WA’s best cadets challenged to climb military ranks at Katanning army depot

The best young WA army cadets were put to the test in Katanning last week in a bid to raise their military rank and foster the next generation of leaders. The most promising cadets aged 13-17 from over a dozen units Statewide joined the Katanning 518 Army Cadet Unit for educational courses and drills last week. The Katanning army depot was a flurry of activity as 49 junior leaders attended the promotional course that, if successfully completed, would raise their rank from cadet to lance corporal. This included two days of concealment and controlling training, where cadets went out into bushland in camouflage to reinforce navigation and leadership skills. Adam Winter, 53rd Battalion captain, said the course aimed to provide “hands-on, real-time training in real military environment.” “This is about developing and providing them with self-discipline and self-motivation skills that will stay with them for the rest of their lives,” he said. “Discipline, leadership and teamwork — we encourage every single one of them to embody this.” “We have a rank structure, so we have senior cadets here who are now instructors of the cadets and the role of the adults is just to facilitate administrative stuff” Capt. Winter said the Australian Army Cadets were looking for new recruits and were open to all abilities. “It is a military environment we get a huge amount of people from a multitude of different backgrounds and the environment we are in helps put everyone together into one strong cohesive team,” he said. Cadet training officer Madison Pepall is a Katanning local who has risen from cadet to now hold a leadership position. She said she had gained a lot of confidence and purpose from joining the cadets as a teenager. The course comes as one of the first Australian Army Cadet in-person gatherings since prior to the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 due to the hands on demands of the course. Cadets from the 518 Cadet Unit are scheduled to parade at the ANZAC Day Dawn Service in Katanning later this month. 14 year old Lance Corporal Bodhi Anyon strongly encourages the Katanning community to come to the Anzac day service to pay respect to those “that could of been in our shoes.”