California Cadet Corps

The California Cadet Corps (CACC), originally called the California High School Cadets, is a paramilitary youth organization in California open to students in the college, high school, middle school and elementary school grades.

The six objectives of the California Cadet Corps are to develop leadership, citizenship, patriotism, academic excellence, basic military knowledge, and health, wellness, and fitness. The Cadet Corps motto is "Essayons," a word in the French language meaning "Let us try."

The CACC's primary goal is not to send all their cadets to the military. More of the CACC's cadets have become astronauts, chemists, doctors and other professions than have joined the military.

The CACC's primary goal was originally to prepare young men to be officers in the United States Military, after Brigadier General Edwin A. Forbes saw that the Germans already had such programs before World War I. However the program has since shifted its goal. Now, they prepare young men and women not only for the service but also for the business world where communication and leadership skills are essential.

The CACC was founded on 5 April 1911 by Brigadier General Edwin Alexander Forbes. At that time every California high school was required to have a California Cadet Corps unit if at least thirty-two students at the school were interested in the program.

The California Cadet Corps was created by an act of the Legislature on 5 April 1911. The California High School Cadets program was designed to prepare young men for service in the California National Guard. In 1935, the Legislature changed the organization's name to the California Cadet Corps.

The program flourished during both of the World Wars and beyond, until the start of the Vietnam War. At that time there was criticism of the military and CACC's funding was cut by the state of California. The program was basically "dead" all through that time period. The CACC regained its funding in 1999. Since 1999 the Cadet Corps has begun a slow rise back up and as of 2007 there were 8,000 cadets in the state.

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