Times Chronicle Staff
Local Air Cadets are on “cloud 9” with a $10,000 donation from the Kiwanis Club of Oliver.
Last week president Russell Newcombe and treasurer Larry Larson attended 232 Bighorn Squadron’s training night with a cheque in hand for an Air Cadet “citizenship” trip to Comox and Victoria on March 26-30.
“We were all very excited about this large donation and the opportunities it gives,” said Capt. Amy Knechtel, Bighorn’s commanding officer.
She said the trip will give the cadets firsthand experience at two military bases as well as other aviation and cultural tours. In Comox, they will learn how the base’s search and rescue operates and will visit the airport tower. They will also explore an Aurora airplane and learn about maintenance and other military careers on the base.
In Victoria, the cadets will visit the military base as well as tour the Parliament buildings, Royal BC Museum and BC Aviation Museum.
Knechtel said the squadron is extremely excited for the trip considering the cadets’ limited training and community involvement during the past two years due to the pandemic. For example, they were not permitted to do any fundraising to supplement their training budget.
“As a result, our cadets have missed out on numerous opportunities that they would normally have been given.”
One of those opportunities has been the annual citizenship trip, which exposes the cadets to the world around them, including military bases.
“We had talked about taking the cadets to see a larger military base such as Edmonton but have never had the finances to do so.”
Knechtel noted the squadron has seen a large influx of new cadets. The average number of active cadets prior to COVID was between 20-25. This year there are 33 cadets with new ones still joining.
“There seems to be a renewed enthusiasm within the youth for this training program, Knechtel said.
