The Freedom Years

There were a handful of times when I found myself the victim of circumstance and in trouble while I was in the Navy. My Dad was a policeman so I knew better than to get in trouble intentionally, but for some reason trouble turned up and I found myself ‘In front of The Joss’. The Royal Navy is policed by the ‘Reggies’ – or Regulators as they are officially known. Not the best liked bunch and some were downright horrible – putting it mildly. The first time I was in trouble through no fault of mine was during basic training at HMS Daedalus in 1981 and involved a local resident’s garden. One night four of us were coming back from having a drink at the Swordfish and walked through the roads leading to the main gate as usual. We heard some others laughing and carrying on but thought nothing of it as they were in another road to us. We slowly wandered through the gate, showing our ID (as you did). Next thing the Duty Chief tells us to go into his office. Rather bemused, and...

When I joined the Navy I joined up as an Air Engineering Mechanic (AEM). This was due to 'apparently' having a high score in the technical section of my aptitude test. My original choice was to be a driver or photographer. I was unable to do photography from initial training as it was one of those categories that you had to 're-cat' to after serving a few years. For the first six years of my service I trained as an AEM, worked on air stations and generally did a good job. I say 'good' because I certainly wasn't a natural at solving technical problems and being a tractor driver meant I spent a lot of time doing other things. I did what I was asked and to the best of my ability - although my wire locking was pretty high quality! Around the five year mark I started to think about changing my job. I was working at HMS Daedalus in the training school and knew a couple of Wrens who worked as Education and Training Support Assistants. Their job was to design...