"Yes SIR! Wait, what?" Cadet Languages

The Australian Air Force Cadets (lets call them the AAFC to save time) has a very specific set of words, abbreviations, and general military slang. Some say its because we are the ‘cool kids’ but realistically it is because our ‘parent service’ is the RAAF. The alumni network of ex-cadets on Facebook (as mentioned in previous blog post "When Ex-Cadets Reconnect...")  is an amazing example of how people take this language that ex-cadets from some point know and can relate to the AAFC experience, and they use it to create a place and community online inside an extensive network.

When an ex-cadet asks a question on the Manual of Drill or the MoGT, they might put in that tehy is originally from 1 Wing (101 SQN) and that they are an ex CUO, who did their SNCOs course in 3 Wing instead of 1 wing (see picture above) (Hubbard). This means nothing to someone who isn’t familiar with the AAFC or the military in some way, however to an ex Cadet like me, I feel a connection to them because I am an ex SGT who did my SNCO course in 1 Wing but was a 101 SQN member. I feel a part of their group, of their community, even though I’ve never met the woman. I can answer their question because I know what they is asking. they used this language to communicate with a specific set of people.

The entirety of the network does this because it creates a sense of community and ‘a small world’ within a nation wide network. Tuan says in a passage about approaches to linguistic Place-Construction that “The second approach [to linguistic Place-Construction] is sociolinguistic in emphasis; that is, it focuses on the use and effectiveness of speech in particular social contexts”. (Tuan, 1991) In the particular social context that is the AAFC Alumni, using these terms even if not necessary, creates a place and a community.

Bibliography

Hubbard, J. (n.d.). Cadet's Language. Facebook, Townsville.

Tuan, Y.-F. (1991, December ). Language and the Making of Place: A Narrative-Descriptive Approach . (T. A. Geographers, Ed.) Annals of the Association of American Geographers, , Vol. 81 ( No. 4), 685.