Sgt Daniel Robinson reports on the Citizenship Ceremony he attended.
On the 24th February, 41 Squadron representatives (SGT Cane, SGT Robinson, CPL Haenga-Sutton, and CPL Gordon, with Pilot Officer Brown supervising) participated in the Citizenship Ceremony being conducted that day at Pataka museum. The event marking the final step undertaken by those born in another country in becoming a New Zealand citizen.
We arrived at 1830hrs (6:30 PM), with the ceremony starting at 1900hrs (7:00 PM). Marching on with the official party, SGT Robinson and CPL Gordon where tasked with passing the plants up to the official, who would pass it on the new citizen, to mark their citizenship. SGT Cane and CPL Haenga-Sutton were given the job of watching over the official party, standing on either side of the raised platform.
The ceremony finished in less than 45 minutes, and we went to another room with all the officials and the new citizens to mingle over food and drink before returning to the Unit for the remainder of the normal parade night.
Aside from a few technical difficulties and photographers getting in the way, the ceremony went off without a problem and was very rewarding for all those involved. This was in fact the fifth Citizenship Ceremony I have had the privilege of attending with the Cadets, and is a good experience to do at least once whilst in Cadets.