American Cadet Alliance

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The American Cadet Alliance was founded under the name "Colonel Cody's Boy Scouts" by Captain James H. C. Smyth on April 10, 1909, at the First Presbyterian Church, Manhattan, New York. Between its founding and the present, it underwent numerous name changes, and settled on its current name on September 15, 1960 when the American Nautical Alliance, Inc. and the Maritime Brigade, Inc. merged to become the American Cadet Alliance, Inc. The ACA holds the distinction of being the oldest nationwide cadet program in the United States.

Currently the ACA has Army, Navy and Marine cadets.

Contents

[edit] History

The American Cadet Alliance was founded as the Colonel Cody’s Boy Scouts by Captain James H. C. Smyth on April 10th, 1909, at the First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, New York. Shortly thereafter, the Colonel Cody’s Boy Scouts was reorganized as the American Naval and Marine Scouts. The American Naval and Marine Scouts continued to evolve and on August 16th, 1927 the organization was incorporated under the laws of the State of New York as the New York Junior Naval Militia, Inc. Early in 1929, the organization split and our founder, as well as a number of senior officers, incorporated the Junior Naval Reserve, Inc., on February 19th, 1929. (Awaiting revision...recently found documents reveal that the JNR dates back to 1916...ACA Chief of Staff).

Early in 1938, during the heightening of World War II, the War Department instructed the Secretaries of State to require all organizations using the words Naval, Militia and Reserve as a part of their corporate name to rename their organizations so as not to cause public confusion regarding their relationship to the Armed Services. To comply with this request, the Junior Naval Reserve, Inc. reincorporated on June 14th, 1938 as the American Nautical Cadets, Inc., and on November 2nd, 1938, the New York Junior Naval Militia, Inc. changed its name to the Maritime Brigade, Inc.

As a result of reorganization, due in part to a number of mergers with other smaller Cadet organizations, the American Nautical Cadets, Inc., reincorporated on October 3rd, 1956 as the American Nautical Alliance, Inc. The organization came full circle on September 15th, 1960 when the American Nautical Alliance, Inc. and the Maritime Brigade, Inc. merged to become the American Cadet Alliance, Inc.

[edit] Organization

The ACA is headquartered in Sea Girt, New Jersey and organized into several districts, each district being made up of several battalions and these battalions being comprised of several individual companies. As of mid-2006, the ACA's organizational model is largely nominal and has been established to accommodate an expected upswing in membership and unit activations.

A unit will be given a name reflecting its locality, as well as a unit designation indicating the company, battalion and district. For instance, the designation of the Military Cadets of Selfridge (Michigan) is B Co., 1/9 or Bravo Company, First Battalion, Ninth District.

Most units drill on military installations, military reserve centers or National Guard armories and most receive a great deal of cooperation and support from their host units. Drills are generally on the Guard/Reserve model, with one weekend drill per month.

[edit] Program Description

The ACA has two types of Cadet members: drilling Cadets and Individual Training Company (ITC) Cadets. Although they are under the same organization, they two types of Cadets are working in very different programs.

[edit] Individual Training Company (ITC)

ITC Cadets are Cadet members of the organization that are not located near a drilling unit. These Cadets function largely on their own throughout the year, often coordinating through their local military recruiter for assistance tasks and training.

[edit] Drilling Units

[edit] Future Direction

The ACA is vigorously pursuing a relationship with the Army National Guard and hopes to have a full support MOU in place by 2007.

[edit] Current Units

[edit] External links

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