Australia — Army Cadets impress Chief of Army

Eighty Aus­tralian Army Cadets from units across Aus­tralia con­verged on Koko­da Bar­racks, Canun­gra, on Thurs­day, 3 March 2011, where they com­menced the annu­al Chief of Army Cadet Team Chal­lenge.
The Cadets, aged between 15 and 18 years, com­pet­ed in a range of activ­i­ties designed to test their knowl­edge and skills, includ­ing quick-deci­sion exer­cis­es, cer­e­mo­ni­al drill, field craft, nav­i­ga­tion, first aid, engi­neer­ing tasks, lead­er­ship and team­work.

After a hot­ly con­test­ed com­pe­ti­tion, the Chief of Army, Lieu­tenant Gen­er­al Ken Gille­spie, announced that the cham­pi­on team was New South Wales, close­ly fol­lowed by West­ern Aus­tralia in sec­ond place. West­ern Aus­tralia won the Reg­i­men­tal Sergeant Major – Army (RSM‑A) cer­e­mo­ni­al drill trophy. 

Par­lia­men­tary Sec­re­tary for Defence, Sen­a­tor the Hon David Feeney, said the Chief of Army Cadet Team Chal­lenge pro­vides an excel­lent oppor­tu­ni­ty for the Cadets to cap­i­talise on the skills they have devel­oped dur­ing the past twelve months, and pro­vides them with an activ­i­ty that tests them both as indi­vid­u­als and in a team environment. 

“I would like to con­grat­u­late the New South Wales team on win­ning the over­all chal­lenge and also con­grat­u­late the West­ern Aus­tralian team on com­ing run­ner up in the over­all con­test and win­ning the RSM‑A Drill Com­pe­ti­tion,” said Sen­a­tor Feeney. 

“I would also like to con­grat­u­late all of the cadets that gave up their week­end to par­tic­i­pate in the chal­lenge and demon­strate the Army val­ues of Courage, Ini­tia­tive and Teamwork.” 

Lieu­tenant Gen­er­al Gille­spie said that for these future com­mu­ni­ty and mil­i­tary lead­ers, the Chal­lenge pro­vid­ed an excel­lent oppor­tu­ni­ty to cap­i­talise on unit train­ing and work­ing togeth­er as a team. 

“The Army cadets all per­formed real­ly well, demon­strat­ing the val­ue of team­work and they are deliv­er­ing what will be Australia’s next gen­er­a­tion of lead­ers, whether they be in uni­form or oth­er walks of life,” he said. 

The Aus­tralian Army Cadets is a youth devel­op­ment pro­gram, con­duct­ed by the Aus­tralian Army in coop­er­a­tion with the com­mu­ni­ty. The pro­gram is designed to ben­e­fit the Nation by devel­op­ing the indi­vid­ual, their com­mu­ni­ty and the Aus­tralian Army. 

The Cadets who attend­ed the chal­lenge returned to their units on Sun­day, 6 March. 

Media Con­tact:
MAJ (AAC) Ben Robin­son, Pub­lic Affairs Offi­cer, Aus­tralian Army Cadets, 0427 428 057.
Lor­na Clarke (Sen­a­tor Feeney’s office), 0408 345 730 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia 

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