Joining the Navy!

jennihen

Hello all!

I couldn't find my original post, DD1 and I can't remember how long ago it was that she decided she wanted a career in the Navy! we received some really encouraging responses.

She is now 16 and has an appointment at Pilgrim House next week:j

She is particularly interested in Weaponry/Warfare and would like to join as an officer.e

Could anyone with knowledge and experience of these career paths spare a few minutes to share their experiences and maybe point out anything you think she should be aware of - warts and all?

Thank you in advance

andy208833

If she wants to join as an officer i would suggest that she goes back to college and gets some A levels first. I think the following link explains it all:

http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/careers/how-to-join/as-an-officer/index.htm

If she wants to join as a rating and work her way up then it would be best to have a look at the royal navy website and decide exactly which area she would like to work in. Joining as an Engineering Technician gets you into the warfare/weapons stream and from there you can become a dabber and operate the kit or an engineer and maintain the kit. The engineer stream also enables you to get qualified with a foundation degree later on in your career.

Of course there is nothing to stop you joining as a rating and then becoming an officer if you show the right apptitude.

best to go to the careers office with an idea though of exactly what you want.

I wouldn't discourage anyone from joining the armed forces but it may also be worth investigating the effects of the strategic defence review before going to the careers office. The navy is doing a round of redundancies so she may have a long wait in certain branches. The careers office should be able to answer all questions that you may have. Write them down as you think of them and take them with you.

jennihen

Thankyou Andy.
She's pretty fixed on joining and going to Plymouth Uni to do the Foundation degree in NS. She's been accepted for 6th form and has picked her subjects. If there is a waiting list she's considering either a gap year volunteering or the Public Service course.

mountainofdebt

If she wants to, and has the ability to, join as an Officer then your daughter will need to A levels as you need at least 180 UCAS points to join as an Officer.


To gain entry as an Officer, she will have to pass (with the required marks for her trade) the phsycometric tests, a medical, pass the fitness test, a SIFT interview (which will test her knowledge of the RN and ask about her motivation for joing) then pass the Admiralty Interview Board (basically the Officer selection interview).

The AIB will test amongst other things her leadership skills so it might be worth her developing these whilst at 6th form.

If you google AIB on youtube there are a couple of videos showing what sort of things she will be expected to do.

As far as defence cuts are concerned, it has meant that if she wanted to go in as a rating then she could be waiting years rather than months (and the waiting time was unbeliveable beforehand!)

For some branches even Officer recruitment has been put on hold although I think Warfare is one branch where they are still looking at Officer applicants.

zenmaster

jennihen wrote: »

She is now 16 ...
She is particularly interested in Weaponry/Warfare ....

Is it just me or does anyone else find that a little disturbing?

jennihen wrote: »

Could anyone with knowledge and experience of these career paths spare a few minutes to share their experiences and maybe point out anything you think she should be aware of - warts and all?

Killing people?
Being killed?

smellyted

Zenmaster,

why would it be disturbing that someone at 16 has an interest in the Forces? I joined at 16 and 21 years later am still serving. Its nice to see that a youngster has some aspirations in life rather than sit on their !!!! and let others serve on their behalf.

andy208833

Zenmaster,

i served 22 years as a weapon engineer and none of my systems were ever fired in anger. They are mainly there as a deterant, simply pointing the systems in the general direction of the target is normally enough

It is a fantastic job for a singleton if you want to work hard, get qualified, play hard and see parts of the world you would never normally see.

intranicity

Zenmaster

Would you prefer that we had no Armed forces and there weren't people out there willing to put their lives on the line to protect this country and our values? Thankfully there are people willing to do these jobs, and hopefully they will never have to put into action what they are trained for, but the worlds not perfect, and most normal people realise that the Armed Forces are there for a very good reason.

PS, Please don't forget the humanitarian job that the military also do when disasters hit, or the cover that they provide when the Firemen go on strike etc etc etc

paulrn_2

Depending on her academic skills she should aim for entry as an Officer first. I would strongly advise that she go for Weapon Engineering Officer and if possible try and get the RN to pay for her degree. Going in as an Enginer will give her a skill set that is easily transferable when she leaves the service much easyer to get a job.
If not as an officer then as an Artificer Weapon Engineer and work through that scheme.

Last option should be as an AB, but I joined up as a junior rate and left 37 years later as an Officer and was head hunted straight into a job as I had the engineering skills they needed.

Just make sure she asks the recruiter the right questions especally about sponsorship.

Strapped

jennihen wrote: »

Thankyou Andy.
She's pretty fixed on joining and going to Plymouth Uni to do the Foundation degree in NS. She's been accepted for 6th form and has picked her subjects. If there is a waiting list she's considering either a gap year volunteering or the Public Service course.

I thought that they taught the Fd at Britannia in Dartmouth? (with an optional year at Plymouth to get a full honours degree). For Officers anyway.

I'd say definitely don't apply at 16 - get good A Level grades and join as an Officer. She may even find she changes her mind between 16 and 18.

andy208833

paulrn wrote: »

If not as an officer then as an Artificer Weapon Engineer and work through that scheme.

Unfortunately the Artificer branch is no more its all Engineering Technician now