Former Cadets Army Leadership Roles

Thursday, February 7, 2019

Former Army Cadets take on leaderships roles in Army

Twenty-four former Australian Army Cadets were among the December 2018 graduating class of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in Canberra.

The 24 former Army cadets, representing almost one sixth of the 151-strong Duntroon graduating class, are now among the Regular Army’s newest commissioned officers.

In recognition of their graduation from the Royal Military College (RMC) and in acknowledgement of their previous service in the Australian Army Cadets (AAC), the twenty-four new officers were presented with vouchers to purchase Sam Browne belts on behalf of Commander Australian Army Cadets, Brigadier Michael Ashleigh.

The Sam Browne is a brown or black leather belt with shoulder strap worn on ceremonial occasions by officers and Warrant Officers Class One of all corps. The Sam Browne belt is named after Sir Samuel James Browne, VC.

In presenting the vouchers on behalf of the Commander AAC, Lieutenant Colonel Sean Fleming from Headquarters Australian Army Cadets took the opportunity to reinforce to the graduating class the strategic importance of the Australian Army Cadets program in enabling Army to maintain a presence in remote areas and as a key pillar of Army’s community engagement strategy. The success of the program is reliant on Army’s on-going support to Cadet activities and the presentation was an opportunity to educate Army’s future leadership.

“The Commander and all members of the Australian Army Cadets are extremely proud of the efforts by the former cadets who have graduated from the Royal Military College, and this level of recruitment is a significant part of the return on investment in the Program for Chief of Army” LTCOL Fleming said.

“The Sam Browne belt is an iconic item of uniform for officers world-wide and it is hoped it will remind each of the recipients of the role their Army Cadet service played in their pathway to becoming officers in the Australian Army and how proud the Australian Army Cadets is of their achievement’ he said.

The Australian Army Cadets is a national youth development program conducted by the Australian Army. The purpose of the Australian Army Cadets is to benefit the nation by developing the individual, their community and the Australian Army.

The AAC and the Australian Army share the same values of Courage, Initiative, Respect and Teamwork.

“In graduating from RMC, each of the former Army Cadets has demonstrated how these shared values provide a strong link between the AAC and the Australian Army,” LTCOL Fleming said.

“Furthermore, these new officers provide a strong and positive role model to our current Army Cadets, many of whom are looking towards a career in the Australian Army,” LTCOL Fleming said.

There are more than 16,000 Army cadets based in over 220 units around Australia.