Military-style cadet groups for Long Island teens
Members of the Lt. Quentin Roosevelt Civil Air Patrol Cadet Squadron salute during the Pledge of Allegiance at the opening of their meeting at the American Legion Post in Bethpage. Credit: Newsday / Thomas A. Ferrara
Anthony Donnadio of Patchogue is 15, but he's mastered marching at a military-style boot camp in Pennsylvania, learned how to place someone on a stretcher during medical training in Rhode Island, and experienced the best way for a military squad to clear a room of enemies during field training in Michigan.
Donnadio has had these opportunities as a member of the West Sayville-based division of the U.S. Navy’s Sea Cadet Corps. “I want to join the Navy and become a hospital corpsman, which is basically a medic,” he says.
Two branches of the military give tweens and teens a taste of military life before they are old enough to commit to it. Kids ages 13 to 18 can join the U.S. Navy’s Sea Cadet Corps; younger kids, ages 10 to 12, can join as Navy League Cadet Corps members. And the U.S. Air Force has sponsored the Civil Air Patrol Cadets for kids ages 12 to 18 since 1941.
“We’re not here to make them into fighting machines,” says Forrest Woodward, commanding officer of the East Moriches-based Sea Cadet unit. “What this program does is give them the opportunity to make an informed decision. If they decide they don’t want to be in the military, that’s fine.”
Here’s what kids and parents need to know about joining one of the cadet groups:
CIVIL AIR PATROL CADETS
Kids in the CAP Cadet program study the fundamentals of flight, tour airports and make model rockets. They go up in Cessna aircrafts, visit aviation museums and attend air shows together. Leadership training, character development, community service, emergency service training and physical fitness also are goals of the program.
Sea Cadets of East Moriches Credit: Sea Cadets of East Moriches
Squadrons typically meet once a week. The Bethpage squadron, for instance, has 44 cadets on its roster and meets every Tuesday at the American Legion Hall. Long Island has six cadet squadrons, meeting in Bellport, Bethpage, Holbrook, Northport, Shirley and Westhampton, with a total of more than 200 cadets, says Lt. Col. Louis Fenech of Sayville, adult commander of the Long Island Group of the Civil Air Patrol.
Cadets attend meetings in battle dress uniforms — green and brown camouflage — and shiny black boots. Boys must be cleanshaven and girls must follow rules about hairstyles and jewelry. On special occasions, the cadets wear dress blues.
Esther Sherry, 15, of Farmingdale, is the Bethpage squadron’s welcoming officer, making sure new recruits feel comfortable. “I like the people — they’re really positive,” Sherry says. “I like conducting myself in a military manner and having respect for my nation and my flag.”
Joining costs $35 for national dues; squadron’s annual dues are $25. Members pay for their own uniforms, but can earn a voucher toward the purchase of dress blues. For more information, email fenech@capli.com, call 631-398-8511 or visit gocivilairpatrol.com
SEA CADETS
The Sea Cadets meet one weekend a month, training on Saturdays and Sundays. Prospective cadets go to recruit orientation during two weeks in the summer, take advanced training each year and move up in leadership ranks. “On some drills, we’ll go to a range and qualify for marksmanship,” Donnadio says. “We’ll do color guard practice, with two flags and two rifles. We’ll do a lot of classtime, learning some of our Navy’s history. We can earn a boating license.”
Kids intrigued by the U.S. Coast Guard also are welcome. Four Sea Cadet divisions on Long Island have a total of 200 members, meeting in East Moriches, East Northport, West Sayville and Farmingdale. Kids have up to four uniforms: dress blues, dress whites, blue working uniforms and the woodland camouflage battle dress uniforms.
“I absolutely love this program,” says Lt. Robert Garceau, executive officer and one of the adult leaders of the Theodore Roosevelt division based in East Moriches. “The kids are so disciplined and so polite. These kids open doors for you, say, ‘Yes, sir’ and ‘No, sir.’ ”
Each Sea Cadet division has its own costs, Garceau says. East Moriches charges $150 a year, half of which goes toward insurance. There’s a $200 deposit on uniforms, which are provided free; the deposit is returned when the child returns the uniforms. For more information, email cnogueras@seacadets.org or visit seacadets.org.
YOUNG MARINES
A third program, a national nonprofit with a looser military affiliation called the Young Marines, helps instill discipline, leadership, military courtesy and teamwork in kids ages 8 to 18. The Young Marines of Long Island meet twice a month, typically from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on a Saturday in Uniondale. At meetings, the 26 boys and girls do exercises including running, push-ups and situps, have inspection of their military camouflage uniforms, and attend classes such as first aid and drug abuse reduction, says Juan Canizares of Newark, New Jersey, a former U.S. Marine who is the adult unit commander of the Long Island group.
The initial cost to join is about $400, depending on the cost of the uniform; registration after that is $100 a year, Canizares says. For more information, visit ymlongisland.com
JROTC
Junior ROTC programs are different from the cadet programs in that they are run out of high schools and can be a path to the college Reserve Officer Training Corps program. “They’re compatible with each other, and they’re not mutually exclusive,” says Lt. Col. Louis Fenech of Sayville, commander of the Long Island Group of the Civil Air Patrol, referring to the JROTC and cadet programs.
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
