For those of you that will be volunteering for Airdrie Fest on 11 Sept from 10-6pm you need to attend the volunteer briefing at Airdrie city Hall on 9 Sept at 7pm.  Please email Capt Mark back to let me know if you can attend, the meeting is approx 45min-1hr long.

This will be a community service day and hopefully get our ‘name’ out there for recruiting purposes!

There will also be a sign up sheet for 11 Sept at cadets on 8 Sept for recruiting/volunteering and manning the booth. Cadets will work in 3 hour intervals.

Official Airdrie Army Cadet training will start at 1810 (6:10pm) on 15 Sept at Ralph McCall School in Airdrie.  This will be a CO’s Parade.  Cadets are expected to wear Full Dress (C-1) if they have it.

This will also be the first parents committee meeting of the year.

Cadets starts on 8 September 2010 at Ralph McCall school, the doors that we will enter are by the playground, hopefully we can have signs out or cadets directing new parents/cadets.  This is the official registration night and it will be ongoing, so if cadets want to bring a friend this would be a great day to do so.

A couple things will change at the school, cadets will start sharply at 1810 (doors will open at 1800 and close at 2100).  We do not have access to the building and there will be a caretaker who opens the doors for us.  Cadets will be shown boundaries on the first day, if we break the rules, we will not be able to parade at this location.

Cadets need to bring an extra pair of shoes, hopefully we can do our inspections outside until the weather changes and then the cadets will have to take their boots off while in the gym.  Capt. Mark would like it if everyone could purchase non marking oxfords to wear inside the building.  Once the cadet gets promoted to MCpl they will need them anyway.  Once cadets outgrow them, we can have a bulletin board for parents to post used shoes/kit.  You can buy oxfords at Wal-Mart, Zellers and shoe stores.  Please make sure that the cadet can still polish them.

2Lt Rycroft will have the calendar for the year to hand out to all the parents so you can make all the dates in your own agendas, there might be some changes a long the way but that will be minimal.

On the 8 Sept 2010 cadets will also have a chance to talk about their summer.  They can bring pictures, certificates, ect, even those cadets who did not attend camp are welcome to bring stuff about their summer.  We will meet new cadets and parents and have a quick briefing with the new parents.  We will also plan to have a uniform night, I am sure some cadets outgrew their uniform in the summer!

The Airdrie Legion has requested that we help with the clean up around the building; cadets can use this as community service.

Timing TBA

The Airdrie Army Cadets will be volunteering and running a booth at Airdrie Fest 2010 on Sept 11.

We will need approximately 15-20 cadets for set-up, working the booth and take down.

There might be a meeting Sept 9 for volunteers (TBA).  Please let Capt. Mark know if you are available to help out.  Also, we have a 10×10 spot for our booth and Capt. Mark is looking for a tent, table and chairs.

I realize that many of us are looking forward to our summer and not planing our fall, but here is the information for next year’s Airdrie Army Cadet Parade nights.

Next year (2010-2011), the Airdrie Army Cadets will be meeting at Ralph McCall School in Airdrie.  This should be a little easier for many of the cadets and provide them with a little more space.

Regular Parade nights will start Sept 8, 2010.

As several of you heard, Heather Undershute sent the Airdrie Army Cadets Banner to the south pole this year.  Yes, literally to the south pole.  Heather writes:

“The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is the southernmost continually inhabited place on the planet.  Its name honors Roald Amundsen who reached the South Pole in December 1911,and Robert F. Scott who reached the South Pole the following month.

It was constructed in November 1956 to support the International Geophysical Year in 1957, and has been continuously occupied since then. It currently lies within 100 meters (330 ft) of the Geographic South Pole.  Because it is located on a glacier, the station drifts towards the pole at the rate of about 10 meters per year (about 33 ft/yr).

The South Pole sees the sun rise and set only once a year.”

Thanks to Heather Undershute and Ken Borak Air staff.  Maybe next time we can stash a few of the Airdrie Army Cadets on the plane with the banner!  Currently, the banner is in the shop getting the website address added, but it sounds like after that, she will want to ship it as far north as she can (CFB Alert).

Here is a quick video of WO Taylor (Airdrie Army Cadets) and Dakota White (formerly 2137 Calgary Highlanders Cadets and now a Calgary Highlander) playing at the Airdrie Army Cadets’ Annual Cerimonial Review (ACR) at Mewata Armoury.  After they had marched out with the corps, they came back in and played for us for a bit.  These two certainly set the tone for the ACR and I can not imagine what it would have been like without them.

A special huge thanks to Dakota White for playing for us.

Congradulations to all of the Airdrie Army Cadets for a great Annual Cerimonial Review and Mess Dinner last weekend at Mewata Armoury.  A special congradulation to all of the various award winners.  This year’s award winners were:

Captain Mark also gave Sgt Russell a token of our appreciation for everything that he has done for the cadets.
The Parent’s Committee also gave the staff framed pictures of the corps as a token of their appreciation for all their hard work.

Photos by Diann Marchessault

Thanks to everyone for their help with the first Airdrie Army Cadets fundraiser Garage sale. From what I have heard, the cadets made about $800.00 making it a huge success!  A special thanks to all those who stayed all day and made it possible and especially to the Taylor family for graciously hosting it at their house.

From what I have heard, the left overs were donated to the Airdrie Salvation Army.

Photos courtesy of Diann Marchessault.

As many have you have heard by now, congradulations to MWO Vogel who will be taking a leave of absence from the Airdrie Highlanders so that he can head off to Nanaimo BC and play football for the Canadian Junior Football League National Champion VI Raiders.

Hopefully he will still return to Airdrie briefly before he ages out in Feb 2011.

We all wish him luck in his football career.

16 June 2010 – There will be a Summer Camp Briefing, those Airdrie Army Cadets attending the RCACC summer camps will get some info on what to bring, dates, travel info.  Currently any cadets that applied for camp should know if they were accepted or on the wait list.  Any cadets on the wait list should be prepared to go on short notice should a spot become open.

At this time, we have Airdrie Army Cadets going to Cadet Camps in Vernon BC, Cannaught and Cold Lake, Alberta.

Please wear your Sport Dress so that Capt. Mark can make sure that you have everything that you need.  This meeting will be at the Airdrie Agriculture Building (Cadet Stores) and not Golden Rod Hall.

As part of Pete Knight Days, the Airdrie Army Cadets will be participating in the Crossfield Parade on June 19th.  The parade starts on Main Street and makes its way around town.

Cadets are asked to be at the Crossfield Community Hall by 900 for a pancake breakfast.  The parade starts at 11, and they should be done with the event by 1200.  There will be a lunch event for the cadets after the parade at Runciman’s house.  Cadets should bring an extra change of clothes to wear after the parade.

Every June, the Alberta town of Crossfield hosts the Pete Knight Days. Named after Peter Charles “Pete” Knight who was a World Champion Rodeo Bronc Rider, the event is fun for the whole family. Festivities include a parade, rodeo, fireworks, pancake breakfasts and more. Events are held at the Pete Knight Arena and other locations in Crossfield, AB.  This annual June event was named after Peter Charles “Pete” Knight, a World Champion Rodeo Bronc Rider. In the 1930s, Knight became known as “King of the Cowboys.”

For white water rafting this weekend, we will be meeting at Tim Horton’s and will be leaving by 8:30am on Saturday, June 5th. We expect to have the cadets back to Tim Horton’s between 1900 and 2000.


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On behalf of all the Airdrie Army Cadets and their families who attended, I would like to say “Thanks” to the Calgary Highlanders for a great family Bar-B-Q last weekend.  Numerous Airdrie Army Cadets and their families attended and helped with setup, supervision (especially the basketball-tug-O-war) and clean-up.

Besides helping out, the cadets seemed to find ways to enjoy themselves including the odd but very popular tug of war basketball game:

The Calgary Highlanders weapons display was quite popular.  Don’t worry, they are not loaded (I hope…).

There was also a bouncy house and other toys.

Just a reminder for those parents who had not heard, this Wednesday will be the last meeting of the year for the 3016 Parents Committee and we will be having the Annual General Meeting and board position elections.  The meeting will be held in the basement of Golden Rod Hall during the regular Airdrie Cadet Parade.

For those Airdrie Army Cadets planning to go to one of the Army Cadet Camps (Vernon, Connaught etc.), the Royal Canadian Army Cadets website has Joining Instructions posted with more information to follow.  It also includes a page of Cadet Summer Training Information for Cadets and Parents.

Currently, the specific information for Vernon is not yet released, but the information for Connaught is posted.

It is suggested that you print these instructions out and contact Capt. Mark if you have any questions.