Greetings shipmates,
Sorry in advance for the long introductory post. Hopefully it should give you an idea of why I'm here.
I'm currently giving serious consideration to applying for a commission in the RNR. I originally joined the RN as a rating at the age of 16, I served for 6 years and thoroughly lived the dream in the process. It would be fair to say I was a full on mess deck hero, pissing it up most nights and caring little for my career or promotion prospects.
I was by no means a bad egg, I always received gleaming RORRS reports etc. I was just far too busy having fun to worry about task book training and getting myself on LRCC. Disciplinary wise, I was trooped once for turning up pissed to a duty watch muster and I'm very ashamed to admit that I have a spent conviction for drink driving. It's the biggest regret of my life and I was subject to a career check as a result.
Anyway after a few good and a few bad deployments, I eventually decided to go outside in order to live in the 'real world' and have matured extensively since my glory days down the mess. As a civvy I have carved a highly successful career as a senior manager within a world famous company, I've got a string of qualifications under my belt (cheers easy Enhanced Learning Credits) and I've been savvy with my ickies and have managed to purchase a couple of rental properties.
Lucky me.
The thing is, I always think about my days in the mob, I miss it immensely. I need some excitement in my life, something challenging, camaraderie, all the things I gave up when I left the RN. Above all, I want the opportunity to go on deployment again, unlike most matelots, I actually enjoyed being at sea.
It's got to the stage where I seriously considered jacking in civvy street and signing up again. I spoke to some mates who are still serving, they're all Chiefs now and quite rightly they advised me against doing the full walk of shame back to Raleigh. They're right of course, joining up as a full time rating again and starting from scratch would be entirely for nostalgic reasons and my bank manager would kill me. Likewise joining as a regular officer probably wouldn't be for me.
Now the RNR is something I had never seriously considered, save for seeing a few scruffy RNR types milling around the dockyard and being jiffed to show some of them round the ship on a duty weekend, I rarely encountered them. Typically I looked down upon them with distain and labelled them as grown up sea cadets who were 'really not required'.
Now I'm a bit wiser and more mature, I can see this probably isn't the case, I understand the RNR fulfil quite a few specialist shoreside and seagoing jobs and pull their weight as a part of the wider Naval community. Perhaps the RNR is what I'm looking for?
With this in mind, I've started putting some serious thought into signing up and having a bash. Considering how much I've developed myself since leaving the RN, I believe I would find the challenge of a commission more fulfilling than service as an RNR rating, so I've primarily been looking at officer roles within the RNR.
In particular I quite like the look of the Amphibious Warfare branch, I was a originally a dabber and I'd be particularly interested in managing Sea(RES) ratings, likewise the actual 'Ship to Objective' stuff looks like something I could do. I've been for a chat with the recruiting officer of my local unit and based on my qualifications, background and experience, he strongly advised me to give direct officer entry a try, but then again that's his job so he would wouldn't he?
So some questions if I may?
Is a spent drink driving driving conviction and/or a career check an automatic bar to entry as an officer?
What's the Amphibious Warfare branch like? I've read the bumf but would be interested in hearing from a serving RNR Amphibious Warfare Officer. There doesn't appear to be much on this site about it, likewise the RN website only has a couple of brief paragraphs.
What's the training pipeline like? Realistically how long could I be looking at from initial application to getting some sea time? Assuming of course I'm successful. I understand it's a lengthy process and obviously I realise I'll have to pass AIB etc.
And finally, is it worth it?
Cheers in advance.
:thumbup:
Sorry in advance for the long introductory post. Hopefully it should give you an idea of why I'm here.
I'm currently giving serious consideration to applying for a commission in the RNR. I originally joined the RN as a rating at the age of 16, I served for 6 years and thoroughly lived the dream in the process. It would be fair to say I was a full on mess deck hero, pissing it up most nights and caring little for my career or promotion prospects.
I was by no means a bad egg, I always received gleaming RORRS reports etc. I was just far too busy having fun to worry about task book training and getting myself on LRCC. Disciplinary wise, I was trooped once for turning up pissed to a duty watch muster and I'm very ashamed to admit that I have a spent conviction for drink driving. It's the biggest regret of my life and I was subject to a career check as a result.
Anyway after a few good and a few bad deployments, I eventually decided to go outside in order to live in the 'real world' and have matured extensively since my glory days down the mess. As a civvy I have carved a highly successful career as a senior manager within a world famous company, I've got a string of qualifications under my belt (cheers easy Enhanced Learning Credits) and I've been savvy with my ickies and have managed to purchase a couple of rental properties.
Lucky me.
The thing is, I always think about my days in the mob, I miss it immensely. I need some excitement in my life, something challenging, camaraderie, all the things I gave up when I left the RN. Above all, I want the opportunity to go on deployment again, unlike most matelots, I actually enjoyed being at sea.
It's got to the stage where I seriously considered jacking in civvy street and signing up again. I spoke to some mates who are still serving, they're all Chiefs now and quite rightly they advised me against doing the full walk of shame back to Raleigh. They're right of course, joining up as a full time rating again and starting from scratch would be entirely for nostalgic reasons and my bank manager would kill me. Likewise joining as a regular officer probably wouldn't be for me.
Now the RNR is something I had never seriously considered, save for seeing a few scruffy RNR types milling around the dockyard and being jiffed to show some of them round the ship on a duty weekend, I rarely encountered them. Typically I looked down upon them with distain and labelled them as grown up sea cadets who were 'really not required'.
Now I'm a bit wiser and more mature, I can see this probably isn't the case, I understand the RNR fulfil quite a few specialist shoreside and seagoing jobs and pull their weight as a part of the wider Naval community. Perhaps the RNR is what I'm looking for?
With this in mind, I've started putting some serious thought into signing up and having a bash. Considering how much I've developed myself since leaving the RN, I believe I would find the challenge of a commission more fulfilling than service as an RNR rating, so I've primarily been looking at officer roles within the RNR.
In particular I quite like the look of the Amphibious Warfare branch, I was a originally a dabber and I'd be particularly interested in managing Sea(RES) ratings, likewise the actual 'Ship to Objective' stuff looks like something I could do. I've been for a chat with the recruiting officer of my local unit and based on my qualifications, background and experience, he strongly advised me to give direct officer entry a try, but then again that's his job so he would wouldn't he?
So some questions if I may?
Is a spent drink driving driving conviction and/or a career check an automatic bar to entry as an officer?
What's the Amphibious Warfare branch like? I've read the bumf but would be interested in hearing from a serving RNR Amphibious Warfare Officer. There doesn't appear to be much on this site about it, likewise the RN website only has a couple of brief paragraphs.
What's the training pipeline like? Realistically how long could I be looking at from initial application to getting some sea time? Assuming of course I'm successful. I understand it's a lengthy process and obviously I realise I'll have to pass AIB etc.
And finally, is it worth it?
Cheers in advance.
:thumbup:
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