Youth program mentors newest graduate

RCTMT Chris Lee with his parents, Gary and Judith, and his two brothers Clint and Tim, after his graduation from Recruit School at HMAS Cerberus. On the flanks are Nathan Sculthorpe and Sharon Beaver from Reliable People.

Caps flew high into the air when 137 very excited young Australians graduated from the Royal Australian Navy’s Recruit training centre at HMAS Cerberus late last month.

More than 500 family members, friends and Defence personnel were on hand to see the young men and women, members of the Moran Division Recruit General Entry 199, proudly march on to the parade ground to be reviewed by CDRE Brian Robinson, Chief of staff Combat Support Group.

The graduating class of 137 was not the largest to have graduated in recent times but it was close to it and was a good indicator the RAN is meeting its recruiting targets.

The graduation concluded 11 hectic weeks of basic training, with the recruits now going on to do specialist courses.

One of those to graduate was 19-year-old Christopher Lee from Kempsey. Chris was another to have received a
“taste” of Navy life by undertaking the very successful Navy Youth Program now in operation at FIMA/Sydney and FIMA/Perth.

The program, the initiative of LCDR Rick Barnett, the CO of FIMA/Sydney, sees 20 young men and women at a time undertake eight weeks paid work experience in FIMA workshops. They also go to sea and do sport during the eight weeks. FIMA mentors then help them apply for entry to the RAN.

Chris was joined for his graduation by his father, former sailor and now police sergeant Garry Lee, his mother Mrs Judith Lee and two brothers, one of whom is serving in HMAS Fremantle while the other is in Adelaide.

Also joining him was Nathan Sculthorpe, of Reliable People Worldwide, the organisation charged with obtaining and selecting applicants for the NYP. It was Nathan who first interviewed Chris for a NYP place.

Also joining Chris was Sharon Beaver, another Reliable People staff member who deals with NYP applicants in Western Australia.

Speaking of the NYP, Chris told Navy News, “the program gave me a better insight into the Navy. It gave me valuable hands-on experience and with the time I spent in Sydney I learnt how to interact with officers and sailors..like knowing how to salute.”

Nathan Sculthorpe said, “Now I can tell the young people I will guide through the NYP what HMAS Cerberus is all about. It is a big place, for example. It is an awesome and fantastic feeling seeing someone who when we first met did not have any direction, finish the NYP program and graduate from the Recruit training centre to become a productive member of the community.”

Chris, who found the Cerberus course more physically demanding than what his brothers had described, will now do the marine technicians course.

• By LEUT Lucito Irlandez
  & Graham Davis

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