Air Cadets ecstatic to receive their wings
Medicine Hat welcomed its latest squadron of Air Cadet pilots with a special Wings Parade on Thursday evening at Super T Aviation.
The 17 graduating cadets have been taking flying lessons in Medicine Hat for most of the summer, the Wings Parade ceremony is the culmination of all their hard work and hours of flight time.
Special guests on the evening included MLAs Drew Barnes and Bob Wanner, MP Glen Motz and Bob Bauhuis of the Air Cadet League of Canada. The reviewing officer was former Hatter Maj. Andrew Faith, who flew in from CFB Moose Jaw where his is an instructor for the parade.
The parade and wings presentation ceremony was followed by a reception in the Super T hangar.
This year, the graduating class included 16-year-old Crescent Heights High School student Anoushka Gaekwad. Gaekwad shared tears, hugs and high-fives with her fellow graduates after the formal part of the ceremony concluded just after 8 p.m.
“It was actually pretty cool to think that at 16 you can get your pilot licence,” she said. “I am without words. The course was super hard. Everyday flying, waking up, getting up at 6:30 a.m., and studying for the course was a pretty difficult thing. But once you finished that flight test, you knew it was worth it.”
Maj. Faith remembered his own graduation day on the same tarmac when he was an Air Cadet in Medicine Hat all those years ago.
“It was the beginning of my love of aviation,” recalled Faith. “It set the foundation for when I carried on in my military training and career.”
Faith also credited Air Cadets for teaching him many life lessons which he still remembers to this today. He recommended the cadet program for any student in Medicine Hat who is looking for some new opportunities or a stronger direction in life.
“The potential, the possibilities for Air Cadets is really amazing, the top of which you see here tonight,” he said. “This is a $20,000 scholarship to learn how to fly, and set yourself up for a career in aviation. You can’t get this in any other organization as a teen. It’s really phenomenal.”