Cadets are trainees of the Black Hand, accepted as candidates but not yet initiated into full membership in the Hand, even lower in rank than rookies.
Overview
Cadets rarely interact with Black Hand members, except in training exercises. Half a dozen or so "boot camps" for cadets operate throughout Sabbat territories, though their locations often shift due to the need for secrecy, political upheavals, or the desires of whatever dominion is the resident commander of that camp.
One such camp is located in Mexico City, and run by the dominion Teresita; another, run by a Gangrel biker known as Shaggydog, is completely nomadic and is rumored to make a full circuit of North America every year.
The Colonel, a Malkavian remover, oversees an elite camp for his hand-picked cadets hidden in the swamps of South Carolina. An Assamite camp, newly re-established in the wake of recent events, now teaches its clan's antitribu fledglings somewhere in the southwestern United States.
A cadet's training lasts several years (anywhere from four or five years to seven for Assamite neonates), and involves a good deal of field work; however, the instructing dominions keep a watchful eye on their charges and step in quickly to prevent any interference with the educational process.