LAC Matthew Brooker reports on the recent JNCO Course he attended:
The Junior NCO Course I can say is one of the many highlights that I have had at Cadets. LAC Ngaro and I left the bus stop and embarked on the adventure. I had no idea what I was in for.
Once the Bus arrived at Bulls we were taken to RNZAF Base Ohakea. We got our Barracks sorted and headed off to Cadet HQ. We were assigned to our desks and introduced ourselves to each other. The first night in our Barracks was kind of acquired because we didn’t really know each other. Over the next couple of days we did drill instruction, leadership exercises and oral presentations.
My favourite part of the Course was being with my Syndicate because we all pushed each other and worked hard to help everyone get the highest grade possible. According to the Officers it usually takes 2 or 3 days for the cadets to talk to others but our Syndicate was great as soon as we met. For some reason our Syndicate was called #harrythesheep. I don’t know why that name was used but thanks to LAC Ngaro our Course Director believed that hash tagging everything was the best thing to do.
After we had completed the leadership exercises we went to bed ready for ANZAC day. On ANZAC day we woke up early and went to Bulls where we completed the Parade alongside Veterans, Firemen, Defence Force personnel and the general public. It was all over within an hour but was an amazing thing to be a part of.
I benefited from this Course because I was taught valuable life skills and how to be a Junior NCO and what that actually means to be the leader and part of the chain of command.