I had a great time as a cadet in the late 1960's to early 70's. A couple of years after I left as a cadet I went back as a civilian instructor. I ended up serving for over 40 years as CI - AWO- sqdr officer- sqdn commander-sqdn officer-CI. I worked with some great people, and one or two who weren't - just like life. The staff were both civilian, police and a couple of service personnel who gave freely of their time. In the same way, some of the kids (no insult intended, just my affectionate term for them) were, in the main, enthusiastic and well motivated. As was said earlier, to see the quiet reticent cadet arrive on parade night one, then develop through the academic and rank stages to leave years later as a much more confident and rounded character was one of life's great things, and gave me great pride to have been a small part in helping them.
Of course you'll always get some who just turn up and can't be arsed to do anything, that's life I'm afraid. However, for me , the good ones far outnumbered the less good. What caused me to walk away was alluded to above: the mountains of paper we had to fill out once the blunties took over at HQ Air Cadets. When we had to do a risk assessment for the cadet who made the tea, that made me question why I was there. When I left I wrote to the Commandant to explain why I was going, and to express my genuine concerns about how the Corps was progressing or not, due to the gliding and powered flight pauses. I was very surprised that, in less than a week, I received a very courteous letter from Ma'am answering my points. It took my Wing Commander a month to answer, and the letter from my Squadron Civilian Committee must still be in the mail after two years.
Don't let my jaundiced view put you off. The ATC / Air Cadets is still the premier cadet force in the country.