Youth program a major source of technical sailors

Not in order, Navy Youth Program participants — Mark Douglas, Tim Ross, Michael Cucilovic, Mitch Ambrose, Zoe Mack, Nathan Bland, Daniel Sole, Brenda Warwick, Peter Dooley, Piers New, Glenn Dobbie, Trent Coelli, Daniel Boyle and Stewart Baker.

By Graham Davis

The Navy Youth Program continues to be a vital source of prospective technical sailors with 27 of the 32 students who took part in the two most recent courses, saying they want to join the Navy.

Since the program began in October 2001 nearly 200 young men and women have taken part.

“Eighty per cent of them said they liked what they saw and wanted to join the RAN,” the instigator of the NYP, CMDR Rick Barnett said last week.

“Some are already members of the PNF,” he said.

CMDR Barnett, now the Commander/Fleet Maintenance, was the CO of FIMA/Sydney in 2001 and recognising the RAN urgently needed hundreds of technical sailors, sought and obtained funding to introduce the program.

The program sees young people undertake a period of paid work experience in the workshops of FIMA/Sydney( LCDR Pat Quain) and FIMA/Perth (LCDR Greg Church).

The young people are rotated through areas such as the metal shop, corrosion control, the woodworking shop and the electrical section.

Where possible they go to sea as well as undertake a wide variety of sporting activities in the gymnasiums at the bases.

They receive instruction on navy procedures and protocols.

Graduation certificates are presented at the end of each course along with other awards.

The Navy works with Reliable People World Wide whose role it is to advertise through local papers and the web (NYP@RPW.net.au) to obtain, assess and process the students.

Mentors are appointed to supervise the students with CPO Maxine Stone looking after the most recent course at

Stirling and W0 Peter Stephens and CPO Kerry Jones supervising the Sydney course.

“A total of 11 courses have been completed since 2001 each averaging 18 young people,” CMDR Barnett said.

“Of the nearly 200 who took part 80 per cent said they wanted to join the RAN.

“The mentors helped them with their applications.

“Of the 18 in the FIMA/Perth course which finished a fortnight ago ( March 7) 17 said they wanted to join.

“Of the 14 who did the parallel course in Sydney, ten have said they would like to become members.

“We already have NYP students from the earlier courses now trained and working in the Navy.

“Some have even been posted back to FIMA/Sydney,” CMDR Barnett said.

The NYP people accepted into the service do the 12 week recruit course at HMAS Cerberus before going on to specialist training courses and finally move to ships, squadrons or bases.

At the graduation ceremony at FIMA/Sydney on March 7, the students and their instructors were joined by many parents, some of whom had come from Queensland.

The parents heaped praise on the NYP concept and the results it was achieving.

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