Do you have to be 12, or year 8?

Cadets Ask the Staff
1

It clearly states in the air cadets website, you have to be twelve, OR year eight, my friend wanted to join cadets but hes a year younger than me. But in year eight you are 13? So in my case why does it say 12 on the website, if you have to be 13?

This is confusing me.
Please reply soon.

2

You can join from when you are 12 and in year 8.

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3

But in Wales, 13 is Year 8. I Dont get it.

4

Just found this

‘To be an Air Cadet you must be 13 years old, or 12 years old if you’re already in year 8 in school or in S1 for those in Scotland . The latest you can join is before your 17th birthday. Most cadets leave when they’re 20 years old and some stay involved as an adult volunteer.’

Thanks though.

5

If you are 12 years old you can only join if you are also in year 8. If you’re 13 or older it doesn’t matter what school year you’re in.

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6

Demonstrably untrue

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7

You turn 13 in year 8, but start it at 12

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8

Official stats will be interesting, but I suspect the average length of cadet service is about 2 or 3 years. Too early to say anything about post-covid cadet service. I would be rather fantastic if most cadets stayed until 20 years of age - all of those staff cadets!

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9

Do you have a link for where it says this please?

Your follow up quote is the correct information and others have also explained, but I can see why it’s confusing on an initial read.

No idea why they’ve even mentioned 13, it’s superfluous and hinders clarity.

That aside, welcome to the forum and hope you get all the help you need now and in the future.

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10

“To be an Air Cadet you must be 13 years old, or 12 years old if you’re already in year 8 in school or in S1 for those in Scotland. The latest you can join is before your 17th birthday. Most cadets leave when they’re 20 years old and some stay involved as an adult volunteer”

The site doesn’t immediately appear to have a “contact us” piece for the information on the site.

11

Last official stats I saw said 18 months was the average, that was a few years ago though.

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12

That’s just a completely false statement for the website to include…

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13

You mean the same website that plasters cadets flying over it?

14

Poorly worded statement.

Although objectively false in the way it’s written, the intention is clearly to suggest that 20 is the upper limit at which point most (who are still in) leave while others take the option to become CFAV.

But with this and length of service, we’ve moved away from the original query.

If @Typhoons can let us know if there’s a reference matching their original post so it can be flagged alongside the “most leave at 20” thing then I think we’ve covered the topic well enough.

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15

Indeed it should say “Most Cadets leave at the age of 18”

16

So baso you either join at 13 years of age, but you can join at 12 years when in year 8. So if youre 12 in year 7 you cant join. But usually people join in year 9 due to poor wording of beginning age so yea make of that what you will.