Well, I made it out of HMS Sultan and I've been based at RAF Wittering for about 11 weeks so almost half way. The course is really tough, never had to learn so much so quickly in my life! I've struggled a little along the way but I'm picking things up now. Good atmosphere on base, a lot more relaxed being with the RAF and as mad as it is to say, I do actually miss the Navy way! Food was the biggest thing to notice here as it's 100 times better than the other bases. Starting to get used to shift work - days are 7.20am-4.30pm and nights are 4.30pm-2am! But most of the time we finish nice and early on a night shift. You still have to do PT here(3 times a week)as you're still in training. Bonus is that cos it's RAF we have no duties! Well, at least not until we're qualified and then you gotta put your greens on(combats)and guard the gates. Can't wait to get my greens, should get them soon. Oh yeah, another bonus is that you get your own room so more privacy is good and plus there are no rules about having males in the girls blocks and vice versa! ALL GOOD!!!! There are some bad points but that's expected, as we're still only trainees we've gotta do the shitty jobs like hangar cleanup. But going back on a high note - our squadron took the day off a few weeks ago and we all went go-karting and it cost nothing, yep FREEEEEEEEEEE!!! I think they've got another day off planned soon and we're going to Go-Ape so can't wait for that.

Well that's about it for now. For those of you thinking about joining, hope I'm helping with info as I know how frustrating it can be not knowing what you're stepping into.

Peace out, Lou -x-

Hey all! Well I've just come back from spending a week in Talybont, South Wales for a leadership course thing. Was good fun but the camping bit was awful cos it was so uncomfortable. Went for a 30k walk, did some rock climbing and caving. Caving was awesome, especially the bit where we turned off our lamps and had to find our way back in the pitch black! You do that during week 7 at Sultan. I've failed one exam, Ops and Movement, but it was one of the harder exams. If you fail one exam and then resit it and fail again, you get back classed up to 4 weeks. Happy to say that I passed my resit on Monday so pat on the back for me! This week we're learning grubber systems - Mechanical Systems, which I'm enjoying but also another hard exam. Take the exam on Monday so I've got the weekend to revise loads! Hummmmmm, not much else to say only that now our class of 18 has been reduced to 12 in 4 days. Also we're guard class so we get off normal duties and just have to march with rifles on ceremonials. Beats having patrolling duties anyways!

Right, well time to go do some revision methinks oh aand possibly visit the bar hehe. Laters!

Lou

Hi everyone! Thought I'd do an update. Well I'm officially in the Royal Navy now, done my 9wks of basic training and it was hard work but loads of fun too. Feeling very proud to be a member of the RN, living the dream! Right, anyway, I got the phase two part of my training a little wrong which was expected as you don't really find out everything until you get there. So right now I'm based at HMS Sultan in Gosport and I'm here for 22 weeks mostly theory work and lots of exams. It's only in the final 3 wks we get proper hands on with the aircraft. We near enough get an exam every week and I've had 3 so far but yet to find out my results on 2 of them. One of the best things is that when you join up at Raleigh, chances are you'll be in phase 2 with a lot of your mates from phase 1 so it's quite nice that way. What else to say....um, I work Mon-Fri 8am-4.15pm and get most weekends off unless I'm on duty. I'm 20 minutes away from the local beaches, always wanted to live near a beach. The only downside to this part of training is that it can get quite stressful with all the revision but there's plenty of time to chill out and the bar's only a minute walk away! We've got a really nice course instructor, chilled out but cracks the whip if he has to! Oh yeah, been Duty Class Leader for 1 week which was kinda crap, don't mind the responsibilities just that I find it hard to tell people what to do and some of the boys needed some butt kicking! GRRR!!!! Well, that's about it for now. I'll keep posting when I get time, let you know how I'm getting on with exams. If you haven't already, have a nose at some of my photos under Royal Navy life, you can see how much fun I really have lol! Thanks for reading...laters!!! -x-

Hi everyone! Thought I'd post a little about what I'll be up to during my time with the Royal Navy. I'll be joining as an AET - Air Engineering Technician which, after general aircraft training, will be split into two trade preferences - avionics or mechanical. So this will be my journey:

27th April - 9 weeks Basic Training at HMS Raleigh in Torpoint, Cornwall. Here I'll learn everything there is to know to prepare me for Navy life. I'll be trained to fight fires, go through a physical simulation of a missle hitting a ship and actually reparing the damage, learn how to march, orienteering, combat training which includes firing a rifle, and of course swim like a fish!

8 months General Aircraft Training at HMS Sultan, Gosport. This is where I'll learn about all the aircraft in the fleet air arm.

23 weeks Aircraft Training on either Lynx, Merlin, Sea King or fixed wing aircraft which will now be the GR9's and T10's. Depending on the aircraft I could be based in RNAS Yeovilton, RNAS Culdrose Cornwall, or RAF Wittering.

3-6 months training with a squadron. This will be consolidation after you've qualified.

6-8 months on the frontline. This is the real deal, you're qualified now and drafted to a squadron of your preference.