The Week That Was…

September 8, 2013

Commandant Gives Thumbs Up to 1 Squadron Spirit!

Article & Photos by: 26659 OCdt (II) Danielle Andela

1 Squadron has started the year off with a bang or shall I say, a splash? When the officer-cadets and staff of the Royal Military College of Canada woke up Wednesday, September the 4th, the last thing they expected to see was the steps of the campus Currie Building converted into a ship! However ship it was, the Commandant, Brigadier General Meinzinger and Chief Petty Officer 1st Class Davidson of RMCC took a moment to show their approval for this dramatic skylark! Credit for this skylark goes to several fourth year cadets of 1 Squadron. Skylarks have always been a staple of military college life as ways for officer-cadets to express Squadron pride.

Many more exciting displays a.k.a. skylarks, are expected throughout the year! Secure your area!!

(Click on photos for better viewing)

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Cadets Continue With Two Long Standing Events & Traditions

Article by: 26497 Ncdt (III) Matthew Noonan

The past weekend the RMCC once again engaged in two long standing events and traditions: the annual sports day and Harrier Race. These competitions made for an excellent day of fun, provided an opportunity for some friendly rivalry within the cadet wing, and marked one of the first interactions of RMCC’s new first year cadets have with their senior peers.

Saturday began with the Harrier Race, a five kilometre annual event up scenic Fort Henry Hill. The race was an individually timed event, however, that did not mean that the pressure was not on for groups to perform their best as well. The top 25 runners from each squadron were assigned points values based on their placing and added together as a group the amount of points received were added to the points total for their squadron at the end of the day. To this end all competitors in the race performed their best. In the end Kevin Bates, an RMC Staff member had the fastest individual time at 17:10. Trevor Reid of 8 squadron held the best time for any cadet finishing only 1 second behind Mr. Bates. Etienne Pouliot-Maillette was the fastest female at the college finishing the course in 19:22. Overall two squadron finished at the top of the pack with a combined average time of 21:16.

Following on the heels of the Harrier Race the cadet wing moved to the Navy Bay sports fields to take part in the next event of sports day, the tabloids competition. During the tabloids competition members from each squadron compete in a variety of small games ranging from dribbling a soccer ball, to shooting golf balls, to filling a bucket of water with nothing more than a series of wet cloths. Throughout all the tabloids cadets took an opportunity to show their squadron pride cheering and climbing the soccer nets at the end of the field to wave their squadron flags. In the end 10 squadron proved to have the most diverse skills winning the tabloid competition.

Next up was the maze game and flag football matches. Here cadets either tested their brawn or their agility. Through several hard fought matches 8 squadron emerged victorious on the football field while 2 and 3 squadron dueled for the maze game crown until 2 squadron took the event.

At lunchtime cadets enjoyed a barbeque next to the Birchall Pavilion while at the same time attending the RMCC Recspo. Here members of the various competitive and recreational clubs at the college showed off their club in the hope recruiting some new members. The Recspo involved clubs ranging from Model Nato, to water polo, to Band and Highland dance. However the Sailing club took up the most space, and the most of everyone’s eye, by bring three trailered boats to the event.

Finally came the event everyone had been waiting for, the Tug of War, and all cadets breathed a sigh of relief as they noticed the absence of the muscular Otter Squadron, the perennial champs, and realized that this year they might win. After much pulling and many back and forth contests the Tug of War came down to 1 squadron and 7 squadron. It took two losses for a team to be eliminated, and 1 squadron already had one. 7 squadron was yet undefeated. With the pressure on 1 squadron managed to pull out two back to back victories and take the title.

A day of fun and activity was wrapped up with an awards ceremony and speech from the Director of Cadets, Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Lemyre and the presentation of two more awards. 9 Squadron received the highest squadron spirit award and 2 squadron received the award for the winning squadron overall. At the end of the day all members of the RMCC went home tired but happy looking forward to another successful sports day next year.