<<I'm beginning to reconsider joining as an Officer, mabye opting instead to join as a Deck Rating.>>
Stephen,
Aside: In common with many at RR I am an anchor-faced older person but, like most others here, always ready to offer encouragement to those with a genuine interest in matters relating to the RN.
On Topic: Perhaps the RFA does have ‘Deck Ratings’, but in the RN there are Officers and Ratings.
Perhaps (without going anywhere into ‘Jack Speak’ - a whole new vocabulary and language reflecting the unique way of life and sub-culture of the ‘Andrew’) the service semantics may have confused you; because non-officers in the RN are known as belonging to the ‘Lower Deck’ but are NEVER called ‘Deck Ratings’. I did not point this out to you earlier but now you know.
This ‘Lower Deck’ consists of a rich choice of many branches/specialisations. Most of these have undergone various re-organisation/name/badge changes over the past few years.
So, your question above about the different experiences raised my query on whether you were really asking about the RN, or (as apparent from your previous interests re: RFA Officer/HND route) about the RFA. Hence my '????'s.
The RN offers a wide choice once it has established your academic status and potential. You have already stated that you are of a ‘practical’ nature so why not try looking more closely at a career as an RN engineering rating? One advantage of this route is that you will be freer to enjoy your youth without the overstretch of long training but with a prospect of promotion to officer later (if worthy) as you become more mature.
Advancement and promotion are always encouraged for those with ambition and potential. The RN is a meritocracy; any rank (having been well-earned) hath it’s responsibilities along with its privileges.
Experience? Mine has spanned the Junior Rating’s Messdeck, the Petty Officers Mess, a mixed Petty Officer’s and Chief Petty Officer’s Mess, a Chief Petty Officer’s and Warrant Officer’s Mess and Commissioned Officer’s Messes (Wardrooms), ashore and afloat in ships and submarines.
Those experiences are somewhat dated so I believe it would be of little benefit to share many of them with you, a keen 18-year old who seems unsure whether he wants to join the RN, the RFA, as a Rating, a Deck Rating or an Officer.
I will therefore limit myself to answering you, from experience and in my opinion:
An RN Leading Rate is probably the most difficult one to come to terms with as one lives, works and plays among those often less responsible able rates, walking a very fine line by being with & among them, but over them.
Thereafter advancement/promotion from ‘Leader’ to Petty Officer brings with it that move from the Mess deck to a Senior Ratings Mess, along with it’s duties, dress codes, customs and more comfortable perquisites.
If/when subsequently promoted then you would discover that the other Messes also have different duties/traditions/and measures of comfort; but it is that very first move into a separate Petty Officers Mess which represents the biggest step-change in life-style of them all.
Stephen,
I hope that the above is of some value to you.
(I will ignore the remaining content of your rejoinder to my first reply to your initial post, others have replied and perhaps more will, too......)
All I ask is that, here at RR, you think very carefully beforehand, post cautiously and try to remember three mores:
1. Advice you receive ‘unofficially’ should never be considered as ‘given’, but merely as ‘offered’.
2. On any such Public Forum one person’s opinion is just as freely valid and available as the next person’s (perhaps opposite) opinion.
3. Jack & Jenny (and Sir) are renowned for their/our wicked sense of humour; they/we particularly enjoy banter, wind-ups and gaining bites (but rarely suffer fools gladly). IF you seek to join the RN you must be prepared to come to terms with this quite quickly as it will be your way of life, as an Officer OR Rating.
Bob
Edited to acknowledge that you have sensibly deleted the bulk of your reply to my first post. A good start Stephen!
