There’s been a bit of discussion recently about Enrolments and 3822’s so that got me curious; what do you do and why?
Formal parade coinciding with our quarterly OC’s parade. Enrolment ceremony conducted by Padre and issued 3822. Parents invited to watch.
Why, because we always have done it like that. It’s a little ceremony that makes them feel like they are now fully part of the squadron, gets us to see and speak to the parents directly to inform them about subs again and make sure they start paying, and marks a nice little ending to their junior cadet training.
2 Likes
Who takes parade the rest of the time?
Don’t tend to do anything special for enrolment.
Generally, once our new intake / training flight is all in uniform and taking part in all of final parade fully (IE, got their static drill basics sorted) then they’ll be enrolled.
Everybody joins in and says the promise together, they get their 3822s. End of.
The bigger ‘ceremony’ comes at their passing out parade to mark the end of first class training and them moving on to their ‘proper’ flight and being a full member of the squadron, just in time for the next recruitment night and a whole new intake.
As an aside, what sort of time period are we talking here? 3 months? 6 months?
We tend to get the cadets enrolled, but do a bit more of a public display at our annual presentation evening where we get them all up in front of the parents.
3 Likes
Thank you Sir! May I have another?
We do it over a relaxed 6 months, it allows for absences, for mixing with the squadron, and cover all the basics.
We can do it in 12 weeks if we really wanted to, but then they’d just do nothing but first class training and that’s pretty dull.
1 Like
Mostly me, sometimes not. We use it to hand out certificates, promote people that kind of jazz.
1 Like
All parades are for passing out for some cadets…
3 Likes
I should have said, we also used to use it to practice formal parade drill when we could do it outdoors. You know, inspecting officers, perambulating, that kind of thing. Helps keep it current should we be inspected like for an AFI and we offer more inexperienced cadets the chance to be Flight ICs, parade WO etc. Just a bit of fun.
1 Like
We always used to hoard the certificates for the annual awards night in front of the parents (they got the badges as soon as they turned up).
Promotions I used to do on the night of their board, they get called in for results at the end in the order that they were interviewed. (So that they can’t predict the results based on the order they are called in).
Tended to do inductions at an annual presentation night, but sometimes at an ordinary parade if we got a big intake just after an annual bash… I’d talk a bit about the Cadet Promise, put the text up or hand it out and invite everyone to renew it together - parents, staff, everyone: that was quite moving sometimes… Confess it seems too scary to ask newbies to say it solo in front of everyone - that confidence comes later!
Of course, you’re only really inducted when yr 3822’s been thro the washing machine 