the responsibility that comes with the rank. However, 16 or 17 year-olds are a different case. Most of them have the maturity that younger cadets don't and are capable of doing what a 14 or 15 years olds would be doing. In my personal opinion, putting them with people 5 years younger is just a waste of time. Younger cadets require more explanation and take more time to learning things while older cadets get the ideas much faster.  

 

[beyondsblue]

Well...I'm disappointed at the answer my CO gave me. He said that it's our corps' policy that everybody has to complete their green star first, then depends on your age and maturity, they'll put you in silver star the following year. Next year, I'll be in gr.12 and being in the silver star won't be a very rewarding experience... Maybe I should switch to another corps or even quit for something that's not worth my time.

 

[Jonny Boy]

do not quit. i know green star is boring but you will still have time to do your NSCE if you skip your red star so try that.

 

[beyondsblue]

NSCE is for gold star, right? My timeline, June, 2005 finish green star and Gr.11.
                                                       June, 2006, finish silver star and Gr.12.
                                                       Sept,2006, start my gold star and first year at university.
                                                       Feb, 2007, turn 19 and will have to retire
By the end of this year, I should receive my citizenship card and I will see if I can join a reserve unit. My goals at cadets are 1.to learn as much interesting things as I can, 2.improve my fitness level, 3.develop my leadership potential and 4.make some mature friends. If I stay in green star, none of the four goals will be accomplished: 1.things they teach you in green star are too easy and the method they use is too retarded    2.you play sports with 12 year-olds....they're four heads shorter than you    3.they only teach you how to be a FOLLOWER in green star, not how to be a leader    4. mature friends.....hm....    

 

[Jonny Boy]

gold star and nsce are both done in the same year. so in feburary 2007 you will have your nsce the gold star is half a year and the nsce goes from like late november to feburary. i say stay with cadets for as long as possible. it will make you much more prepared for the military.

 

[beyondsblue]

I e-mailed every corps in   my city (sea, air and army) yesterday evening. Until today morning, I received one reply, it's a sea cadet coprs. I'll copy it to here.

Evening

We do fast track Cadets who start later. A lot of the work though would
have to be self study at this point.

Things like going to summer camp would probably be difficult to impossible
but we do have summer sailing and sports as well as the weekeend training
exercises during the year.

At your age I can not guarantee what rank you would start as in the new
year in September but then most of that would depend on how much you
study. At this point we are getting into optional training so you can sit
in with older Cadets or just study on your own and ask for help if need
from Senior Cadets and staff avaialble. As well as the confirmation points
in the manuals we would give you some sort of testing.

If you are interested you will have to come in and see what we can work
out.

You will still benefit from the program

Best

So....I think maybe the best thing i can do is switch to a corps which allows me to fast-track and study things on my own.

 

[mcpl_spunky]

Well if you want to be at a higher position than the (younger people) than you couldld ask your CO to maybe challenge a level. Heck I did. I joined cadets when I was 15  and now I am a MCpl. I am in silver star and I have already started my teaching year.

Translated by your friendly moderator.

 

[beyondsblue]

Well if you want to be at a higher position than the (younger people) than you couldld ask your CO to maybe challenge a level.

I did, but my CO said that it's against the policy and there hasn't be any exceptions.

 

[ReserveRecce]

I joined Army Cadets when I was 15, I came in two training nights before our Green Satr and passed it with flying  colors, following that I was promoted to Lance Corporal and placed in Silver Star. I wrote my Red star test and silver star test on the same night at the end of the year and passed both. I was promoted to Sergeant after that and finally got to the rank that all the people my age were at. Stick with Green star if you can't go any higher right now, I'm sure that your CO or a CI will see to it that your placed in the appropriate age group, just try to distinguish yourself and prove that you deserve to be fast tracked, it's not impossible it just takes a little extra effort.

 

[rangers]

quit cadets, go to reserves. thats the only reason im in cadets, it is because I want to have experience for when I get to go there.

Edited for spelling BY YOURS TRULY

 

[ouyin2000]

you dont have to be a cadet first in order to join the reserves or Reg Force

if you are in cadets just so you can have a jump on everyone else when you join reserves, then you need to rethink why you are in cadets.

cadets is a learning experience for everyone involved. Almost everyone i have spoken to about it, is in for the friendships and learning, not just to get a jump in life

 

[Thompson_JM]

Very True.

Beyond that, I have found alot of cadets when they make the jump, tend to have great difficulty adjusting to being on the bottom of the ladder again. or they will try to make cadets sound bigger then it really was. "well i may only have 2 months in the reserves but i had 6 years in cadets..." Great. good for you. but here that doesnt mean anything. much like myself as a Reservist going to the reg force. PRes work counts for something, but not much in the Regs.

anywho, to wrap up, go into cadets because you want to be in cadets. not to play wanna-be. all you do then is hurt the reputation of the truly awsome cadets who are out there.

 

[Saorse]

I also would be overly aggressive on becoming fast-tracked: it gives off the wrong impression to your seniors as to why you are in the corps.

Let your CO, TO, and the bunch decide what to do with your training, and absorb all that you can out of cadets: fast-tracking too fast now will only hurt you come NSCE.

 

[Sh0rtbUs]

quit cadets, go to reserves. thats the only reason im in cadets, it is because I want to have experience for when I get to go there.

Edited for spelling BY YOURS TRULY

hahaha rangers, being a former Cadet is more likely to hurt you in the Reserves than help. I know a lot of former Cadets in the Army, and they would agree with me entirely. Dont fool yourself, Cadets and the Army are 2 totally different bags...