Cannock Soroptimists enjoyed a double military presentation at their November speaker meeting with two speakers, Colonel Richard Logan, Commandant of the Staffordshire Army Cadets and Cadet Staff Sgt Rachel Humphries, who has recently been awarded the prestigious honour of “Lord Lieutenant Cadet”.
Listeners were surprised to learn that Army Cadets belong to one of the oldest and largest youth volunteer organisations in the country: it is now 150 years old and there are currently over 39,000 cadets, all aged between 13 and 18 years. Girls were first admitted in the 1980s, in fact Rugeley was the first detachment nationally to take girls! Today 30% of cadets are girls.
Although many activities have a military theme many do not, all are designed to develop life skills, and especially develop confidence. It is inclusive, many youngsters who become cadets deal with a variety of disabilities and learning needs as well as social disadvantage. The Army Cadet Force is NOT part of the regular army, there is no expectation for cadets to join the regular army, though an army structure and syllabus is followed and the army also provides generous funding.
Rachel is 17 and joined at 13 as an extremely shy and retiring young teenager, the only female in her detachment. She provided an enthusiastic account of how she slowly built up a network of friends, increased confidence and social awareness. She tried out lots of new things and discovered her ability to motivate and lead others. This year she has attended a one week course for instructors to enable her to pass on some of the skills and knowledge to younger cadets. As a Master Cadet [the highest level] Rachel meets and interacts with cadets all over the country. For her and many other girls the greatest thing has been the confidence gained though being an army cadet: whatever your starting point you are developed so you can move forward to achieve what you want. She is just so thrilled to have been given so many opportunities which otherwise would never have come her way: she spent a week at Sandhurst, climbed mountains in Corsica, played in the drum corps with the Grenadier Guards and often accompanies the Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire as he undertakes his duties.
Rachel’s talk was extremely well received, everyone was so impressed with the level of confidence she displayed as she spoke so eloquently, without notes, about her life as a cadet.
Colonel Logan ended by saying their aim is to ensure that each individual within the army cadet force gets the very best out of themselves, they teach them the value of standards so that they are able to do the right thing on a bad day!
Soroptimists thanked them warmly and presented a cheque towards cadet activities. More information about the Army Cadet Force is available at www.armycadets.com or by emailing: info.staffsacf@rfca.org.uk; there are detachments in Cannock and in Hednesford.