Sundre's Kyle Nielsen, an officer cadet at the Royal Military College Saint-Jean in Quebec, says he's sure the skills he is learning at the school will help him do what he's always wanted to do – to serve his country as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces.

"It is something I've always wanted to do, very much so. It is a family tradition," Nielsen said during a Round Up interview from the college.

Nielsen, 20, is currently in his second year of the Social Science program at the prestigious military college. He was one of 185 cadets selected out of more than 1,000 applicants.

The four main components of the college's curriculum are academics, leadership, sports and bilingualism.

Nielsen explained that many of the experiences he has had at the school so far have been both challenging and memorable.

"I'm a member of our Sandhurst military skills team, which is one of the athletic components," he said. "As one example of what the team does, we recently went on a field exercise at our training area. We were picked up by a Griffon helicopter and then dropped in the field with our equipment and we used map and compass to find points for basically practice missions.

"We worked as a team, with nine team members. That was a two-day and two-night exercise, all outdoors of course. During my basic training last summer we spent five days out in the field living on rations.

"Another thing I get to do soon is repelling from the Griffon helicopter as part of the Sandhurst team. It's a 100 foot drop."

Nielsen explained that he has chosen the artillery as what is called his military occupational trade.

"I haven't done any training towards that yet, but in the end I will be training to become an artillery officer," he said, noting that he recently went on an artillery training exercise where he got to see the big guns in action.

"All of the cadets here who have artillery as their trade got to go and take part as observers as part of the artillery exercise done by an artillery regiment," he said.

Asked why he has chosen artillery as his military occupation, he said: "You do some of the things that the infantry do, but you also have a specialty, which is artillery, long-range firing. It serves a purpose for the entire group."

Not all of Nielsen's training has been restricted to the college grounds and surrounding areas.

"Another thing I get to do this weekend is go to Mount Washington in the United States to climb for two days," he said. "It's an event that the military wanted to put on and I was one of 10 cadets who get to go. There are lots of opportunities to do things, excellent events."

Nielsen is one of 80 officer cadets who are in their last year at the college.

"They are training us to be officers in the forces," he said. "How the college here works is we have three squadrons and the squadrons are cadet-run with military officers guiding and directing us.

"For example, last semester I was in a position of command Cadet squadron leader, in charge of a squadron of 55 people and my job was overall control of the squadron and carrying out my day-to-day orders from my chain of command.

"It gives us real opportunities to practise our leadership skills. It's real hands-on training, giving us a chance to interact and lead people."

As far as the bilingual component of the college training, Nielsen explained it's all been new to him.

"Growing up in Sundre we don't speak much French out there," he said. "When I arrived I didn't speak a word of French. By the time I graduate I should have the federal government level of proficiency. That's the goal of the college too, to be proficient in both official languages."

When he finishes at Saint-Jean at the end of this year, Nielsen will be moving on to the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, where he will be taking a degree in business. He says he plans to make the military his career.

Nielsen's father, Svend, was in the Danish Air Force, where he served as a military police officer. He said he is very proud of his son and sure that he will make a fine Canadian Forces officer.

"I'm always supportive of whatever road he chooses," said Svend. "It's always been something that's stayed in his mind, that I was part of the military. I guess it is a family tradition."

   — by Dan Singleton