Cadets ready to journey north on army patrol

Geraldton’s Army Cadets are preparing for a patrol at Boodarie Station near Port Hedland in the July school holidays. Commanding officer Capt. Paul Rauchwald said they would be there for nine days and nights. “We are a youth development organisation,” he said. “They’re going to do a lot of foot slogging and patrolling and learn how to live in the field in a military sense. “They will learn navigation, to be quiet, which is really important in the bush, and basically looking after themselves.” Capt. Rauchwald said this would be one of two annual nine-day patrols the cadets took part in, beside weekend activities and regular Wednesday night parades during school term. “They do three lessons every Wednesday night,” he said. “The stuff we teach in theory they get to put into practise in these nine-day exercises.” Capt. Rauchwald said the unit was becoming popular with girls. “About 30 per cent of our numbers are females and they generally make the best NCOs because they like bossing boys around,” he said. Kalan Nitschke, 16, has been a cadet for about a year. “Being in the Army Cadets is fun — you get put out of your comfort zone and you learn skills you don’t learn ... at school,” he said. Capt. Rauchwald said membership was open to boys and girls aged 13 and over who had begun Year 8 studies, and they could stay until they were 19. For $150 per year, everything is supplied except sleeping bags and he said prospective members could join at armycadets.gov.au or turn up to the Lester Avenue barracks on a Wednesday night. The unit is raising funds to send 30 of their number to the Pilbara camp. On Saturday they were outside Bunnings doing a sausage sizzle to raise funds. On Wednesday, Member for Geraldton Ian Blayney presented the cadets with a cheque for $500 for the annual patrol.