February Parents Night

Cupcakes for reception.

I only had a day to rest before putting on my military uniform again.  The time had come for 3045 RCACC to host the first Parents Night parade of 2019.  There were enough awards & announcements to warrant the parade, especially after what occurred in Whitehorse.  The parade occurred on February 13.  I was glad I had local Arctic Bay resident Frank to organize everything in my absence.

            

Following usual procedures, the cadets & I arrived at the school’s gym about an hour early.  We transformed the gym into a parade square using chairs, tables, flags, and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.  Everything was ready by 6:30pm.  I got the corps’ newest recruit to take photographs.

The Guest Reviewing Officer (GRO) was the community’s Senior Administration Officer (SAO).  The cadet parade commander escorted her through the open ranks while I welcomed and addressed the audience.  (If we had a cadet band, they would play music during the inspection to keep the crowd entertained).  The cadets did a March Past after the inspection to showcase their drill.

            

March Past.

I handed out a few marksmanship and PT badges.  (PT stands for physical training).  There weren’t that many recipients this time around but that’s alright.  There’s always the next parade. 

            

2019 Marksmanship Team

The first big announcement on the program concerned the corps’ marksmanship team.  At the beginning of the month, the team competed in the Stage II Postal Shoot, shooting authorized competition paper targets sent from Winnipeg.  The targets were then returned to Winnipeg to be scored and ranked among the other northern corps.  All northern cadet corps do this because the government doesn’t have the money to fly everyone to one location to carry out the shoot.  The best scoring teams would move onward to the Stage III competition in April.  I called out the six cadets to be publicly recognized for their efforts and to say they would be advancing to Stage III.

Actually, only five of them would be going because the sixth cadet was an alternative.  Of course, if one of the original five happened to fall ill or not be at the airport on the day of departure, then the alternate would take their place.  The location of the Stage III competition for the Northwest Region would be Gimli, Manitoba. 

Promotions to Lance Corporal.

Five junior cadets were promoted to the rank of Lance-Corporal.  The rank consists of one chevron.  It’s the second rank in the chain but the first rank with a visible symbol.  Naturally, they were all smiles when their names were called out and when they received their promotions in hand.

The time had come to formally announce the results of the Territorial Biathlon Competition held in Whitehorse, Yukon.  Even though I had posted the results on the corps’ Facebook page, announcing them at a parents night parade made them more “official”.

Biathlon Team.

Boyle Barracks cadet receives his
3rd Place Male Competitor certificate.

I started by awarding bronze pins to the four cadets who trained at Boyle Barracks.  I then called out the four cadets who competed at Grey Mountain to receive their silver pins.  Three of the four Boyle Barracks cadets were called out again to receive their skiing competition certificates.  The awards were: 3^rd Place Female Competitor, 3^rd Place Male Competitor, and 2^nd Place Male Competitor.  I did the same for three of the four Grey Mountain cadets.  Between them, they received certificates for: 3^rd Place Individual Junior Female, 3^rd Place Individual Senior Female, 3^rd Place Senior Female Sprint, 2^nd Place Individual Senior Male, and 2^nd Place Senior Male Sprint.  The certificates were handed out in Whitehorse, but I convinced my cadets to let me laminate the certificates before the parade.

Our Grey Mountain cadets moving on to the National Biathlon Competition in March.

The second big announcement was that three of our four Grey Mountain cadets would be advancing to the national biathlon competition in early March!  The competition would take place in Prince Edward Island.

Our cadet warrant officer selected for
the Alpine Tour.

The third big announcement was that the corps’ most senior cadet was selected to participate in the upcoming Northwest Region Alpine Tour in the Rocky Mountains in late March.  The tour is an intensive camping expedition where cadets hike, snowshoe, ice climb, and receive training in navigation, wilderness survival, and avalanche survival/rescue.  She would be the third cadet from 3045 to attend this expedition.

Near the end of the parade, I was informed by a parent that it was their son’s birthday.  To celebrate his big day, I had the cadet come up to the front where he was surprised by his mom with a birthday cake.  Everyone sang him Happy Birthday and he blew out the candles.  The cake would later be served at the reception.

Marksmanship Team.

When the parade was over, the cadets formed up at the back of the gym for a group photo.  I then took separate photographs of the Biathlon & Marksmanship teams in front of the Royal Regiment flag.  The best taken photographs would be featured in a photo album on the corps’ Facebook page.  The cadets were dismissed to enjoy the reception.  Cleanup began after 25 minutes.  Everyone was out by 8:15pm.    

National Biathlon Team.