The Kamsack air cadet squadron, which will celebrate its 60th anniversary in January, is eagerly seeking persons to fill the roles of officers, instructors and other volunteers.
Karen Bodnaryk, who has been with the squadron for 13 years and has served as its commanding officer for the past eight years, will be “aging out” of uniform at the end of December, and will have to step down to become a civilian instructor.
“I’ll be able to do administration work and will help with the training, but will not be able to work in uniform,” she said last week. A commanding officer to succeed her is yet to be named.
The squadron, which has the Kamsack branch of the Royal Canadian Legion as its sponsor, ended last year with 20 cadets, and Bodnaryk said she expects between 20 and 25 to register this season although she’d “love to see 60 for the 60th anniversary.”
“We expect 17 of last year’s squadron to return this year.”
Although the squadron’s first parade was held yesterday (Wednesday) in the large gym at the Kamsack Comprehensive Institute, and will be held each Wednesday throughout the season, there is still plenty of time to register, she said. Adults wishing to help, and students wishing to join the squadron, need only to show up at the KCI gym on a Wednesday evening.
During the season the cadets will be able to participate on a citizenship tour to Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick in the spring and parents and the cadets are already busy raising funds for that trip. Among the fundraisers are the sale of the car raffle tickets, Mom’s Pantry products and the annual community calendars.
Many of the activities that the Kamsack cadets will undertake during the season will be done with members of the Yorkton and Canora squadrons, she said, adding that the biathlon sessions will be done with the Canora group and the outdoor survival exercise will be done with the Yorkton cadets.
Of course, the cadets are all eligible to be selected to attend various camps in the summer, Bodnaryk said.
