By Jessie Weisner

No. 15 Medicine Hat Royal Canadian Air Cadet squadron inspires youth

Jun 10, 2019 | 4:50 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — A group of 60 local youth have been aiming their eyes at the sky this past year.

Focused on discipline, confidence and aviation, the No.15 Medicine Hat Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron inspires young people to become pilots, and grow into model adults.

The squadron focuses on three main areas; physical fitness, inspiring leaders in the community and promoting a passion for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

“It’s really just trying to create model people that you want to see going into the community and graduating high school,” says Logan Neubauer, flight corporal.

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The program has been in the community for roughly 80 years, and during their Annual Ceremonial Review on Sunday, roughly 60 cadets aged 12 to 19 showed off their marching skills.

“It’s essentially for this very starting discipline,” says Captain Barry Duffield, commanding officer of the squadron. “Where everyone’s doing things together, we’re all working together and in order for everyone to work together there needs to be some ground rules and those set the very foundation for marching.”

Something Sgt. Kimberly Buday learned to love in her four years as a cadet.

“It taught me a lot of discipline,” says Buday, drill team commander and flight party commander. “I didn’t like drill before, I didn’t like any parades, I was scared, I didn’t want to do them at all but just the amount of confidence cadets gives, it ensures people in a way that nothing else can.”

Throughout the program, cadets do biathlon, marksmanship, attend classes about aviation, and volunteer in the community.

Learning skills that will help them later in life.

“I plan on going into psychology at the University of Calgary and I think a lot of the social skills will help,” says Buday. “Like the understanding of what you have to have with your cadets, especially when you’re leading, you have to understand what they need and what they want, what they can and can’t do.”

“Definitely the leadership skills as well,” says Warrant officer second class Emily Stock. “It gives you the confidence to go out and it helps you a lot in your everyday life, which is really awesome.”

It also provides opportunities for the future.

Cadets can earn two scholarships to obtain their glider pilot license, and power pilot license.

“I got into it because I was really into aviation,” says Stock. “My dad and my grandpa both have their pilots license and its kind of expensive to get it on your own so I joined with the hopes of someday getting a scholarship to get it.”

The cadets includes youth from Medicine Hat, Redcliff and surrounding areas.

“It’s not for the chosen few, it’s for the few who choose,” says Neubauer. “So I just tried to invoke that it’s their decision, if they want to be successful they should go for it because there’s nothing holding them back.”