OC Review

Well it's now 2010 and this year is packed with exiting new things.

For the first time ever this unit will have three senior cadets, they all successfully completed the COU/WO course and will be promoted to the rank of Cadet Under Officer's(CUO) which is the highest rank available to cadets.

I congratulate all our cadets who attended the promotional courses such as, Junior Leaders, Senior Leaders and CUO/WO courses over the summer break and I know are eager to be promoted to their new ranks.

We are also preparing to meet a new batch of recruits with our major recruiting day being held for the third year running at the Raby Bay Harbour Park on Saturday 30 January.

This year I am establishing an engineering section under the command of LT Thomson. This will be modelled along the lines of the army assault engineers. I hope to be able to purchase a couple of metal detectors and other engineering tools. If any cadets are interested in engineering please see the orderly room.

Porton Platoon which is our water specialised platoon is growing with about 17 members. They are being tasked to operate a water exercise during the Battalion exercise which will be held on the long weekend in May. More news on that will follow.

We currently parade about 105 cadets and with the recruiting day coming up we are expecting about 35 - 40 new recruits in our first intake. This will swell our numbers to around 135- 140 cadets.

This year's main exercise in June will be held at the Wide Bay Training Area which is east of Gympie. This year the scenario will be a bit different from previous exercises held at WBTA. I am expecting the COU's to take a major part in planning the weekend with the help of the adult Training Officers.

Other exercises for the year will be Ex First Try 1/10 (for recruits) held at Karingal, Ex Shakedown at Tingalpa, Ex Happy Feet at Greenbank, Ex First Try 2/10 at Karingal as well as other community activities. I am still hopeful that we can start shooting again as last year cadets were banned from firing certain brands of .22 and we had to cancel Ex Sharpshooter at Belmont. This was disappointing as 136ACU had won four years in a row and looked good for a fifth one against our friendly rivals, TS Norfolk and 217 SQN.

The unit is also in the expansion mode and are looking at extending some of the facilities so we can provide better housing for the engineering and water platoon. We need to fundraise and apply for grants to make this project happen. I will be asking the Parent Support Group for their assistance in this project.

I trust that all will be returning for another year of fun and enjoyment and look forward to seeing old and new faces in 2010.