"I had wanted to do this for a good few years before I actually joined," says Shane Doyle who is in the middle of rehearsing for a guard of honour in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.
Soldiers of all ranks are milling around, preparing for a ceremony and the cadets are busy practising.
Shane is among those in their first year of training and is enjoying himself.
"The life always appealed to me," he says. "You've seen the ads, 'A life less ordinary' well that would be the main thing an office job or a nine to five wouldn't really appeal to me. I wanted something more exciting."
All the same, the army wasn't Shane's initial choice. He spent a year studying engineering in UL before deciding on a career in the defence forces.
"I started talking to people who had done the engineering course and they were telling me what the job was like," he says. "It was okay but it was still your basic nine to five job, so I opted for this instead."
The application process is a long one, beginning in January when hopefuls send in their application forms. Interviews, fitness and aptitude tests follow and applicants find out whether they have been accepted at the time of the CAO offers.
"We started the 15-month course at the end of September," says Shane. "It used to be 21 months but they've reduced it which means that you can be busier because you have to cram more into that time."
He didn't really know what to expect despite a visit to the cadet school, although some time in the reserve defence forces helped to prepare him. "You have an idea of what it's going to be like," says Shane. "But you still don't know how you're going to react. The first three months for people who have never been in the military before can be difficult but all the cadets work together."
Days can vary considerably. A typical day, says Shane, will start at about 6.15am. Breakfast is at 7am and there is an inspection of uniform and turn-out at 8.15am. The training day is nine to five. Days can be given over to lectures or they might be out on the ground training in tactics or various emergency situations.
Sometimes, cadets do courses in skills such as communications, how to talk on radios and so-on. They also get an idea of the various areas such as engineering and medicine within the army. Dinner is at 5pm and after that the cadets are required to clean and maintain the Cadet School. The evenings are their own.
"I'm enjoying it," says Shane. "At the same time I'm looking forward to finishing and starting my proper career because the cadetship is just your training before you actually go out into your unit. I'm looking forward to that now."