Working with our Cadet Forces within our region, is just one of the many roles the Royal Navy Attract Team for Greater London and the South East (GLSE) has been busy supporting during the past quarter of 2024. From supporting cadet camps to attending drill nights, the attract team deliver a fast paced, skill’s based engagement programme of fun activities that works alongside the units own programme of teambuilding, problems solving and personal development.
The Attract Team programme is designed to encourage and develop cadets while taking them out of their comfort zone. Many of the activities are based around skills that sailors undertake and learn at the Royal Navy Leadership Academy in Portsmouth; Command, Leadership Management as well as building confidence as both individuals and as a team. STEM (Science, technology, engineering and maths) challenges are group tasks specifically designed to get the team communicating and problem-solving together to achieve the aim. These challenges are based upon work the RN deliver at such times as disaster relief or humanitarian aid. This gives the cadets a real sense of purpose of what they are tasked to do as it could be being carried out at that very time, somewhere in the world.
For the Attract team, working with the cadets can be hugely rewarding and productive. Watching cadets grow and develop during a session and becoming more confident is one of the many reasons they enjoy visiting units. Just last week the team were visiting East Kent and were fortunate to visit 5 cadet units during their stay. Each visit saw cadets engage enthusiastically to all the tasks set them, along with a whole host of questions from ‘how do I apply’ to ‘what is food like on a warship’.
Several of the Attract Teams members were also cadets themselves, using their own experiences of skills and qualifications developed during their time in the cadet forces to explain how this then led them onto their career within the Royal Navy. Such was his dedication to the Sea Cadets, LH Shynesh Sidharthan who grew up in Mumbai, would travel for 2 hours to his cadet unit to take part in training. Remembering his time as a cadet, LH Sidharthan fondly remembers the sense of pride in wearing his uniform and being part of his unit with other like-minded cadets. It taught him discipline and respect; skills he still clearly demonstrates today.
If you would like the Royal Navy Attract Team – GLSE to visit your unit, please email WO Gray on Richard.Gray970@mod.gov.uk for further details.
