One Seven Point - Recruitment / Contacts

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Joining The New Zealand Cadet Forces

Are you bored? Looking for a bit of excitement or challenge? Want to meet lots of new people, learn cool stuff and have fun at the same time? If this sounds like you, then maybe you should consider joining one of the three Corps of the New Zealand Cadet Forces (NZCF). The NZCF is a voluntary youth organisation based on military principles.

There are a few prerequisites too: you have to be of high-school age (13 - 16 years old); you have to be healthy enough to participate in unit activities; you need to be big enough to fit your issue uniform; you must have your parents or guardians consent; and, depending on what your unit gets up to in the year, there will normally be an annual subscription fee and other activity costs. Don't despair if you don't meet some of these criteria though - check with your nearest units as some allow for a few exceptions.

If you are interested in joining the NZCF, we suggest you follow these steps:

1. Decide which Corps you are most interested in. There are three Corps: The Air Training Corps (modelled on the Air Force), the New Zealand Cadet Corps (modelled on the Army), and the Sea Cadet Corps (modelled on the Navy).

2. Contact the nearest unit of the Corps of your choice. The officers of that unit will be able to provide you with further information about their recruiting process.

3. Normally you will be invited along to check the unit out on a parade night. Go along, take your parents, see for yourself if it looks interesting. If not, don't worry, the NZCF is a volunteer, no-obligation organisation and you don't have to join if you don't want to, regardless of what you've done with the unit.

Joining The New Zealand Air Training Corps

If you're interested in joining the "Air Force" branch of the NZCF, read the following carefully...

1. You must be between the ages of 13 and 16 years old when you join

2. You need to medically, mentally and physically fit to participate in unit activities such as drill, classroom and outdoor instruction, some bushcraft and other activities (check with your local unit on this).

3. Your parents or guardians must give their consent to your participation in any or all of the following:

a. Flying in military aircraft
b. Sailing in naval or merchant ships
c. Attending promotion courses d. Weapon training
e. Glider flying
f. Power flying
g. Sailing regattas
h. Arduous expedition training (bush or mountains)
i. Travel in military vehicles

If your parents or guardians don't want you participating in one or more of these activities, they need to make this clear to the unit officers. This doesn't mean you can't join the ATC - there are plenty of other activities to do.

4. There is usually an annual subscription fee to the unit to help pay for activities. This fee will nearly always be less than $100 a year, but if you have financial trouble, talk to the unit officers who will try to arrange something for you.

5. After joining the unit, you can leave whenever you want to, or the unit can dismiss you at any time if you fail to meet the standards expected of you.

6. Have a look around the rest of this site (and others from the links page) to see what the ATC gets up to during the year. The ATC meets once a week on a weeknight for training and occasionally during weekends or holidays for further training or activities.