By Eli J. Ridder

IN THE COMMUNITY

South Alberta Light Horse Regiment cadets win Alberta drill competition

May 10, 2024 | 4:45 PM

It was a proud moment for the 2313 South Alberta Light Horse Cadet Corp. when they once again recently claimed the title of best drill team in Alberta.

“There’s a lot of pride in winning this,” said drill commander Kobrin Klaiber, standing next to a trophy the regiment has won eight total wins and twice consecutively.

“We won last year, so there was a big pressure on us to win it this year. Winning it felt good, and it felt good being the commander and leading my team to victory.”

It wasn’t easy. The cadets spent about four months practising two days per week, Sgt. Lillian Morris told CHAT News.

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“The basic definition of a drill is movement with a purpose,” Morris said.

“Marching is just walking with a purpose, and then turning is just turning with a purpose, but you can’t accomplish anything without a team.”

The South Alberta Light Horse Regiment is based at Patterson Armoury in Medicine Hat. (Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News)

The drill competition features a few different segments for competing teams of 15.

It starts with the annual cadet review, where the troops are examined for uniform tidiness, Morris said.

Next up is the silent drill. Without help from Klaiber, the cadets need to carry out their routine without any commands, going off timings in their head.

Those timings were instilled in them over many weeks and use of a metronome.

The cadets get to have fun with the the third and final section, the free drill.

That drill is just as described: the cadet corp. gets to make up their own routine with their only limitation being they need to follow the drill guidebook.

(Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News)

The South Alberta Light Horse cadets have over the years honed their skills to a point where there’s an expectation of excellence.

That continued in 2024 as the cadet team went back-to-back winning the Kaser Cup.

“We’re infamous for our drill,” Morris said.

Andi Bacon, the drill team coach, spent hours with the cadet team.

Andi Bacon as spent hours helping the drill team. (Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News)

“The preparation is intensive,” he said.

“For a lot of these cadets, they’re here once or twice a week and that’s only because we say that’s enough,” he added.

“If they had their way, they’d be here just about every night.”