My Time In The Navy
I joined the navy after really struggling to come up with what I wanted to do with my life.
So i went through the normal steps of going to the recruiting office and applying.
The minimum time you could join for was 6 years. This was 1982.
I was excepted some time in 1982 and i remember having to wait for an intake.
Finally got a call that I would be joining in September of that year.
I remember traveling to Melbourne on the 20th of September 1982 and stayed overnight at the Victorian hotel, paid for by the Navy.
I met up with other guys at the hotel, one in particular was joining the same branch as me.
This was Peter Uren nicknamed Proff as he did look like professor.
On the morning of the 21st of September we all boarded a bus and headed of to HMAS Cerberus for the start of our basic training.
The base is located in Crib Point, Which is where I was living at the time.
My Navy Life started here
Everyone is split up into groups called divisions and given a number.
I was placed in Rankin Division and my number was R133881.
The only reason I remember that number is you needed to salute and recite the number aloud every 2 weeks to get paid.
I completed 3 months of Basic training at HMAS Cerberus.
Off to NAS Nowra
It was almost Xmas and as i was going to do my course training at NAS Albatross i was given a train ticket and told the date I had to report to the base in NSW.
This gave me a few weeks off.
Started my training at the navy air station which lasted for another 3 months.
I was a qualified Survival Equipment maintainer.
This branch was responsible for the maintenance of all safety and survival gear on ships, planes and helicopters.
I worked on life rafts, ejection seat parachutes, pilots helmets , and heaps of other safety equipment.
We were also responsible for doing The survival at sea training and the HUET courses.
HUET stands for helicopter Underwater escape training.
It was based in Sale Victoria so we got a flight in a RAAF caribou to the training centre and back.
The first time I flew in one, it had a failed take-off for some reason and had to go again. It was a bit unsettling but the second try it took off.
All aircrew and oil rig workers are required to do HUET training. It simulates a helicopter crashing into the water and teaches you what to do to get out, if you survived. They create many different scenarios. The helicopter may have doors, no doors or a jammed door. You are not aware of which door is jammed until after it is dropped into the pool and turned upside down. You must also wait for all movement to stop before trying to escape, in case the rotor blades are still turning.
The training is done in a huge tank, and they have divers in there just in case you get disorientated and start swimming down instead of up.
We also used to be responsible for bush rescue.
This meant if you were rostered on that day and an aircraft or helicopter went down, you would be sent to find the crew.
Sometimes it would just be an exercise and you might be gone at least 2 days in the bush.
Off To Sea
Every two years the Navy moves you.
It could be to a ship or another base.
After 2 years at NAS NOWRA i got sent to HMAS Parramatta a Destroyer escort.
I arrived at Garden Island Dockyard and the ship was in dry dock, getting a re-fit.
We needed to sleep at the accommodation block at Garden Island in Kings Cross Sydney.
The first few months were spent watching the lazy dockyard workers take hours just to do simple tasks.
If you needed a crane to lift something onto the ship, it would happen straight away if you offered some duty free smokes.
The ship was indry dock for many months. Once it was complete we began sea trials.
This entailed sailing out to sea on a Monday morning and returning on a Friday afternoon.
The week at sea was full of exercises,and action stations.
It was a great way to learn the ship before being sent overseas.
Sea Trials lasted about a month and then we prepared for our overseas deployment.
I was extremely lucky getting posted to a ship that actually went to other countries.
Some people join the Navy and remain based in Australia.
Thats what its called when you cross the equator for the first time.
We set sail from Sydney harbour sometime in 1984.
After some war games with the Americans we travelled to Fremantle in Western Australia.
This was a memorable arrival as it took them ages to get the ship alongside, and when they did it was at high tide.
When the tide went out the ship dropped buckling the gangway, and the anchor damaged the concrete wharf .
After Fremantle we travelled to Indonesia.
I remember arriving in Jakarta and not seeing anything except a yellow haze and cows floating in the water.
After Jakarta we travelled to Papua New Guinea and stopped at the port of Rabaul.
This place had a lot of trouble, there were local elections coming up and it wasnt really safe for foreigners.
I was rostered on for buss duty on one day we were there and had to drive a heap of officers to a golf course.
On the way back the bus was attacked by natives with bows and arrows.
Didn’t do any harm to me or the bus but it was certainly an experience.
Apparently the day we left a lot of people were attacked at the polling stations.
We set sail for the Philippines and did goodwill visits to Subic Bay which was still an American base back then and then on to Manila.
After a few days in Manila it was off to Hong Kong and we docked at the then British base HMS Tamar.
We had 2 weeks here and then we left for Singapore.
A typhoon was approaching and hit us a few days later.
It was the biggest seas I have ever seen.
Nobody was allowed on the upper decks for a few days as it was just too dangerous.
I drove a rescue boat during a man overboard exercise and i admit i was shitting myself.
The wave troughs were huge and getting back alongside the ship when it is lurching side to side is quite scary.
We were then meant to go to Fiji, but there was a military coup and we were diverted there to just sail around the island .
This meant we were on defence watches.
This is 4 hours on and 4 hours off.
Probably the worst time I had in the Navy.
Close to 2 weeks of that and everyone was just about ready to kill each other.
We then sailed to the Island of Tonga to refuel, this took a while as it had to be pumped from barrels.
We were not allowed ashore as the Government had some issue with Australian warships patrolling its friend Fiji.
I do remember Tonga having the clearest blue water I have ever seen.
We then went to Shangai in China for a few days.
Back in 1986 it was a very different country to what it is now.
Everyone was wearing the same clothes.
Items in shop windows displayed propaganda relating to items in the west compared to china.
I dont know how many people believed it.
Wouldnt be able to do it now with so many chinese having travelled and having access to the internet.
No Photos
Today with social media, people have visual records of almost everything they do.
When i joined the navy we didnt have facebook.
We didnt have mobile phones and relied on disposable cameras.
Film back then had to be processed at a photo shop, and sometimes you couldnt find one until you returned to Australia.
I did have a lot of photos but over the years they have been lost.
Not having the photos also affects how much I can remember.
After a few days in Singapore, we set sail for Shangai in China.
It took 8 hours for the ship to travel up the yangtze river.
China was a very interesting stay.
After we left china we were told that we needed to return to Australia.
There had been a cyclone in the Solomom Islands and needed emergency supplies.
We returned to Darwin and loaded up the supplies.
After a few days in Darwin we left for Honiara.
We helped rebuild schools and did a lot of work cleaning up after the cyclone.
We had a few days to travel around and this was great.
All around the island were tanks and aircraft and various military items from the Battle of the coral Sea.
It was one of the most intereseting places i visited.
We then went to New Zealand and visited the 3 islands.
had a few days in each port before sailing back to Sydney .
Once back in Sydney we met up with ships from every allied country to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Australian Navy.
Back on Land
After my 2 years at sea, I moved to Hastings in Victoria.
I was stationed back at Cerberus.
This would be my last posting.
After 2 years here I left the Navy on the completion of my 6 years.
It was an exciting time.
I got to do things that many others will never experience.
I have jumped into the sea from a helicopter, Spent a night alone at sea in a raft, flown a Seaking helicopter in a military simulator.
watched the USS Missouri fire a broadside from its massive guns.
I worked on ejection seats, Parachutes and all sorts of survival equipment..
The list of things and the places visited is huge.
The Defence Force Covenant
After seeing a random post on Facebook, I learned about the Defence Force Covenant.
I have applied and had my application approved. Hopefully it will arrive this week.
I am a bit perplexed as to why the Defence force dont actually contact you to explain these entitlemants.
Officially Retire
Stay Tuned for Something Super Amazing!
