Sea Cadets and the Shipmate Program

Sea Power, Jul 2003 by Vergun, David

Tvvo Exciting Youth Programs

For more than 100 years, the Navy League has believed that U.S. sea power, both naval and commercial, is essential not only to national defense but also to future U.S. economic prosperity.

By the mid-1950s, recognizing that America's young people are an even more important key to the future, the Navy League's senior leaders organized the Buddies program, which sponsored cruises aboard U.S. Navy ships for high-school -age boys who might be interested in pursuing a naval career. Another purpose of the Buddies program-which also was called the Shipmate Programwas to educate as many young people as possible about the sea services.

In 1958, many of the same leaders were instrumental in founding the Sea Cadet program, which has two age cat-egories: the Naval Sea Cadet Corps (NSCC) for youngsters 14 to 17 years old, and the Navy League Cadet Corps (NLCC) for those ages 11 to 13. The U.S. Navy and the nation's other sea services have been strong supporters of all of these youth programs.

Local NSCC and NLCC units-sponsored by Navy League councils and other civic-minded organizations -provide training in seamanship and other nautical skills and, where possible, work with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Coast Guard to give the Cadets some hands-on shipboard and field experience as well.

In 1962, the NSCC was granted a congressional charter. That charter distinguishes the NSCC from dozens of other youth programs. On 29 November 1974, the Sea Cadet Program was significantly expanded, thanks to an act of Congress (Public Law 93-504) that changed the wording of the NSCC charter from "boys" to "young people," thereby opening the program to girls.

Since the founding of the Sea Cadets, the NSCC and NLCC have trained thousands of young men and women annually, instilling in them personal core values and patriotism, teaching them the history and traditions of the sea services, developing their leadership skills, fostering self-reliance and confidence, and making them better citizens in general. The gradual expansion of the NSCC and NLCC programs has given so many young Americans a realistic taste of shipboard life that, although never formally disestablished, the Shipmates program has been totally eclipsed in recent years.

As expected, though, the Sea Cadet program has been extremely successful in making high-school-age youths much more aware of the career opportunities available in the U.S. sea services. The precise numbers are impossible to de-termine, but recent-year totals suggest that thousands of former NSCC and NLCC members have served on active duty in the U.S. armed services, hundreds have been commissioned, scores have received appointments to the U.S. Naval Academy (or one of the other U.S. service academies), and scores more have gone through college on NROTC or other scholarships.

Not surprisingly, the military-not only the sea services, but the Army and Air Force as well, and the nation's Guard and Reserve components-has continued to support the NSCC and NLCC programs. "Thanks to the assistance pro-vided by all branches of the U.S. military, including the reserve components, and to the hard work and dedication of hundreds of highly motivated and superbly qualified adult leaders," said James R. Ward, NSCC national chairman (and, for the past two years, the Navy League's national vice president for youth programs), "NSCC training today is the most sophisticated youth-development program in the nation."

The NSCC program has continued to evolve and to expand its year-round and summer sea-service training opportunities. During the early days of the two programs, Cadets could go through recruit training at only four sites, and only a few Navy ships were available for follow-on shipboard training. Today, there are approximately 130 Sea Cadet training courses available at about 60 training sites throughout the United States, and six international exchange programs that give U.S. Sea Cadets the opportunity to travel overseas and foreign Sea Cadets the opportunity to visit the United States.

Also, for the third consecutive year, a federal grant of $1 million has been approved to support NSCC summer training. "Even with the grant," Ward said, "we expect all available financial resources to be exhausted by year's end. For that reason, we continue to look for as much council support as possible."

Starting with a few founding units and fewer than 100 Cadets, the NSCC has grown steadily. Today, the program supports approximately 328 units, with nearly 9,500 Cadets and 2,000 adult leaders enrolled-and is still growing. Many former Cadets now hold high rank in the U.S. armed forces or fill leadership roles in their civilian communities. "And that," Ward said, "demonstrates the most important reason to support the NSCC and NLCC programs. Both programs help the armed services, of course. But they also help build better citizens, those better citizens build better communities, and the end result is a better nation."