Rising up the ranks

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This article was published 30/06/2019 (1732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A teenager from St Pierre is overcoming obstacles while rising up the ranks with his local cadet program.

Lance Corporal (LCpl) Matthew Brussé said he decided back in September he wanted to join the Army Cadet Corps in St Pierre where he lives.

Brussé who is 13 years old and lives with autism said he first decided to join the cadets because he believed it would give him a number of opportunities to learn new skills and to grow as a person.

DAVE BAXTER | THE CARILLON
Lance Corporal (LCpl) Matthew Brussé salutes outside his St Pierre home on Monday. The 13-year-old who lives with autism has experienced a lot of success and positive experiences since joining the Army Cadet program last September.
DAVE BAXTER | THE CARILLON Lance Corporal (LCpl) Matthew Brussé salutes outside his St Pierre home on Monday. The 13-year-old who lives with autism has experienced a lot of success and positive experiences since joining the Army Cadet program last September.

“There are just a lot of opportunities that you can have with the cadets,” Brussé said. “You can make new friends there and develop new skills.”

Brussé said he has learned a number of skills and been offered a number of opportunities since joining the cadets, and what he has enjoyed the most is the opportunity to join the Army Cadet band and play the bass drum.

“Music sounded fun to me and the cadets had a band program so I really wanted to try out for the band,” Brussé said. “I just started with learning the basics, and now I play with the band.”

His successes and achievements with the cadets have not gone unnoticed as he said he quickly rose in the ranks being named a lance corporal in just his first year, and was also honored with an award earlier this year for his “devotion to duty.”

What cadets has also done for Brussé is help him to improve his social skills and relieve some of the anxiety he has lived with for much of his life.

“It has helped me with my anxiety a lot,” Brussé said. “I make presentations in front of the others and I feel comfortable in crowds and in social situations.”

All the success that Brussé has had in the cadets is also the reason he will travel with them this July to Vernon, B.C. to take part in the cadets summer camp program.

“I got selected to go because I have been working really hard and doing really well,” Brussé said.

Brussé’s mom, Michelle, said she has noticed how cadets has helped her son in a number of ways since he joined back in September.

“Being autistic it has often been difficult for him to hold conversations with people, but now he’s making more eye contact and he’s able to hold conversations much better,” Michelle said.

“I find that he has matured a lot since September, he has learned more self-respect and discipline and he is able to get out there a lot more socially.

“It’s been a wonderful program for him, and I’m very proud of him.”

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