My nephew is a Royal Marine and he loves it. When posted in Afghan he was very lucky, the vehicle he was travelling in was hit by a rocket and the driver next to him lost part of his leg he held off the Taliban and administered first aid until help arrived. Very proud auntie!! Being in the forces has transformed him into a 21 year old that anyone would be proud of.
Good luck CafcCrazy, keep safe!
Thanks BowieAddick, Wow you must be proud very well done to your nephew!!
4 new type 45 destroyers replaced the ones we scraped and 2 new aircraft carriers for 2014 it isnt all doom and gloom.
That is true, but don't forget that to get those type 45's we lost how many type 42s? 8 wasn't it? We've also lost the Ark, put the lusty. Plus I'm sure you'll find the two flat tops won't be ready till the mid 2020's!!
Joined the Army in 65 and left in 09. (yes I know it's a long time!) Never saw much of the Navy (excluding the marines) except in the Falklands when they were worth their weight in gold! Just stick by their motto 'Never leave your friends behind' and you won't go far wrong!
Good luck CAFC crazy and make sure you post some CAFC related stuff during your time away. Proud of all our boys and girls out there protecting out great country.
becomeing a warfare specialist will be doing 10 weeks at hms raleigh, but then will be based at Hms collingwood in portsmouth for the remainder of my time untill i got on tours of duty etc...
Hope your not the navigator because HMS Collingwood is in Fareham.
Until recently I worked for the Royal Navy (as a civilian). My job entailed me visiting the training establishment at HMS Raleigh (where you will do your basic training) and also going to sea in both ships and submarines.
The first eight weeks training at HMS Raleigh is where about 40% of all new recruits decide that navy life is not for them and leave. The navy makes life hard for the new recruits. A lot of them cannot take the discipline and have never washed or ironed their own clothes and struggle to adapt to service life. Once you get past this and are posted to a ship it is a great life.
I have been in the Caribbean onboard Navy ships and have experienced “the runs ashore” where life is one big party. The ships crew both boys and girls work hard and play hard, it is a good life and I am sure that you will enjoy it (just get through the initial training)
I worked with a lot of Royal Navy in Afghanistan (even though its a very long way from the sea), mainly medics, aircrew, engineers and royal marines. I found them all to be switched on, professional and a good laugh. They were certainly a lot less painful to deal with than the army.
I spent the six best years of my life in the army. My advice to cafccrazy is that the old myth is true: Dorris's cant get enough of a man in uniform! I never used to pull much before I signed up, as soon as I was in greens, I was shaking the birds off with a sh!tty stick. Work hard, play hard and stay protected!
My kid brother, well how can I put it... I am 8 years older than Wal and all I can remember of him as a kid was that he was to put an un-PC slant on it "thick as pig sh!t" and a noisy annoying little tw@t at that. The only thing he remotely was interested in apart from making our lives a misery was the local Sea Cadets. How I dont know, he got into the London Nautical School at Waterloo and from there at 16 went in the Navy with no qualifications what so ever. He joined the submarine service and is still there aged 40 years old. The Navy has educated him, nutured and turned him into a fantastic man who most on here would admire. He has seen the world and done things that I (ie; a tired and fecked old man...) would still dream of doing. In July I visited him in Scotland where he is based at Faslane. He arranged to show me around what I can only describe as the most fantastic piece of kit I have ever seen. a Nuclear submarine fully lifted from the water, 16,000 tons if I remember rightly. He is now a CPO, the highest non-commissioned rank in the service and from what I could see a very well respected member of the submarine service. It is not the life for many and his family life has paid a price over the years but no-one will ever persuade me otherwise, that the forces are a wonderful education for those who perhaps did not make the most out of their formal schooling.
dont forget the tattoos, you will see some great places makesure that you get a memory etched on your skin permanently
I knew a bird that used to do that when she travelled. She had a great one of the Japanese flag, although you could only see when she bent over in front of you.
Excuse my ignorance but what does 'non-commissioned rank' mean?
Non-commissioned rank is someone that has not been given a commission (upon joining after uni for example) but generally earns it. These guys and girls normally held in a much greater regard by ranks and very high ranking officers.
Until recently I worked for the Royal Navy (as a civilian). My job entailed me visiting the training establishment at HMS Raleigh (where you will do your basic training) and also going to sea in both ships and submarines.
The first eight weeks training at HMS Raleigh is where about 40% of all new recruits decide that navy life is not for them and leave. The navy makes life hard for the new recruits. A lot of them cannot take the discipline and have never washed or ironed their own clothes and struggle to adapt to service life. Once you get past this and are posted to a ship it is a great life.
I have been in the Caribbean onboard Navy ships and have experienced “the runs ashore” where life is one big party. The ships crew both boys and girls work hard and play hard, it is a good life and I am sure that you will enjoy it (just get through the initial training)
If you are working in the galley it will probably be you who gets the blame anyway!
I joined the Army at 16 (boy service) and had the best eight years of my working life, The mates you will make CAFC Crazy will stay with for life. No matter where I was posted in the world there would always be an addick there somewhere so you wont be alone.
The basic training is tough mate, mentally as well as physically, it has to be to weed out those not suitable so you are not carrying anyone when you get to your working unit. Just remember when your being beasted, its all a game my entire room was sent on a log run and jailed for forgetting to dust a plant, we were referred to as plant killers on the charge sheet, at the time it seemed such a serious business...keep your sense of humour and well done for joining such a select band mate I wish you all the best of luck
I was in the Naval Cadets as a kid, our ship was the local church hall - highlight of my naval career was a bunch of us plunging the hall & 100 or so old biddies into complete darkness during a fund-raising jumble sale by pulling the fuses....was decommissioned shortly after that!
Excuse my ignorance but what does 'non-commissioned rank' mean?
Non-commissioned rank is someone that has not been given a commission (upon joining after uni for example) but generally earns it. These guys and girls normally held in a much greater regard by ranks and very high ranking officers.
Bit generalised, commissioned officers are given the queens commission, and have a more general authority bestowed upon them, you move up commissioned ranks the same way you move up non commissioned ranks, ie on merit. NCOs can earn commission after long and distinguished service, and they enter at a higher commissioned rank than those who enter as a commissioned officer right away - so as to recognise the service as strasburger eludes to.
You don't need to have gone to uni to be an officer, i think 2 A levels and 5 GCSEs is the current standard.
Comments
The first eight weeks training at HMS Raleigh is where about 40% of all new recruits decide that navy life is not for them and leave. The navy makes life hard for the new recruits. A lot of them cannot take the discipline and have never washed or ironed their own clothes and struggle to adapt to service life. Once you get past this and are posted to a ship it is a great life.
I have been in the Caribbean onboard Navy ships and have experienced “the runs ashore” where life is one big party. The ships crew both boys and girls work hard and play hard, it is a good life and I am sure that you will enjoy it (just get through the initial training)
And they had the fittest nurses too!
My advice to cafccrazy is that the old myth is true: Dorris's cant get enough of a man in uniform!
I never used to pull much before I signed up, as soon as I was in greens, I was shaking the birds off with a
sh!tty stick.
Work hard, play hard and stay protected!
No mate, my Band is The Old Farts, we all play Wind instruments !
My kid brother, well how can I put it... I am 8 years older than Wal and all I can remember of him as a kid was that he was to put an un-PC slant on it "thick as pig sh!t" and a noisy annoying little tw@t at that. The only thing he remotely was interested in apart from making our lives a misery was the local Sea Cadets. How I dont know, he got into the London Nautical School at Waterloo and from there at 16 went in the Navy with no qualifications what so ever. He joined the submarine service and is still there aged 40 years old. The Navy has educated him, nutured and turned him into a fantastic man who most on here would admire. He has seen the world and done things that I (ie; a tired and fecked old man...) would still dream of doing. In July I visited him in Scotland where he is based at Faslane. He arranged to show me around what I can only describe as the most fantastic piece of kit I have ever seen. a Nuclear submarine fully lifted from the water, 16,000 tons if I remember rightly. He is now a CPO, the highest non-commissioned rank in the service and from what I could see a very well respected member of the submarine service. It is not the life for many and his family life has paid a price over the years but no-one will ever persuade me otherwise, that the forces are a wonderful education for those who perhaps did not make the most out of their formal schooling.
Good luck
dont forget the tattoos, you will see some great places makesure that you get a memory etched on your skin permanently
The basic training is tough mate, mentally as well as physically, it has to be to weed out those not suitable so you are not carrying anyone when you get to your working unit. Just remember when your being beasted, its all a game my entire room was sent on a log run and jailed for forgetting to dust a plant, we were referred to as plant killers on the charge sheet, at the time it seemed such a serious business...keep your sense of humour and well done for joining such a select band mate I wish you all the best of luck
A pirates life for me!
I have already got a Charlton Tattoo eteched on me already and i am fully aware it is probably the first of many!
You don't need to have gone to uni to be an officer, i think 2 A levels and 5 GCSEs is the current standard.