Still alive!

If I made BLD sound hard, it was a Sunday picnic compared with ACE! I now have an extreme phobia of green berets as we were 'beasted', to use the naval parlance, for every minute of the four days. Horizontal hail and snow made things "only slightly more challenging" in the words of the Royal Marines Captain. On Thursday morning, at about 3.30am, I found that in the hour or so I'd been asleep (or the semi-conscious stupor that passes for sleep in the numbing cold) a small pile of snow had formed on the windward side of my bivvy bag, and I was lying in about three inches of water! When we'd moved to that site a couple of hours before, with everyone shouting and thunder flashes and flares going off all around (to simulate a mortar attack apparently), we hadn't realised in the darkness and confusion that we were in a small hollow where all the water would collect. Ramming my battered feet into my soaking wet boots, stuffing my bag etc into the Bergen and yomping away in the pitch black through the bogs and over the hills in the relentless wind and hail required much gritting of teeth. By this stage though I was too tired to care really. A couple of hours sleep every night, mile after mile of hard hillwalking from when it was dark until it was dark again with a Bergen containing everything I needed to survive, in atrocious conditions, while under constant assessment, was definitely "slightly challenging". In case I'm coming across as a bit over dramatic or sound like a bit of a cry baby; one of the other teams had a former Commando as part of their 8 (who has transferred to the RN to get promotion), and was hard as nails, but even he said it was tough. Quite a few people went down with various injuries and hypothermia (but somewhat surprisingly only one was hospitalised). The general format was the same as BLD with each team of 8 making it's way around different 'stances', and each member taking a turn to be leader. Over the four days we had to complete three tasks each as leader, using the particular format and style of leadership we've been taught during the past few weeks. One of my tasks as leader was at the summit of a hill, in the howling wind, with the light fading, at the end of our third day living in the wild with virtually no sleep, after the team had already completed seven previous tasks that day and had been up and hiking for @12 hours. Needless to say, someone's ability as a leader and their determination to achieve the aim are severely tested in these circumstances, and I shudder to imagine what the real thing "in theatre" must be like. The team spirit of the other 7 guys you have to motivate in those conditions can't be under-estimated either. One young guy in our team hurt his back and was in tears more than once but kept going. Unfortunately he was failed (because a leader should not be crying in front of his team) and will have to repeat the whole of the last 7 weeks. Rather strangely though, the rest of us still had respect for him. I think it was because he didn't give up. Thankfully I passed and can now proceed to the next phase of training. Of those who failed some will have to repeat the whole phase again, while others will be given a second chance and allowed to move into the next phase but will be required to repeat ACE in @7 weeks time as they were not able to display the correct qualities of leadership under pressure.
When we arrived back at the College at @ 1700 on Thursday, we were made to bivvy up again in the grounds and told we'd be there for the night (despite expecting to be finished and allowed back inside). Luckily it was only a final part of the game and we were eventually finished at @ 1800. This however only gave us around an hour to get back to our mess, scrape off 4 days worth of crud from ourselves, get into our No.1 uniform and help host a Rear Admiral on the Quarterdeck at 19.15, and attend the Squadron Dinner he was guest of honour at in the Senior Gunroom at 19.45! What a phenomenal contrast; within 2 hours I went from lying shivering in the dirt, to a 5 course silver service at the same table as a Rear Admiral with a Royal Marines Band playing in the background. Who said Navy life was dull!?
From Monday we are permitted out of the College in the evenings until 23.59, and we have our Passing In Parade on Thursday (with the Second Sea Lord, Vice Admiral Adrian Johns as guest of honour). After this I get to go home for 3 days!! Can't wait to see everyone. Feels like I've been away for years.

4 down, 3 to go.....

The past couple of weeks have been a real roller-coaster of ups and downs. My Division (Tireless) passed Squadron Officer's Rounds last Friday night and were granted Pavillion privileges. This meant no more inspections of kit and accomodation at 20.00 every night, and the use of the bar on campus. As an additional reward we were permitted to attend a DIVEX (Divisional Exercise) which involved half of us sailing the four STCs to Brixham on Saturday with the other half walking there along the coastal path, an overnight stay with a good meal and lots of drink, then swapping over for the return leg; half of us walking, other half sailing. It was a slightly weird feeling being back in civilisation again after 3 weeks of isolation and everyone had a brilliant time. I've added some pics below.

Most of the past week has been taken up by an evolution called 'build' (BLD - Basic Leadership Development) which involves three days spent outdoors with everything we needed to survive (just!) in our Bergens. We had no tents; just sleeping bags, roll-mat and a bivvy pole and sheet, and ration packs with hexamine cookers for sustenance. The temperature barely got above zero the whole time and, combined with the biting wind, meant we all got very very cold. We had a party of German cadets training with us and one had to be taken to hospital with hypothermia! The following night another German cadet had to join him suffering from exhaustion/dehydration. At nights we had to take turns at getting up for one hour watches and I had no idea how hard it would be to pull myself out of my sleeping bag 3 times every night (after only @1.5 hours sleep each time) and into the freezing cold. On the second night we were 'bumped' i.e. told to pack everything up and be formed up ready to go in 30 mins. We were marched to another site and told to make camp again. In the mornings we had to have everthing back in the Bergens, having had a hot meal and drink (and be able to prove it by keeping all our 'gash' (rubbish) for inspection later), a shave (using mess tins!) and assembled in teams by 07.00. Each day from 07.00 until @17.00 we undertook PLTs (practical leadership tests) with each team member taking a turn at being leader and trying to get their team across ravines, rivers etc using ropes and pine poles and some clever techniques we had been shown earlier in the week by the Royal Marine Commandos who had been teaching us survival and navigation in the field. Every test had a time limit of 30 mins. The combination of bitter cold and wind, with heavy rough wet ropes has left my hands in a bit of a state and we all got bad windburn on our faces and dry cracked lips. Luckily my feet held up but some people have bad blisters from the DIVEX/BLD session. Each team had an Assessing Officer (in our case a Lieutenant Commander) who briefed the missions and scored each leader's performance. Thankfully I did well and have been recommended to proceed for ACE (Assessed Command Exercise) which is the culmination of this phase and takes us up onto Dartmoor for more of the same but over a longer period and in more difficult conditions with far longer marches over rough terrain and bigger hills between each task. The navigation skills we've been taught will also be tested. The idea is to push us to our physical and mental limits then to find out if we still have it in us to command a team and complete the task. We have all been warned that ACE will be much more difficult than BLD. Anyway, those were the good points of the last 2 weeks, now for the bad...................

After the rigors of BLD we were all looking forward to a long hot shower, some decent hot food, and a celebratory 'swally' in the Pav. Unfortunately a couple of idiots left their bed area in a sub-standard condition before we departed for BLD and we were all put back on remedial rounds until further notice i.e. no Pav and everything ship shape by 20.00 every night again! Needless to say the culprits are now fairly unpopular, not just with our Division but with Torbay Division also who, because some of Tireless share a mess with them, were also put back on rounds.

The morning after completing BLD (where we had only @4 hours of broken sleep each night) we were made to get up at 05.00 so we could be mustered outside the Commodore's house (just off the parade ground) to sing happy birthday to his wife at 06.30. She wasn't even there apparently!!

Next week will be mostly classroom based with our usual Monday night and Wednesday afternoon sports, and a couple of final pre-ACE sessions with the PT staff and Commandos. Then it's off to Dartmoor the following week for the big test......................

How many hours in a day!!??

Been here two weeks now and my feet haven't touched the ground! The pace is so fast it's little wonder that five people have dropped out already. This is the first chance I've had to grab a few minutes to send some e-mails and write this update..................

I arrived at Totnes railway station on the 2nd of January as instructed and gathered with all the other Cadets to wait for College transport. On arriving at the College we were disembarked onto the parade ground (see picture in First Post) and told to form up three deep. We were then marched to our accomodation block where two huge bags of kit were waiting for each of us. We were treated as military personnel from minute one and, although I had expected a hectic first few weeks, the term 'militarisation' just doesn't even come close. Up before 6am most mornings, and certainly never later than half past (even on a Sunday), with formal instruction finishing at 6pm. Evening 'rounds' (inspection of accomodation, kit etc by seniors) is normally at 8-8.30pm and the time between is barely enough to prepare everything. After rounds there is usually more kit, written work, presentations etc to prepare for the next day, or more lectures/briefs to attend. If we get to bed before 11.30 we're doing well.

The timetable is a mixture of physical training; sports, parade drill, hiking around in the mud with heavy Bergens, learning how to work as a team carrying casualties and all our kit (uphill usually!), classroom work; maritime navigation skills, meteorology, leadership, presentations, naval history, and seamanship; driving motor whalers, learning about ropes and knots, tides, wind etc.......................

It's not all work work work though, there are opportunities to take up great new sports too and I've already enrolled with the Climbing and the Sailing clubs. Last Wednesday afternoon I helped crew one of the College's sail training craft, PEGASUS (Contessa 38 - one of only 8 made apparently), and had the privilege of piloting her all the way back into the estuary and up the river to her mooring buoy at Sandquay using the techniques we'd learned earlier in the week on the motor whalers.

There is already a great camaraderie developing between everyone in my Division (called Tireless) and it's amazing how quickly a sense of teamwork is established. I think I will make some lifelong friends in my six months here. I've posted a picture below to give an idea of what our mess, nicknamed 'The mini-Zoo' (as there is an even larger mess called 'The Zoo'), looks like. Ignore the half-naked ginger guy, his name is Ian, he's from Milngavie, and he's WAFU (that's Fleet Air Arm to laymen!).

Oh, and I almost forgot...........................we had the Prime Minister here on Thurdsay!!

Unfortunately I didn't get to meet him personally as some of the other Cadets did, but he gave us all a wave when he passed the Junior Gunroom. See link on the right for pics.

First Post

I have created this blog as a place where family and friends can follow my progress on Initial Officer Training at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, Devon. I will update with news and photographs when time allows.

My training commences on Tuesday 2nd Jan 2007.............

BRITANNIA ROYAL NAVAL COLLEGE

My home for the next six months