by CWO Karl Verspyck
A
place on The International Air Cadet Exchange was my aiming point in cadets for
the last 5 years. This was because of the amazing places in the world you could
visit and also because of the prestige that goes with representing your country
and the corps internationally. I was lucky enough to win a place on this year’s
trip to Alberta, Canada and it’s fair to say I was
ecstatic when I found out.
The
build up to the trip was exciting as we slowly found more and more people,
through the world of Facebook, that were going on the trip with us. Be that UK
cadets or international. It soon became apparent that the UK contingent of 24
was going to be the largest on the trip, with countries like New Zealand
sending only two cadets. This large allocation was due to the history of IACE
and the fact that the first ever exchange was between the UK and Canada so to
honour this tradition these two countries exchange the most cadets. I met the
UK cadets at Heathrow where we received our ID and name badges and got on our
way to Schiphol. Here we met the Dutch contingent who was flying out to
Edmonton with us. This was brilliant because we had nearly 10 hours to get to
know them!
Whilst in Edmonton we stayed at Edmonton garrison which was an army
base just outside the city itself. We stayed here for 3 nights and toured the
Alberta legislature building, went to fort Edmonton to learn about the Hudson
Bay Company. We spent a day at 4 Wing Cold Lake which was brilliant and very
active with it being the largest and busiest air base in Canada! On the Friday
we spent the day at West Edmonton Mall which is absolutely huge and included a
theme park. I spent the first weekend with a host family and mine was a lovely
woman named Helen. She took me and two other cadets, from France and Turkey
respectfully, to her cabin on a lake. It was beautiful and we spent the weekend
relaxing and out on the water in their boat. Helen couldn't do enough for us
and I really felt at home there it was brilliant! On Monday we started with a
familiarisation flight in a griffon helicopter over the city of Edmonton and
then on the return leg some tactical flying between the trees. It's fair to say
it was exhilarating!
We then started our "road trip" down to the
south of the province. We stayed in a hotel for two nights in Canmore in the
foothills of the Canadian Rockies where we travelled to see the Athabasca
glacier which was a surreal experience in the middle of summer. We also went to
Lake Louise and we managed to go canoeing on the lake which was absolutely
breath-taking. We had some free time in Banff before we headed in the road
again to Pincher Creek, south of Calgary. It was here that we were based to go
to Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump and learn about how First Nation Canadians used
the lie of the land to hunt, you guessed it, buffalo. We also went to Lake
Waterton right at the bottom of Alberta and Canada for that matter. This
beautiful lake was where we were all lucky enough to see a bear which was on
all our lists of things
to see in Canada. An evening cruise on the lake took us into the U.S. For about
half an hour where we landed on a beach on Montana, the first taste of America
for many and much to the delight of the American contingent who could
"smell the freedom". The next day we visited Frank Slide, the sight
of a massive landslide which buried a whole village in 90 seconds with most of
the rock still immovable to this day.
As I said IACE was a big aiming point for me and it
certainly didn't disappoint. It was by far the best thing I've done in cadets
and I'd like to thank the staff at Sqn, wing, region and at corps for allowing
me to go on such a monumental trip. I would advise every single cadet to work
hard to be able to apply for this trip because it truly was a once in a
lifetime journey in which I have shared with amazing people from all around the
world.