Week One

Lots of paperwork, presentations and haircuts this week ! the group where starting to get friendly and we even had our class photo taken on our first week . (i am on the end right hand side of the back row).

We learnt how to shape our berets using the hot/cold water dipping technique where you dip it in hot water then cold repeatedly then plonk it on your head and shape it quickly so it moulds to your head.

We undertook the pjft again in this week and the bar was raised for me a bit as a lot of the lads were good runners or a lot fitter than myself i had obviously not done enough physical training before i joined. i finished with a time of 11:23 which was my best time so far for the 2.4km run.

We learned how to iron and fold our kit navy style and how to polish our boots to a high standard. We where given a set of orange epaulets or "shit magnets" to wear during our time at Raleigh to let everyone know we were trainees . Although at this stage we stuck out like sore thumbs with our crap marching around the establishment. Our first drill lesson was in week two so that would sort us out. I found the military swim test quite easy as i enjoy swimming anyway, we had to put on overalls then tread water for 2 mins , swim 40 metres then exit the pool unassisted. We topped off week one with a quick visit to the NAAFI and then some deck sports on the Saturday to help with team building.

Tips : You really don't need to take huge suitcases and 30 pairs of pants like all of us did, it looked like we were moving house forever when we got off the coach. i would recommend a small-medium sized suitcase with only 3 sets of civvy clothes, one for shore leave, one for PO's dinner, one for general . You really do not need to bring half of the contents of your home with you as it gets locked away anyway. The afco lists , although thorough and helpful fell short to mention that i wouldn't need half the things on the joining up kit list as i later found out that a lot of the things on the list are issued to you on the first week.

Bring a decent iron, one that wont leak easily and don't spend your life savings on some space ship looking thing which irons your kit , wipes your arse and all sorts, just a decent iron will do the job. Boot polish such as kiwi or guardsman's will do the job and lots of cotton wool trust me it makes life a lot easier !

The PO's dinner takes place in the carbeille inn which is a pub down the road from Raleigh, we went with the fisgard divisional staff and had a nice carvery and had some beer vouchers given to the over 18s while the blazin squad had to stick to coke. i would recommend to just dress smart/ casual for the pub visit don't go dressed as a scranbag but at the same time don't go wearing a ballgown as you will look a right tit.