RNAC

I got on the train at 6:30am in plymouth station on the 16th april 2007 heading to the Royal Naval Aquaint Course which , as sods law would have it, was in rosyth, Scotland !
All i knew was that i had to be there between 16:00 hrs and 16:30 and my train was due to arrive in edinborough at 16:10, after an amazingly boring journey from south west England to Carlisle i bumped into two lads who where also on the course and we got talking , both we the same branch as me (AET) and both from my neck of the woods , (nik- plymouth , james - honiton) anyway we finally arrived at the station and spotted the petty officer in his no. 3s waiting with a clipboard. We got on the coach headed for HMS Caledonia which is a stone-ship in rosyth. After arriving and getting our gate passes we where led to the accomodation which consisted of a block of two to four man messes with communal showers (only two!!!!) and a mess square with tea/coffee facilities. after travelling all day iwas looking forward to getting my head down for the night but as i sat on the end of my pit i heard the PO's voice screaming dwn the corridor - "you all have two minutes to be in your kit and outside fell in 3 deep , MOVE" i have never got dressed so fast in my life i swear!
We were "marched" to the small parade ground and taught some basic drill manouveres in the freezing cold scottish wind .

The course was only 4 days long so it was very action packed and informative and the general aim is to give you a small insight to the way things work when you get to HMS raleigh. We had some presentations, took the PJFT again but on the road this time, had a go at circuit training during PT in the gym. Then on day three we had a trip across to the opposite coast of scotland to HMS Neptune in faslane. i personally thought that the food (scran) was very nice at neptune but opinions differ i suppose... We had a ships visit that day on HMS Penzance which, a believe is a minesweeper but im not sure. it was very small anyway . Then we had a go at the laser ranges trying to hone our marksman skills on the sa80's. Then it was 2 hours of PT circuits and back to base at HMS Caledonia. I noticed that the team of about 30 bonded quite well during the short stay and we would all be gobbing off about the days events on the many stand easys we had. The showers however where a nightmare as two showers between roughly 25 men doesnt work well !.
Thursday 20th came and we all said our good lucks and goodbyes and boarded our separate trains to return home. not before getting the beers in obviously .... ;)

All in all a very enjoyable and informative experience and i really hoped the course could have lasted longer but i was growing more and more excited about going to HMS Raleigh ....


This is the PDF info on the RNAC from the Royal Navy Official website : RNAC

a few weeks later....

After passing my security clearance i was invited back to the afco to undergo the interview and medical phase,
The interview was pretty straight forward really- they watch out for your standard of dress and ask you questions to do with the royal navy and its interests and current affairs just to check you have a genral knowledge of he service before you enter. They then passed me and asked if i had any questions to ask them. Straight after the interview it was upstairs to see the doc for a thorough medical (the old wives tales about the infamous military medicals aren't true ! ) and then papers signed to say i was fit for service.
A couple weeks later i went to the local gym to take my PJFT where i was getting towards the end of my application process now and was looking forward to this fitness test - a 2.4km (1.5 miles) in under 12 mins 20 secs for men of my age, 21 at that time. i passed in 11:39 which is not a good time in anyones opinion but its a pass! i had a word with the careers advisor at the afco who put me on a new course which was being run called the Royal Naval Aquaint Course ...

The Aptitude Tests.....

Well after sitting the aptitude tests i remember thinking "why didn't you brush up on your maths you tw*t". But it was too late for that now, i had done it. there where at least another 12 people sat in the waiting room with me when one of the careers advisers came out and called in about 4 people one at a time ... then they left holding a sheet of paper. Then the careers bloke led the remainder of us back up to the classroom to tell us we had passed and read out the scores , i did the best in the group , slightly embarrassing in a way that he made a song and dance about it but never mind i passed! I remember having to get on the same bus as one of the people who failed and felt a tad sorry for them.... but oh well , life goes on !

Introduction...

I never really had an interest in joining the forces during my younger years just really spent my time being lazy and making nothing of myself. i dont know what happened but something sparked in my head and the next thing i knew i was in the armed forces careers office (AFCO) having a presentation with roughly 15 other candidates... after this i collected the application form and was suprised to find tht i was actually excited by the idea of joining the navy.
i suppose living in a naval town i have a bit more of a sea-faring backround than most in this country but efore now i had only ever been on a ferry to france so i was hardly a salty sea dog yet!
Anyway i went back to the afco to have a chat with the careers advisor and found out a bit more information about the application process and took the form with me. right so it was -

Fill in the initial application
Wait for a reply to arrange a date for the aptitude tests
sit the aptitude tests
wait for results
have an informal interview about branch choice
more waiting ...
have a forml interview about the RN in general and about myself and family backround.
pass the dreaded medical
take the pre joining fitness test (PJFT)
await a start date
get start date
more waiting.... >:(
pre entry briefing
join HMS Raleigh to undergo phase 1 (basic) training.

ok .... so not a lot to do then !

i couldn't wait to get the ball rolling so i sent off my application thinking of all the great things i had seen in the video at the afco.
"join the royal navy, see the world , learn new skills , make friends for life, the team works" it said, but little did i know just how true that statement was ! ....