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paying £90 for a fortnight of transport, food,
accommodation, competitions, a day at a
theme park and a formal dinner night.
Military and drill knowledge are prominent
facets of the training, too, and those involved
are proud of the discipline, integrity and
selflessness it encourages in the cadets,
but they’re keen to emphasise that this is no
army recruitment scheme.
‘Most young people today follow their
own path and are quite headstrong when it
comes to making life decisions,’ Joyce adds.
‘For anyone interested in the Armed Forces,
then clearly the cadets will give them useful
skills and help them decide whether a military
life is really for them.
‘However, statistics over the years show
that the vast majority of our youngsters take
a different route and end up succeeding
in all sorts of other careers. Captain Alec
Stirling MBE has led A Troop for over 27
years. Nearly 1,000 young people have
passed through our doors in his time, and he
estimates that less than 2% have gone into
military service.’
The cadets are all about building
resilience on both an individual and a
community level. Joyce says they aim to
‘foster confidence, self-reliance, initiative,
loyalty and a sense of service to other
people’; the opportunity to cultivate a
network of friends outside school is a big
plus for those who attend, with the current
troop drawn from nine different high schools
in the area (ages 12-17 years). ‘Joining the
cadets was the best thing I’ve ever done. No
one realises just how good it is until they give
it a chance,’ one youngster testifies.
There are opportunities to gain vocational
qualifications through cadet training too,
instructors ensuring they help prepare
kids for the future in whichever ways
they can. Cadets can pick up a BTEC1 in
Teamwork, Personal Skills and Citizenship;
a Young Leaders Award; a BTEC2 in Music
for Practical Performance; an award in
Leadership and Management and a Duke of
Edinburgh’s Award in bronze, silver or gold.
Joyce says, ‘Celebrating success is one of
the things we do best, and everyone finds
something that they’re good at.’
The idea of military and drill training
might seem a daunting prospect to those
interested in getting involved, but they should
be reassured that the cadet force wouldn’t
see the success it does if there wasn’t a solid
culture of support ingrained in what they do.
‘A Troop is like a family to all of us. We spend
so much of our time together that we know
each other really well, know our young people
really well, and devote most of our free time
to cadet activities,’ Joyce says.
‘The reward is seeing the delight in the
young people’s faces when they finally
succeed at something they’ve strived for.
Be it their first ‘basic’ badge, a medal for
sporting achievement, or a promotion to
Cadet Sergeant – everyone finds their niche
in our family and they embark on adult life as
confident young people bursting with A Troop
Attitude.’
For more information visit –
armycadets.com – local enquiries should
head for the Glasgow & Lanarkshire
Battalion pages.