People You Meet - Brigadier David McCammon, DSM and BAR Commander of Army Cadets

You were appointed Commander of Army Cadets at the beginning of this year. Norfolk Island obviously has its own Army Cadet Unit, can you tell us a bit more about cadets and what they offer to young people?

Army Cadets is a youth-based programme that’s designed on a range of army values and principles. We run it across the country and there are approx. 20,000 cadets in total. There’s upwards of 250 units, spread across Australia. The intent is to build leadership and resilience in youth, through the opportunity of doing army-like activities. For those who haven’t seen it in action, you might think it’s similar to boy scouts, but it’s much closer to the army than scouts.

What is the optimum age for cadets?

Interestingly, there are some schools, particularly in NSW and Victoria, the entire school does army cadets as part of their curriculum. When you enrol, you immediately enlist for cadets as well. Most cadet units start at high school age, about thirteen years and older.

Do you find that most cadets the head towards a career in the army?

Statistically about 17% of cadets go on to have a career in the ADF (Australian Defence Force). I have a small team who assist cadets that want to join up. I want to make it clear that we’re not trying to get cadets to recruit. Cadets is about building resilience and leadership for young people. In saying that, I was out last night with the cadets and, as an army officer, there’s a lot of those kids I’d love to see join the army and go further.

For us to have a cadet programme here is quite an achievement.

Yes, it’s what I find really rewarding about cadets. You’ve got this amazing group of people, the cadet volunteers, that pull it all together. I’ve only been here 24 hours, but this is the perfect place for a cadet unit. I say this because the community is so strong here. What I’ve found is that strong communities with strong values, and strong volunteers, have really successful cadet units.

Is the curriculum is created by the armed forces and the volunteers create from there?

Yes, there’s a National Curriculum, and within each unit, they can pick and choose which parts they can, or want, to do. It’s a great way to use different skill sets on a weekly basis. Annually, they get together for a camp. The cadets from here can go to NSW for a camp. We also run a couple of national activities each year. Last week was the Deputy Chief of Army Adventure Training down in Tasmania, where cadets go and take part in different activities designed to build their resilience. In a month or two, we will run the Regimental Sargent Major of the Army’s Drill Competition at RMC (Royal Military College). Those selected to attend that, will go to the RMC. They will spend time at ADVAR, which is the Defence Forces’ University. They get a special guided tour of the Memorial as well.

Last night, I was told one of your cadets attended the Tasmanian training activity. Earlier this year, a cadet from here attended a camp in NSW. People shouldn’t just think it’s all about marching and camping. There are many diverse opportunities and activities available. For example, the army cadet drone team beat the actual army, navy and air force drone teams at Avalon Air Show a couple of weeks ago!

We just signed off with Air Force Cadets to use their cyber program and their space program. Cadets here will be able to sign in online and be a part of it. There are many career opportunities that can arise from cadet training, not necessarily the army.

You said there are 250 plus cadet units.

As those numbers show, we are in many areas. In some places we are on a military base, others in scout halls, etc. In some places, we’re part of the school curriculum. In other places, it’s just a mum or a dad started up a programme because it’s a great opportunity for kids to do something of an afternoon and get some leadership skills. I know as a parent of four myself, getting kids to do something after school is always pretty good. I would say that if you have kids out there that are keen to try something, give cadets a try and see if they enjoy it. We had an hour with the cadet unit last night and they were great. They’re a great bunch of kids and the volunteers are excellent too.
Do you find it harder to get more cadets to enlist, given that discipline is not as prevalent as it used to be? Is there less tolerance to being told what to do?

We’re not about discipline; we’re about giving kids opportunities and building their resilience. Individual discipline is what we really strive for, helping them to be disciplined within themselves. In terms of people joining, we’ve been growing this year, I’d like to see us grow more. People have a view of what the army looks like, what cadets look like, after watching movies. It’s interesting, I’ve been in the army thirty something years and there’s never as much yelling in the army like in the movies.

So, you’ve never met a Major Payne?

Never. I’m not saying they aren’t out there, but in 30 plus years, I haven’t met one.

Which is the oldest cadet unit in Australia?

I think its Kings School in Sydney. I think there’s also one in Victoria that opened about the same time, in the 1860’s. The oldest in Queensland is Toowoomba Grammar School and they’ve been active since 1875. Norfolk Island’s Cadet Unit has been on island since 1998 and celebrated 25 years in 2023.

Let’s talk about the Volunteers

To have a good cadet unit you need great volunteers. To get great volunteers you need an excellent community, and people within it who are interested. That’s why I think Norfolk Island has a very strong cadet unit. It’s been going for a long time because the community gets behind it. The most important part of cadets is the volunteer workforce who are responsible for the day-in day-out activities. Without them, without their support, cadets wouldn’t be possible.

Tim, Sam and Peter are amazing leaders and volunteers for the NI Cadets. There’s two sorts of volunteers; the ones wearing uniform that do a level of formal training and volunteers that help out. I was talking to a parent in Adelaide and said, “Why don’t we get you a uniform?” He replied he couldn’t spare the time. Two weeks later I saw him in Avalon. Here’s a dad taking a week off work to support his kid and other kids, to take part at the Avalon Air Show.

I guess people look at the big picture and think, ‘Oh it’s too much and I don’t have that much time’, without thinking, ‘I can do this much and help in this way.’

Exactly. The more volunteers you get, the more the workload is shared and there isn’t as much for them to do. I was in Tassie the other week and the volunteers were running an activity one week and the next week they were running a Bunnings sausage sizzle to make money for the next activity.

Do cadets do their own fund-raising?

The army funds cadets up to what we define as the regional level. It pays for all of governance, regulations, national activities and then it funds the regional camps. Uniforms, packs, flights and anything related to those activities is funded by the army. The day-to-day activities, like camping, are usually funded or fund-raised by the cadet unit.

Moving up with the ranks, how is that measured or achieved? Is it like boy scouts, where you earn certain types of badges?

It’s interesting you mention badges because we don’t have many badges. When I came into this job, I’d read studies saying this generation needing more acknowledgement. Last year the cadet groups said they didn’t want more badges, only the meaningful ones we already have.

In terms of qualification and rank, it works on going away to doing leadership training. That way you work through the ranks. Obviously, you have to spend time to get there, so senior cadets ascend in rank.

Is there a certain age where you identify it’s time for them to go and try different training or is it a maturity factor?

I think that’s down to the Officer Commanding (OC) within the units to say this cadet is ready to take the next step. If they want to and they’re ready, then it happens naturally.

There’s also the opportunity to receive the Duke of Edinburgh Award through cadets. It’s an outdoor/adventure training that has progressive levels of difficulty, generated by Prince Phillip to help foster outdoor resilience. There are plenty of people who do the award who aren’t in cadets, but last year we signed a national agreement so the program can be done through cadets. If you do it through cadets it’s a one-off payment, but if you do it through schools or other locations, you pay for each level.

203 Army Cadet Unit, Norfolk Island

Scout Hall, Middlegate Road

Wednesdays 3.30 – 6.00pm

Contact: CAPT (AAC) Tim Sheridan

LT (AAC) Sam Quintal

2LT (AAC) Peter Heard