What does k actually think about the cadets other than the "after

>>33967672
A fantastic method of creating ideological recruits, the irony is once you're in nobody gives the slightest fuck if you were a cadet

>>33967672
They didn't seem to actually have all that much fine despite bragging about it.

>>33967775
It's kinda pointless. Honestly it'd make more sense if you could get "credits" for bits of OCS or something

But then that'd require actually making the training worth a damn and why not just wait till they enlist.

Being a Cadet is fine, but word to the wise, if you join the Army afterwards, you were never a Cadet

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>>33967672
Benefical for your application if you're looking into a competitive role.

Not that you wouldn't have to do all the extra other activities people who weren't in the cadets need to do, but its a tick in a box.

>>33967868
Yeah exactly. I think a lot more of it is getting them to do all the cool stuff and then pretend that's what army life is like 24/7.

I see it as a better version of Boy Scouts and ROTC shoved together.

But then, I'm an American. I have no idea how shit their training actually is or isn't. Just stories from a bong friend who got to jump out of helicopters after school 'cause he was in the RAF Cadets thing.

And the time they were out for a few days longer than they anticipated while on a hike in some government-owned forest and they got a helicopter to fly them some extra provisions.


Goddamn I wish Boy Scouts/ROTC didn't suck absolute donkey dick.

>>33968064
>Just stories from a bong friend who got to jump out of helicopters after school 'cause he was in the RAF Cadets thing.
He is most likely full of shit.

>>33968064
The thing about ROTC is that it varies tremendously from school to school. Can't speak for the bong cadets though

>>33968064
>ROTC didn't suck absolute donkey dick.
Then don't go to a school with a shitty program.

>>33968099
Are we talking JROTC or ROTC? Cause those are also two vastly different things
>did 2 years of JROTC
>learn to do DnC very well, it's about the only thing they actually taught
>enter college ROTC
>learn basic facing movements and marching, no shits are given about anything else
>more focus on actual basic soldiering skills like IMTs, squad and platoon movements, setting up patrol bases, TCCC, etc

>>33968067
Nope.

ACF gets to use AAC helicopters during expeditions now. When I mean "use" I mean pilots from the AAC fly them around, land them in an open field, and fly off

>>33968129
>pilots from the AAC fly them around

My mate is an Aviation Crewman in the AAC and he says Cadet Taxi duty is usually given to dick someone, but it's flying hours so who gives a fuck, he does say it's a bit of a nightmare having to tell a bunch of 12 year olds not to fuck around in the helicopter or try and take pictures of the ground out the side

>>33968129
Stop posting your shite cadet dits on the internet. The only forces in Europe doing helicopter drops are Poland and, I believe, Austria.

No HM Forces personnel have done helicopter jumps in this century over UK land and no APJI or PJI is coursed on them. Give it a rest.

>teach in a high school.
>cadets are either.
>highly competent, outspoken leaders.
>100% autist losers.

I don't know how the winners tolerate the losera, or if having to herd retarded cats teaches them the life skills that make them successful.

>>33968142
My nans in the AAC and she says you're talking bollocks

Flight costs are way too much to be flying a bunch of pre teens and their nonce overlords around, it's way outside Cadet unit budgets

>No HM Forces personnel have done helicopter jumps in this century over UK land

Are you talking about Helicopter Parachute jumps or drop offs?, because 4 Regt AAC and 16 Air Arsehole brigade just came off Joint Warrior last month or so, and iirc they were deploying by Chopper

Did it for two years, it was shite.

Fuck parades and some prick telling you your collar needs ironing

The only fun part was the summer trip when you actually got to fire rounds on the range and blanks in a mock ambush.

I really don't see the point to be honest.

If you wanted to teach them something useful, make it an amateur historical society. Get them doing admin at TA centres. Make them dig up battlefields and help old women with their shopping. Neither the state nor taxpayer gets anything from them at the moment, aside from child abuse scandals and very weird individuals.

I have, over the years, met some very committed people who have been through the various cadet organisations and who have been involved in them at various levels. Which is a shame, really, as they would have been put to far better use elsewhere than a dressing up club. Never bothered with it, my kids never went, their kids haven't bothered and we've all served in some capacity across HM Forces.

>>33968148
he meant the heli lands, there is still a cadet jump wings through, in addition to cadet pilot and glider wings.

>>33968173
We ended up picking up a section of cadets out in STANTA because we were RTB anyway.

Do the RAF still do Air experience flying 1-2-1?

>>33968189
I recognise you, you're that 70 odd years young ex squaddie

But yes, it's pointless, The only useful thing they ever taught there was how to bull boots and god knows some of the lunatics going through Sandhurst nowadays need that knowledge

>>33968190
>there is still a cadet jump wings through

Oh Lord. Do they do a Cadet P-Company where they get chased by a fat man in a gimp suit?

I have a desk drawer, somewhere, full of foreign wings. Thai, Colombian, Angolan (don't ask), Spanish, Belgian. The worst were Guatemalan. They're black and silver, with a US-style tab. We didn't even jump, I swapped a pack of Marlboro for them.

from my personal experience from a fairly chavvy area, there is adequate funding for field activities and they have access to quite a large amount of army equipment and facilities. My ACF group recently had a ride aboard a chinook at RAF Odium. In my opinion everything is there to be used but it ultimately comes down to the competency of the (mostly) civilian volunteer instructors and the interest of cadets.

It should be viewed as scouts with army sponsorship as opposed to the army juniors.

Another point is everything they're supposed to be taught is closely similar or identical to actual army practice however its not often the case in practice.

this is only my experience so take it all with a grain of salt, this may not be representative of the organization as a whole

>>33968189
army recruiting, cheaper than advertisement, takes young people away from crime. Potentially a place for veterans to be in an environment they know without being in real danger.

>>33968214
It is me.

It's a shame, really, as there are evidently some quite driven adults and young people who want to get involved and get hounded by all the various accusations and myths, along with being messed around by the various duties and tasks they're set. It needs restructuring and I think if it were taken further away from HM Forces proper, it would have proper value.

>>33968148
Are you fucking retarded?

>>33968217
>Angolan (don't ask)

Are you a member of the elite Angolan special hang glider paratrooper team?

It is an honour sir!

>>33968173
>My nans in the AAC and she says you're talking bollocks

Your nan is the one talking shit, mate. At was 15 when I was in the cadets, and I fucking rode around in a Gazelle, Merlin and a Chinook. This was back in 2006-7, and as far as I can tell on their FB page, they still do it.

>>33968252
Oi don't talk about my nan like that m8

Golden years of Cadets was back in the 70s/80s when the Cold War was still on, they had a fuckhuge budget, got to shoot SLR's until they were fucking bored of them, up in aircraft all the time

Not like now though, there's no decent wars on

>>33968235
>Potentially a place for veterans to be in an environment they know without being in real danger.
I can't see it. I appreciate if genuine types want to get involved and help young people out, but I can't imagine a bigger contrast in environment.

>takes young people away from crime
Again, I'm not seeing it. The sort of kids who are tempted by serious crime aren't going to sign up to get shouted at or sit in the cold for hours.

>army recruiting, cheaper than advertisement
This I can get, and I'd be interested to read more about it if you have anything. I'm sure it does some positives for recruitment, but it would be nice to see a breakdown. The cynic in me imagines that if it was beneficial for recruitment, it would get branded as such internally. I don't think it has.

Again, it's speculative, but surely the Catch-22 of cadet recruitment is that the more people they recruit who end up in HM Forces the more they are viewed as a military force, thus contradicting their own message and branding. If they scale it back and turn people away from the Forces, they knacker their reputation with their supplier and sponsor.

This is why I would restructure it. Absorb facilities and individuals into training centres and make the adults involved serve purely as Reservists.

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lastly pic related is a British mark one tank that was found at the battle of cambrai that we visited on a battlefields trip to France with cadets

>>33968238
Wait we have a 70something year old guy on /k/?

>>33968250
I had a friend going to Angola, nothing warry but a long trip, and he asked if I wanted anything bringing back. The last thing I wanted, pointing to the aforementioned drawer, was another set of bloody wings.

"Sure, no wings. Got it."

Came back with a massive grin on his face, twirling some horrible badge around in his fingers.

>>33968273
Yes, he left the army in 1968!

>>33968189
That sounds even more boring than it used to be. Used to have to pay £3.50 / night, for 2 nights a week at 3 hours each night. Thats £364 a year. that was back in 2003 though so fuck knows how much it costs now.
they have to pay for themselves. So why is it taxpayers money?
>>33968214
I learnt some drill, vehicle recognition, weapons shoots, even got my first experience driving up and down a disused airfields, in addition to Tactical shit and night exercises.

I learnt a lot. Prior to signing on. Mind you i noticed my drill went downhill after passing out.

I've generally noticed former cadets fit in better and tend to be less... problematic.

>>33968235
>>33968264

> Takes people away from crime.
Heard a good one from one of my boys who got into instructing cadets after he got out.
Over in newham & hackney (shiteholes in london for those who are unfamiliar) they stopped rifle shoots because of the Gang warfare that goes on, instead they took up knitting.

>>33968295
1968? Jesus christ he's older than sandy the guvnor from ARRSE.

>>33968312
>So why is it taxpayers money?

It's somewhere around £50m a year, with the cadets contributing about a quarter. I realise that is nothing in the grand scheme of things, but they're one PR episode away from the chop. I, personally, think it would be better to restructure now as opposed to waiting for said episode to come up.

I cannot see why children who sign up for cadets would be umming and arrring between that and armed gang warfare. I can appreciate the PR benefits of "joining the cadets was the best thing I ever did", but I'm still not buying it.

Do any other countries in the western world run similar groups for kids? Ones that seem to straddle between educational, quasi-military, charity and recreational clubs?

>>33968312
>1968? Jesus christ he's older than sandy the guvnor from ARRSE.
He the ginger PTI Para?

>>33968312
jesus

we've basically just done infantry skills and irreverent fun activities. And despite wearing a signals cap badge we know zero radio skills

>>33968348
I'd say its still justified through the increased recruitment.
I would have never signed on, and right now we're failing to recruit any half decent blokes who aren't cadets.

I and 3 of my mates from my former cadet unit (and school) all joined. I'd say a good 60% of the guys back at unit signed on.

>>33968368
Went alright for me because recce plt. in an infantry battalion.

>>33968264
I was in the RAF's ATC up until 2016, now I'm in the USAF's ROTC if it can be believed.

You'd be surprised how many of our staff were veterans. In particular it was mostly former enlisted.

In our squadron's case it kept them out of trouble for longer. The staffing has gone to shit I the meantime and they kind of drop out after a year or two because their'shit no return.

The ATC doesn't particularly shy away from its mitary roots as our officer corps actually hold queen's commissions, unlike any other branch of cadets as far as I'm aware. They have to go to Cranwell and do a 2 week version of IOT and are listed as RAF Volunteer Reserve (Training).

>>33968184
This.

I was stuck in a fucking shite squadron who only had the budget to take like 12 of us shooting, and all the NCOs got word of it first and signed themselves up. The CO was the dad of one of the most incompetent corporals and got to ride along on anything remotely fun and those of us who hadn't been there for 3+ years got to do fuck all.

The only decent times were when actual officers talked to us or taught us shit like bushcraft but the rest of the time was just us 14 year olds getting bullied by 17 year old NCOs with nothing better to do.

Never did cadets but I did the scouts in the middle of bum fuck New Zealand, was fun as fuck with no regulations or supervision. Just a miracle we never got raped.

>>33969215
Scouts get a lot of shit but I'm going through RNR training and a bunch of stuff from scouts is coming in handy. Although I had a good unit which did lots of sailing, hiking and outdoorsy shit.
The Hindustan at Dartmouth smells just like scout cabins.

>>33968989

That's anotheright thing. If you come from a large squadron with competent leadership it's much better.

Vice did a really cringy piece on the cadets where they tried to make them out as gun-toting kids brainwashed to served king and country

When I was in cadet's the only notable event was when I woke up to some ginger kid fucking my ass in a tent.

>>33967672
I was an air cadet in Canada. It's basically just putting up with a lot of bullshit, in exchange for some cool shit. I still talk to friends that I made in the program, and I got my pilots license for free, as well as free hours, so that's always a plus.

>>33969917
Hot. Fully story? Did you get his number?

>>33969917

Why was a kid fucking your tight Lil boi pucci

>>33967672
A few Marine Cadets I knew at school were massive cunts and wouldn't shut the fuck up about how they were all going to join the Marines. Wore Marine pins and everything and wore their uniform at every chance.

None of them joined the Marines or any Military Service for that matter.

My view, (from experience) is that the Army Cadets are fucking retards and it's essentially the ADHD club. It's not a meme, I've been there and seen it first hand.

>>33970008
>>33969968
It was some creepy pale faced dude, he barely ever spoke to anyone and he didn't actually fuck my ass, he was just undressing me when I woke up and I asked him what the fuck he was doing and he ran off.

I told the CO what happened in the morning and the kid got sent home and we never saw him again. My friends still make fun of me about it to this day.

>>33970448
Pure banta m8

To be fair i woke up in bed with three other men holding their rifles... Not a euphemism

>>33968064
Leaf cadets mostly sucked. You put up with lots of shit for the few times you actually went shooting. Scouts was a lot more fun to be honest.