Everything about Cadet totally explained
» This article refers to the general definition of cadet. A Cadet may also be a member of the Cadets, a historical Russian political party. For the record label, see Cadet Records.
A
cadet is a future officer in the military. The term is often used by
uniformed services.
The term may also refer to a person who is junior in some way.
Etymology
The word is recorded in English since 1610, originally for a young son, identical to the French, which is itself derived from
Gascon (French Basque dialect of
Gascony in southwest France)
capdet "captain, chief," in turn from the Late Latin
capitellum, the diminitutive of Latin
caput "head" (hence also chief). Younger sons from Gascon families apparently were commonly sent to the French court to serve as officers; as a rule non-heirs from the European nobility sought careers in the military or the clergy.
Genealogical usage
A cadet is a younger son, as opposed to the firstborn heir. Compare
puisne.
As an adjective, "cadet" is used to signify the junior branch of a family. Thus, the
Orleans line was a
cadet branch of the
Bourbon family.
For the status as such, the noun
cadency exists, as in the heraldic term
mark of cadency for a feature which distinguishes a cadet son's coat of arms from the father's which is passed on unaltered only to the (usually firstborn) heir.
Military context
In
Commonwealth countries, including
United Kingdom, a
cadet is a member of one of the cadet forces. In the United Kingdom these are the
Combined Cadet Force, the
Sea Cadets,
Army Cadets and the
Air Training Corps. Military officers in training are called
officer cadets.
In
Canada, the term "cadet" refers to an officer in training, with the official rank names as Officer Cadet for the Air Force and Army and Naval Cadet for the Navy. It also refers to any member of the
Royal Canadian Army Cadets,
Royal Canadian Air Cadets or
Royal Canadian Sea Cadets. These three organizations are volunteer youth groups administered by the
Department of National Defence.
In
Germany, the rank
Cadet (
German:
Seekadett) only exists in the
German Navy for officers in training. In the Army and the
Luftwaffe, officers in training usually have the rank of a
Fahnenjunker or
Ensign (German:
Fähnrich) before they're promoted into the rank of a
Lieutenant.
In
Ireland,
Cadet is a pupil of the Military College, which carries out officer training for the
Air Corps,
Army and
Naval Service. Training takes 2 years and the Cadets are split into Senior and Junior Grades and Classes.
In
Norway, a "cadet" is a pupil of either of the three the
Krigsskolen ("war schools"), which educate commanding officers for either the Army, the Navy or to the Air Force.
In the
United States,
cadet refers to an officer in training. Students at the
United States Military Academy, the
United States Air Force Academy, the
United States Coast Guard Academy, the Maine Maritime Academy, the
Massachusetts Maritime Academy, the
State University of New York Maritime College, and members of the
Air Force and
Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps officially rank as "Cadet" while holding varying cadet ranks in their individual organizations.
In Australia Cadet also refers to an officer in training. The official rank is Officer Cadet (OCDT) however OCDT's in the Royal Military College - Duntroon are referred to as Staff Cadet (SCDT) for historical reasons.
Youth cadet corps
In the British and Commonwealth (formerly Empire) as well as
Russian service, these groups of boys or youths are organized, armed and trained on volunteer military lines.
Australia
In
Australia, a "Cadet" is a person aged between 13 and 20 who is a member of the
Australian Defence Force Cadets (ADFC). The ADFC comprises the
Australian Navy Cadets (ANC), the
Australian Army Cadets (AAC), and the
Australian Air Force Cadets (AAFC). To join cadets or for more information of the Australian Navy cadets vist http://www.cadetnet.gov.au. the best cadet known of is Cadet Robertson of Coffs Harbour,NSW, 2450.
Canada
Cadets Canada is the marketing name for the Canadian Cadet Organizations that comprise the
Royal Canadian Sea Cadets, the
Royal Canadian Air Cadets and the
Royal Canadian Army Cadets.
The program is sponsored by the
Canadian Forces and funded through the Department of National Defence (DND) in partnership with the Army Cadet, Air Cadet, and Navy Leagues of Canada.
The term Cadet Movement applies when speaking of everyone associated with the program including the CF, DND, Leagues, Community Sponsors, Cadets, and parents and guardians of cadets.
St. John Ambulance in Canada supports a youth division that includes "cadets".
Hong Kong
Two cadet corps are linked to
Hong Kong colonial past:
Both are now funded by the
Hong Kong government and has no ties to either the
British Forces of the
PLA.
Ireland
In Ireland a cadet is a young member of the
Order of Malta Ambulance Corps or the
St. John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland.
Singapore
In
Singapore, three national cadet forces exist: the
National Cadet Corps,
National Police Cadet Corps and the
National Civil Defence Cadet Corps. These cadet organisations have a uniform and rank structure which closely mirrors that of their parent body.
In addition there are other non-national cadet organisations, namely the
The Boys' Brigade in Singapore,
Girls' Brigade,
The Singapore Scout Association,
Girl Guides Singapore,
St. John Ambulance in Singapore and
Red Cross Youth.
Sri Lanka
In
Sri Lanka, there one primary cadet force which is the
National Cadet Corps (NCC). In resent years Air Force Cadet platoons have been established, however its unknown if these units come under the NCC or the
Sri Lanka Air Force.
United Kingdom
In
Commonwealth countries, including
United Kingdom, a
cadet is a member of one of the cadet forces. In the
United Kingdom, the cadet forces are the
Sea Cadets,
Army Cadet Force and
Air Training Corps (each is a stand alone youth organisations) and the school-based
Combined Cadet Force. In the UK, alongside the mainstream cadet forces are the Volunteer Cadet Corps (VCC), also sponsored by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) - these are mostly based in the South of England and include
Royal Marines Cadets. Cadets also represent
St. John Ambulance in the line of public duties and first aid. Many services have a
Police Cadet Corps.
New Zealand
In
New Zealand, the cadet forces are the
Air Training Corps (ATC), the
New Zealand Cadet Corps (NZCC) and the
Sea Cadet Corps (SCC). All of these organisations are part of the umbrella organisation of the
New Zealand Cadet Forces
Russia
Russian cadet corps have existed since 1732 and despite being banned by the
Soviet government for their support of the
White movement, were reintroduced after the fall of the USSR.
United States
The United States also has several youth cadet organizations. The
Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps is a youth citizenship program with units administered by either the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard in American high schools. One of the primary functions of the
Civil Air Patrol is to administer a similar cadet program training in elements of leadership, aerospace studies, and search and rescue. There are other programs including the
United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps and the
Young Marines. The oldest cadet program in the United States is the
American Cadet Alliance which was created in 1909.
For those who choose to enter a formal program to become an officer, cadet is the rank bestowed on those in
West Point, the
Coast Guard Academy, and
ROTC. Members of these programs will be commisioned in the military, with a term of commitment afterwards.
Civilian context
Hong Kong
In early colonial history of
Hong Kong,
cadet was a system for training young
Englishmen to be officials for Hong Kong where they'd to learn Chinese culture and sometimes
Cantonese language and
written Chinese in Hong Kong. Some of cadets became major officials and even
Hong Kong Governors. At later stage of colony
cadets were young
policemen under training in
Royal Hong Kong Police Force.
Switzerland
In
Switzerland,
cadet (
German:
Kadett) refers to a participant of the programs of a corps of cadets (
German:
Kadettenkorps), which are maintained by public schools or private associations. From the late 18th century to the mid-20th century, the Kadettenkorps used to prepare highschool students for service in the Swiss army. Influenced by the "Turnerbewegung" ('Gym movement'), the Kadettenkorps started in the early 20th century to shift their programme towards sports. Nowadays, the Swiss Cadets Association (
German:
Kadetten Schweiz) includes Kadettenkorps offering the following programmes: general sports (including the national league handball club
Kadetten Schaffhausen), trecking (like
scouting), march music bands (
German:
Kadettenmusik) and traffic regulation (
German:
Verkehrskadetten). Kadettenkorps offering traffic regulation only, are represented by the Swiss Verkehrskadetten Association (
German:
Schweizerischer Verkehrskadetten Verband).
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, a similar usage exists for personnel in training to become
fire and rescue service officers.
United States
In the United States,
cadet refers to an officer in training for the
police,
firefighter and
EMT services. Some police and sheriff's departments employ cadets as non-sworn law enforcement officers, either before or after entering a training academy. An example is the
NYC police cadet corps.
Merchant Navy
In the
Merchant Navy, a Cadet is an officer under training in much the same way as the military context. Cadets choose either one of two branches for professional development.
Deck Cadets train in the fields of
Navigation,
Shiphandling and
Cargo Handling as well as
Maritime Law. They will also receive training in firefighting, first aid and survival techniques.
Engineering Cadets train to become
Marine Engineers, and as such their fields encompass a range of theoretical and practical engineering subjects, including
mechanical physics,
thermodynamics,
control engineering,
applied mathematics,
welding and
fabrication. Engineering practice is mostly learned during the Cadet's assignment to a ship. Engineering Cadets also train in firefighting, survival and first aid. The cadet training scheme differs from country to country, but the learning objectives are always the same. In the
UK for example, Cadets undergo training in a block-release format, spending a shorter time in college before going to sea for a short assignment after which the cadet returns to college. Other countries allow the cadet to finish his/her degree before going to sea, but most countries seem to prefer a system where a cadet completes all of his/her sea time before returning to college for the final year of their degree.
Other usage
Some sports teams also refer to players that are in the process of being built up to play for the team at a later date as cadets. Such players often play for a lesser team in the same club. This is done quite commonly in the
National Rugby League (NRL). The
Serie B, the second most important football league in Italy, is nicknamed
campionato cadetto, meaning
championship of the cadets.
In Australia, the term is also used to describe a person pursuing a career as a Chartered Accountant under the "Cadetship" program, designed to accelerate career progression for motivated students. The programs are offered to students finishing high school or currently undertaking tertiary studies in relevant courses by several
Accounting firms such as Three of the
Big 4 accountancy firms (
KPMG,
PricewaterhouseCoopers and
Ernst & Young), and mid-tier firms such as
BDO and
Grant Thornton.
To refer to someone as a
space cadet is to imply that they're "on another planet," for example
foolish, ditzy or
dim. For example; "That guy is cadetting it." The phrase was inspired by
science fiction author
Robert A. Heinlein's juvenile novel
Space Cadet.
Cadet may also refer to someone belonging to "The Cadets" a Division I Drum and Bugle Corps, who have been Drum Corps International World Champions numerous times.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Cadet'.
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