Air Cadet Program = Hitler Youth?

[iflyforpie]

I didn't join the Air Cadets but I wish I had. I did volunteer my time for familiarization flights out of the Oliver airport just after I got my CPL. It was just amazing the way these kids soaked up what little I had to show them.

It is a real shame that one of the few nation-wide organizations for youth in aviation finds itself a target of journalistic cynicism.

[Moose47]

<<<akoch Post subject: Re: Air Cadet Program = Hitler Youth?Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 9:32 pm
Rank 2
Joined: Tue May 26, 2009 9:37 pm
Posts: 85 .....It is painful to see our pilots involved in these wars. They should be flying home, defending this country. Not killing people overseas.>>>

I guess you have not talked to any of the Hornet jocks. This is what they have trained long and hard for. They are taking on the mission with great enthusiasm. So far I have not heard of any friendly casaualties that can be attributed to Canadian fighter bomber operations in Libya. Matter of fact, they have shown great restraint and come back on a number of occassions with all their ordanance when there was a risk of collateral damage. Now if you know otherwise, I would really like to hear about it.

[Vx.]

Hey "BigglesNBella" sounds like someone is bitter about not getting a flying scholarship.

Another former member here, 6 years with 744 squadron. There's a lot of us that got our start in this industry from the Cadet program. Its not for everyone but It changed my life in a positive way.

[BigglesNBella]

Hey "BigglesNBella" sounds like someone is bitter about not getting a flying scholarship.

Another former member here, 6 years with 744 squadron. There's a lot of us that got our start in this industry from the Cadet program. Its not for everyone but It changed my life in a positive way.

But I chose not to even apply...

[CLguy]

Just sent this letter:

Dear Sir

I have just became aware of the Air Cadet Article that appeared in your paper and I must say that I am appauled that a reputable paper would allow such garbage. It is very obvious that Mr. Bury has not even a basic understanding of what the Air Cadets do or stand for. My son was an Air Cadet and is now a 25 year old productive member of society with a great career. I credit some of his accomplishments to the Air Cadets for teaching him values, leadership and that hard work can have great rewards. I guess Mr. Bury would think that his young teenage years would have been better spent in an arcade downtown.

Please have Mr. Bury retract his comments as they are totally unfounded and without merit.

Yours truly

[trey kule]

Well, it will be interesting to see how the Star Phoenix reacts. Probably run an article something like this

"Gun toting facists defend cadet brainwashing program" ...results in Jack Layton and the Green party calling for a moratorium on Aviation in Canada...

I had great difficulty trying to , as they say, wordsmith my letter. Really had to tone it down , and then found when I did that I did not know if tofu eating, left wing, milk toast, son of a b****ch should all have been hyphenated, and , in all fairness
I was not sure if he actually ate tofu and I didnt want to put anything in that was not pure fact....

Will try to upload or down low, or whatever it is called, my letter as I dont want to retype.

Great to see so many ex-cadets that had the same positive experiences I did, and were willing to stand up for it.

[NO LINK*]

Hey all. The original 'article' was actually a letter to the editor. I expect that some of your letters will be selected for reprint and appear in the Star next week. As a former Cadet I agree with the majority of your comments on the post. Just a little curious as to how a connection from cadets/scouts was made to Hitler youth? Maybe I missed something in the original post.

[young grasshopper]

NO LINK* wrote:

Hey all. The original 'article' was actually a letter to the editor. I expect that some of your letters will be selected for reprint and appear in the Star next week.

Looks like Mr Bury is not a Staffer at the Starphoenix! I'm sure some of the letters generated from AvCanada will also make it onto ink next week . And yes -they made it look like he was a write for the Starphoenix by writing "THE STARPHOENIX" after his name...whoops

Scroll down to "letters":
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/toda ... SP#Letters

[TA/RA]

My letter to the editor.


Dear Sir/Ma'am

I have just read your newspaper's article regarding the Air Cadet program. I am sure that by now you must be aware that this article is attracting national attention coast to coast amongst the Aviation community. Mr. Bury's comments are both unfounded and made out of ignorance about a program that has not only taught our youth about community service, leadership and respect for ones communities but has also been an alternative to a misspent youth in drugs gangs and other generally unproductive activities. The Air Cadet program provides a foundation for young people to become confident and responsible members of society, who understand the values which Canada has embraced. Might I add that while the Air Cadet program follows Air Force traditions, no cadet is ever pressured into joining the Armed Forces. Should a Cadet decide to do so in their Adult years at least we can rest assured that the decision to do so was an informed one and without pressure or influence.

R
Former Air Cadet
Vancouver, BC

[blockheater]

You think this is the same guy? Axe to grind, me thinks...

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=418

From: John & Betsy Bury

Date: Sat, Nov 6, 2010 at 11:24 AM

Subject: F 35 Fighter-Bombers

This letter was sent to the Minister of Defence and our local MP’s by the Saskatoon Peace Coalition. Letters to the latter might enable a more intelligent debate on this matter. Amidst the discussion of single-sourcing versus at least two alternative planes, the real question is why does Canada need a plane that is designed for penetrating an opposing force’s radar at the beginning of an offensive campaign? Against whom are we going to fling our tiny army in the near future? Surely defence policy, although it is a government responsibility has to be debated in the H of C.

Here is the letter we sent to the Minister and our MPs.

—- Original Message —–

Hon. Peter Mackay, Minister of Defence.

Dear Minster,

We, the Saskatoon Peace Coalition, are writing to you with regard to your Government’s plans to purchase 65 F-35 Stealth Fighter-Bombers from Lockheed Martin. We believe that we reflect the views of many thousands of Canadians who will not be writing or making their views known to you.

Mr. Allan Williams, former senior procurement official states that open competition is needed for this fighter aircraft purchase and that it is obviously not publicly transparent. Further he states that sole-sourcing does not save time and should be an open process. As well he states that we do not need these aircraft and the military has yet to justify these numbers.

The expenditure of an initial $ 9 billion followed by as much as $ 20-30 billion over thirty years, based on US estimates, should give us pause to calculate what could be done with that amount of taxpayers money if spent on other essential government services, particularly when faced with a $ 56 billion deficit.

Please consider military equipment promised but as yet unfulfilled. Our Sea-King helicopters are still flying though replacements were promised in 1995. Three joint support ships for the Royal Canadian Navy promised in 2006 that would be invaluable in humanitarian missions as well as supporting our frigates overseas have not yet been contracted. We also need ice-breakers to maintain our sovereignty in the Arctic. It has been shown in Afghanistan that we need heavy-lift helicopters and large transport planes.

At a time when housing prices have risen three times faster than the cost of living, many Canadians are no longer able to buy a home. Homelessness is rising and many of our poorest are faced with high rents and are sacrificing food and health related essentials to pay them. One billion dollars would be enough to build between five to six thousand low-income housing units.

A billion dollars would pay for the annual health costs of 244,559 Canadians based on 2009 data. Canada is short of nurses and a billion dollars would pay for 18,000 nursing graduates or 12,000 senior nurses. Or we could hire 25,000 young high school teachers. Canadians are struggling and many more are making their way to the food banks. Unemployment is high but there seems to be little job creation a purchase such as this.

In the late fifties to sixties after Canadians spent hundreds of millions on the Avro-Arrow, our dependence and ties to the UP.SO military increased in an unprecedented way. At that time General Macklin said,,, The Royal Canadian Air Force now is a defensive tactical handmaiden to the United States Strategic Air Force and nothing more…a colonial military instrument serving the nuclear strategy of the United States, Canada has been known as a peacekeeper to the rest of the world, but that has changed with the government following the US into Afghanistan. Canada must return to its original stance of being on call to the United Nations. Canada will soon withdraw from the unwinnable war in Afghanistan, and it is now essential to be preparing for its military role in the future and return to its traditional role as a peacekeeper.

The primary international requirement is for a highly mobile force capable of operating more like a police force within dangerous low intensity conflict environments that also require close interaction with local populations, something that our forces have gained experience of in Afghanistan. Much of the military equipment and many of the functions both at home and abroad are interchangeable as has been demonstrated by the response from the armed forces to the damage wrought by the recent storms in Newfoundland.

Given the unmet equipment needs of our armed forces and our most probable role in the future we feel that we are in the dark about the Government’s secret plans that looks as though we are planning to go to war by the purchase of 65 stealth fighter bombers whose purpose is offensive.

The most immediate threats to the security of people come in the forms of unmet basic needs, denial of basic rights, social exclusion, social and political disintegration and the escalation of increased political and criminal violence. In addition the retention of and further spread of nuclear weapons has always posed a towering threat to the safety of all peoples. Canada must expend more effort on diplomacy overseas and international cooperation in order to level the share of income, wealth and assets across the world. Canada must immediately make good its promise to spend at least 0.7 % of its GDP on overseas aid.

We know this is a deal that will certainly benefit the military-industrial complex of which Lockheed Martin is a large part. This is a corporation that is riddled with lawsuits for everything from racial and sexual harassment to fraudulent procurements. It is well known that there is a revolving door between the corporation and the Pentagon, We are anxious to be reassured that there is no similar situation occurring in Canada with special financial gains accruing to special individuals.

We ask that you take these serious concerns of ourselves and many others into consideration. We look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

John D.Bury. For the Saskatoon Peace Coalition.
..

[fish4life]

Just to add to it again, I'm another ex Air Cadet. The program taught me more than I could have ever dreamed of and some of my closest friends are people I met in Air Cadets. Glider and power scholarships along with a couple trips to Nationals for target shooting and biathlon it was an amazing experience. I joined at 12 years old a very shy young boy and graduated from the program a young man that was more proud of his country and excellently prepared to start my career with good leadership skills and a much more outgoing attitude which has definitely been essential in getting me where I am in life. Of my 3 friends who did the power program together, One is an aeronautical engineer that still flies for fun, the other currently teaches military pilots in a civilian job and I'm flying for an airline, I doubt any of us would have been where we are if it were not for the great mentors we had. I would recommend the program to any parent that has kids around the 12-16yr old range, on top of everything else they have some university scholarships one can obtain as well making it more desirable of a program for kids not as interested in the aviation side of things. I'll be writing my letter

[nwesterntown]

Wow
Just wow.
I don't post here much. My daughter(12) came from school in Sept. asking to join Air Cadets.
Never had an easier decision as parents!
She LOVES it, and it has been a great experience so far.

We live in a very small, remote town, this kind of program is crucial for our youth.

Thanks to OFD, first for the post bringing this to my attention, and secondly to everyone involved
in bringing flight to our kids.

Thank you
ATB
Ed

[Moose47]

<<<Canada has been known as a peacekeeper to the rest of the world, but that has changed with the government following the US into Afghanistan. Canada must return to its original stance of being on call to the United Nations. Canada will soon withdraw from the unwinnable war in Afghanistan, and it is now essential to be preparing for its military role in the future and return to its traditional role as a peacekeeper.>>>

Where the hell does this peace creep get off with yapping about our "traditional" role as a peacekeepers. I wish people like him would quit perpetuating this myth. He must have skipped a few history classes. We fought wars in South Africa, the Great War, in Russia in 1919, the Second World War, Korea, in the Gulf, the Balkans and now Afghanistan. We were involved quite heavily in the Cold War with bases in France and Germany from the early 1950's up to the collapse of the Berlin Wall. That is what the primary role of the Canadian military was for over 50 years, the defence of Canada from the Societ Union and our N.A.T.O. committment in Europe. Well at least that's what they told me while I was crouched down in a trench with my C-2 freezing my butt off. We were there to stem the tide of the Red onslaught through the Fulda Gap.

Peacekeeping, a Canadian inovation has only been around since 1956. A number of these missions have turned deadly with over 100 Canadians killed while serving. I wonder if Mr. Bury finds these deaths pallatable because our troops were wearing blue berets at the time.

[saltypilot]

Add another letter to the pile sent to the Star

To whom it may concern,

I am a former Royal Canadian Air Cadet who has had the great misfortune of seeing Mr. Bury’s article go to publication. I don’t know how else I can express myself other than by saying that I am disheartened by what this author has put in words and this paper has seen fit to put into print. Let me qualify myself by saying that I do agree with free speech but in the same sentence I have to say that common sense and looking at both sides must be prevalent before opening ones mouth or putting pen to paper. So my objective in writing this is to give your readers the other side of the Air Cadet movement from the eyes of one young man.

Since I’ve been old enough to remember, my passion in life has and will always be aviation. To slip the surly bonds of earth was my lifelong goal and nobody was going to sway me from it, so at about the age of 10 I asked my uncle who was an airline pilot how he got his start. He told me that he was an Air Cadet when he was a young man and by working hard and applying himself the Air Cadet League awarded his hard work with a scholarship to get his Private Pilot License. So being of sound mind and with my uncles words forever engraved I started on my journey. Prior to my 11th birthday I enrolled in the local Air Cadet Squadron. Although I was told that I could not technically participate until I was 12, I began showing up on parade nights and the all-day Saturday training to watch and learn so that when I turned 12 I would turn this particular squadron on its side. My drive took me through the next 5 ½ years and I saw all the benefits of my persistence all the while holding the end goal close to my heart. I attended every parade night, weekend event, special event, wilderness outing, and annual ceremonial review. My first summer course that I attended was an Air Studies course, a course to give youth a full introduction to everything aviation and to lay the groundwork for all further squadron flight training. I learned to be a leader being one of the youngest cadets of the lowest rank to ever be put on a senior leadership course. One summer in particular, I did not get the summer course I had applied for so faced not going to summer camp. I asked my commanding officer if I could wait at the airport in uniform in case a cadet didn’t show up…one didn’t and I got a course that gave me physical education. For 3 solid weeks I learned how to train my body, to organize gaming events, and brought everything I learned back to teach to my squadron. The next summer I spent 6 weeks learning everything about aircraft piston and turbine engines. My final summer I was awarded the flying scholarship and in 7 weeks in the summer of 1996 I became a certified private pilot. In the 5 ½ years I was a part of the air cadet movement I learned many life skills that to this day serve me and have shaped me into the man I am today. I still look back on all of the challenges I faced and wonder where I would be today if I had not chosen to be a part of this movement, and taking to heart its motto, To Learn – To Serve – To Advance. I can tell you that because of this valued organization I have realized my dreams. I have achieved my career goal of flying for my chosen airline…Westjet.

I look forward to seeing you all soon and if you here my name called over the PA and would like to bring your youth to the flight deck for a touch of encouragement, I’ll be there. We are all a sum total of our life experiences and products of our environment. The Royal Canadian Air Cadets have made me and countless thousands of others into the people we are today.

Sincerely,

[TA/RA]

Just received this from the editor:

Dear R.........,

Thank you for this note. I have brought it to the attention of senior
editors at The StarPhoenix. Mr. Bury is not an employee. He actually wrote a
letter to the editor, which appeared as such in the newspaper. For some
reason, the online version of the letter implies he is a staff writer. He is
not.

Please feel free to contact me again if you have any further questions or
concerns.

Lana Haight
On behalf of city editor Heather Persson

[MrWings]

I do not have an air cadet background nor do I have a good understanding of what they actually do.

But as a sane, level-headed person, I can instinctively tell that Mr. Bury is way off base.

Might I suggest that all of the vitriol and letter writing somehow brightens the spotlight on an otherwise unknown crackpot the same way that the Koran burners and the Westboro Baptist Church make the news.

But good on you for standing up for what you believe.

[esp803]

Haha, I got the exact same response from my letter

[Darkwing Duck]

As a past member of Air Cadets I felt this is a fantastic organization. I spent 5 yrs that were one of the best parts of my life. I met life long friends that mean more to me then some of the people I went to high school with. From anywhere from 3-5 days a week we were always doing something. Being motivated and then motivating. The things I took away from Air Cadets, the Leadership, Airmanship, survival training, disipline, determination, comraderrie, respect, manners, fun, work ethic, gliding and flying, camping, summer camps, weekend camps, and the best of all, a powered flying scholarship helped to mold me to what I have become today. Alot of us worked hard, played hard and made something of ourselves. We won best squadron in Alberta 2 of my years, along with Drill team and band competitions a couple of times. We not only pushed ourselves we pushed each other. If we did not have a parade night or a band night or a sport night or a weekend exercise we were at one of our friends house having a get together. Alot of the squadron would be there. We were a team. We were happy for everyone's successes and sorry for them if they did not reach the goal. We became better people for what we did. And all of this was because of Air Cadets.

No we did not get paid. But we did not pay any fees either. But we did a lot of fund raising. Our officers did get paid. But really who cares. We had dedicated people, members of the reserves, yes, but still worth every ounce of fiber, they were. Each one instilled something in each of us. What needs to be done is more money poured into Cadet orgaizations. I hear about how some groups are struggling to find a place to parade, the lack of funds for a camp or gliding weekend. So if you have a cadet program in your area, throw them a few dollars to help out. Your taxes or donation are investing in this countries future.

I just hope I have been able to return this and more to society, but I highly doubt that.

So Old Fogducker, once again I applaud you in a fine contribution and thank you for bringing this member of the press to our attention. Perhaps he should take a "research tour" of that local squadron and see what these young people are really doing. Perhaps on the night they award the scholarships.

[kevind]

Letter in the star phoenix

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/Cadets+tr ... z1JWyPcJr1





Cadets treated unfairly







By Jessica Cannon, The StarPhoenix April 14, 2011










Re: Air cadets unwelcome (SP, April . As someone who benefited from the air cadet program for seven years of my youth, I was troubled to see John Bury's letter that so blatantly degraded a program that does phenomenal things for youth across Canada.

Also concerning was Bury's complete ignorance of the program.

From the ages of 12 to 18, I was in cadets and learned invaluable life skills such as public speaking, self-discipline and respect, and how to behave in a professional capacity.

I was taught to be a contributing and responsible member of society. I learned how to work hard, be a part of a team and value others -skills that many of my peers unfortunately lack.

Perhaps the most important function of cadets was that it kept me off the streets. It gave me a safe and productive place to go throughout my adolescence.

Not once was I taught to fly a plane as a mean of inflicting pain and suffering on anyone -civilian or otherwise. Furthermore, there was never any coercion for me to join the Canadian Forces.

I am currently completing my final year in a bachelor of education. Teaching is the career cadets led me to -a career rooted in support, growth and learning. Three things, I would argue, the Air Cadet League stands for and encourages.

So, I pose this to Bury: Are ignorance and intolerance for things we don't understand what we need to teach our young?

Jessica Cannon

Saskatoon

© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix


Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/Cadets+tr ... z1JXD7XRY4

[challydriver]

It's official, Jessica Cannon is now my hero.

What an OUTSTANDING reply to Mr. Bury...

[trey kule]

plus 1 (or 288)

Jessica Cannon is Avcanada's hero of the year!

[The Old Fogducker]

I'm very glad to see the newspaper publish rebuttals to Mr. John Bury's scurrilous attack on a few well-meaning Air Cadets standing to one side of the entrance to The Farmer's Market in Saskatoon raising funds for good works.

The paper didn't print my scathing reply .... too bad. It was one of my best jobs of calling a scumbag a scumbag.

Thank-you to everyone who took the time to write to the Star Phoenix defending the Air Cadet program. As evidenced by the passion in the posts here on AvCanada, this was a "hot-button item" for many of us who were cadets, Civilian Instructors or Cadet Officers.

The Old Fogducker

[just curious]

As replies go, hers was likely more balanced than a number of ours might have been.

And I gather the paper will be a bit more careful how they display letters and articles in the on-line version.

[wzuk1]

"Air cadets unwelcome!" A Response

Although I am submitting my response late, my observations mirror many of the comments already given by former air cadets as well as by others who have a basic understanding of the youth program.

My story is not especially unique. I grew up as an "only child" in an impoverished neighbourhood in an urban setting where there were few community resources save a Carnegie-era library. As a young person, I had been a Boy Scout but the allure of flying was a powerful elixir and drew me along with a friend to an air cadet squadron night. He was already an LAC and proudly showed me off to his mates as a possible recruit. After only one parade, I knew I had made friends and even though I had been charitably allowed to march in jeans and t-shirt in one of the flights, I still had to get the requisite permission forms signed by my parents.

My mother was more than reticent as she patiently explained how our family had been heavily committed to a war effort that had ultimately taken the lives of seven relatives including my half-brother and had left another half-brother crippled. She took the forms and put them up on the fridge. My father had served in a faraway war, and had fled his home when his side had been driven into exile, but he was surprisingly, open to my application as an air cadet. For the next three weeks, I gathered as much information as I could from my friend about cadets and what it could mean: summer camps all around Canada, a chance to make more friends and perhaps learn about flying, a particular interest of mine. It took quite a bit of persuading but eventually my mother came around.

My six years as a cadet were exhilarating, I went to summer camps each year, in Borden, St. Jean and Penhold, I rose rapidly through the ranks to WO1, led an award-winning drill squad to victory, gained my flying scholarship at 16, and was instrumental in starting up a squadron newsletter and yearbook. Our squadron also introduced girls as one of the first in Canada to integrate boys and girls into a cadet program. Many of the cadets I knew throughout the years, went on to a career in aviation, but not all. What did remain over the years was the camaraderie and fun times, the experiences of travel and course work that expanded horizons.

After a working career in education, I became an executive director of an aviation organization in our province and in semi-retirement, turned back to a time when I had learned to become a writer on a squadron newsletter. I began to write books about the men and women of Canada's rich aviation heritage and some of the stories have been turned into films. My work today as a director of the Air Cadet League in Canada has brought me back full circle to the young people who I meet at the two air cadet squadrons in which I play a liaison role.

As I talk to these young people, I can still see myself as a teen, wanting to discover as much as I could and finding my strength as part of a team and yet learning how to be a leader. What the recent letter to the editor that appeared in the April 8, 2011 Saskatoon StarPhoenix that characterized air cadets as being "unwelcome" (as the editor so brusquely stated in the headline) has unleashed, is a torrent of contradictory responses.

The author of the letter decried what we are "teaching our young". Perhaps it is time for him to take a second to stop and talk to some of those young people that "offended" him so much at a farmer's market where they were canvassing for their organization. He will likely find that Canada's teens in cadet uniform are not only becoming exemplars in citizenship but are not at all the militaristic dupes that he has implied. Nearly all cadet units have a parents' council that helps support the squadron and is fully cognizant of what being a cadet entails. My mother pinned on my wings at the graduating parade, she made a special effort to ask to do that. She was Canada's last Silver Cross Mother of the Second World War.

Bill Zuk

[Rotten Apple #1]

6 years a cadet (reached WO1). Five years a CIL officer working at a gliding school teaching teenagers to fly. Pfft! I say to this poopy-pants dude.

And in a few years, when we take over society in a military coup, this guy is first up against the wall!

"Squadron......Dis.....missed!"