To as if other children strongly dislike cadets?

[MumEeeee]

DS wanted to join air cadets, quite hard to get into but we got a place.

All the reviews are amazing, everyone raves about it but DS, despite loving sports/ scouts and being super enthusiastic to start has gone off it pretty fast.

Just wondering if it’s that unusual? Drill he found dull and awkward, the memorising drill and stuff mainly too (loved some history, but not stuff like memorising the drill book). He felt the trade off of occasional camps and stuff in the future was amazing, but he couldn’t do all the other stuff to get to them two nights a week. They also run until really late, cleaning up starting about 9:35 so it’s hard to collect them. Other teens were really really nice kids, but again he felt the rest would be dull.

Would you encourage to stick at it a little? Or just stop. Tbh, inside I know I’d not be keen on drill

Dd was an air cadet for a couple of years pre A levels. She loved it, went to Gibraltar, flew gliders and flight simulators, learned to shoot, did D of E gold , guided the public at the air tattoo at Fairford... alongside drill, radio skills and history. They had a very active group. She only left because she did not see herself continuing into the RAF and the time commitment was too high during exam times.

Some really notice the gap between scouts and air cadets - more work for fewer visible rewards on your brassard. If you have another squadron in your area, maybe have a chat with their CO and arrange a look around there as not all squadrons are the same. Ours does balance the stuff like drill with more fun activities. Others are very, very heavily focused on the less interesting but more competitive, award winning stuff if that makes sense?
Oh, and other squadrons may parade on different days. One in our area is open on Sundays.
If your DS still doesn't want to continue, I agree that it would be a waste of money to buy MTP, boots and anything else. I would advise speaking to your DS's CO anyway, as they may have something coming up that your DS might really enjoy.

Well ds is off to CCF camp tomorrow. He’s doing a lot of moaning about it, but he will have a great time when he gets there. There’s loads of fun activities planned which are right up his street. Quite how he’s going to put that enormous bag on his back though is beyond me 😱😱