WANNABE soldier Millie Dunn has returned from a month in Canada even more determined to follow her dream career.
The Haslingden High School Year 11 student has been a member of the Army Cadets, in Haslingden, for three years and was the youngest to secure a place, the minimum age was 15 and she had her birthday just days before the trip.
She said: “I am so grateful for having the opportunity to go on this camp. I will never forget it.”
Seeing a black bear cub washing itself in a river, wild camping on three expeditions, from four to 12 days and facing her fears abseiling down a rocky mountainside, are just three of the highlights of her action-packed adventure.
Millie got to go mountain biking, hiking, canoeing and climbing and made a host of new friends as the 20-strong UK contingent was joined by 53 Canadian cadets.
She rose at 5.55am every day after sleeping in a dorm of eight when at the main camp.
Millie said: “On the 12-day expedition, we could only shower if someone pumped the water, and it was freezing, and I only washed my hair once and that was when we ducked our head into the canoe dock while other cadets washed it.
“When we camped there was a lake nearby and we could see nothing but trees. On the four-day expedition we got to go into Banff city and we went on a hike for an hour.
“When we got to the spot to eat, there was a black bear cub that had been abandoned by its mother and we watched as it washed in a river.”
She went on a bear watch while on the 12-day expedition and saw a mother and three cubs.
Millie said: “When we were off-site and we saw them in their natural environment it was kind of cute.”
They also did community service when they dug up trees around a town to stop bears being attracted into the town; the trees emitted a blackcurrant smell that the bears liked.
Most days, temperatures soared passed 30C and wildfires were breaking out, but when hailstones landed they were the size of golf balls and the cadets ended up on tornado watch for two days and the campsite flooded.
Millie, whose father is an ex-Marine, said her mum was watching where the wildfires were from back home.
She said: “They really pushed us to make friends and now I have a whole lot of new cadet friends from Canada.
“We had a day trip to Calgary and went to an army museum and we got to go in a mall to get some souvenirs and presents for home.
“When we were not doing activities, we were having lessons because the way cadets in Canada do things is different to the UK, so we learnt a new drill and even different navigation as their compass is different. It was really good and I would highly recommend any cadet that gets the chance should go for it; I would go again.”
To earn her place, Millie was picked from 40,000 hopefuls, whittled down to 60 who attended a two-day selection process in Wales and then just 20 went on the trip.
She said: “When one of the girls was afraid to do an activity, I just told her that we had been given this opportunity and she should make the most of it.”
Millie hopes to join the Army College in Harrogate at 16 or 18.