Recruits at sea: 12 months on

DMS Vessel MV Seahorse Spirit heads out to sea with a crew of enthusiastic recruits. Photo by ABPH Gavin Hainsworth

A recruit learns to keep watch on the bridge of Seahorse Spirit. Photo by ABPH Gavin Hainsworth

TOP and BELOW: Recruits take turns performing lookout duties, onboard MV Seahorse Spirit. They spend a week onboard the vessel during their recruit training to familiarise themselves with life at sea. Photos by ABPH Gavin Hainsworth

By LSCISSM Rachel Irving
In the harsh conditions of Bass Strait, perhaps one of the cruellest waterways of all, our recruits have been undergoing sea training as part of the revamped recruit training program.

Recruit School HMAS Cerberus has just celebrated the one-year anniversary of sea-familiarisation training for all recruits.

As part of a series of initiatives introduced under the Sea Eagle IV project, recruits spend one week at sea during their training onboard DMS vessel MV Seahorse Spirit.

Commanding Officer of Recruit School, CMDR Mark Hill, said, “The feedback is that recruits are enjoying their sea experience and for us to have recruits graduating from here who have a positive outlook on going to sea and look forward to their next opportunity to do so, then we’ve achieved the aim.

“We like to whet their appetites and give them a little bit of insight into life at sea. We are producing sailors who are highly motivated to get on with their training and complete it as quickly as they can so they can get to sea.”

After successfully completing NBCD training and Survival at Sea, recruits spend five days at sea in Seahorse Spirit with their instructors. They have their lessons onboard the ship as well enjoying an introduction to watch-keeping and general life at sea.

“...they all come home and they say they want to do it again...” - CMDR Hill

“If I could pick the worst place in Australia to send people to sea for the first time it would be Bass Strait and pretty much without exception we’ve had either bad or awful weather for sea training and almost without exception all of our recruits have been seasick,” CMDR Hill said.

“But that experience not withstanding, they all come home and they say they want to do it again because it was good.

“Even the people who go to sea and have a really bad time health-wise, say it was a good experience and they are looking forward to going to sea later. More importantly they are telling us it has re-affirmed their decision to join the Navy.”

CMDR Hill says the eleven-week recruit course has been re-focused to give trainees both the fundamental skills and knowledge to not only pass their training but to understand Navy culture and language.

“One comment I often receive from people when they come back from their week at sea is, ‘Ah, now all that stuff falls into place. I now understand why we do things a certain way, why we do rounds etc’.

“The experience at sea ties up the loose ends of their instruction at Recruit School which is a good thing and certainly in terms of our language and culture, they understand what a deck is, what a bulkhead is etc and it works as a confidence booster.”

When the sea-familiarisation program commenced 12 months ago, recruits were using TV Wyuna, the sea training vessel chartered from the Australian Maritime College in Launceston, but now solely use Seahorse Spirit.

The advantage of Seahorse Spirit is that it allows two classes at a time to complete the sea phase.

“I think we are producing recruits with a better idea of what lies ahead in their career.” - CMDR Hill

As for the future of Recruit School, CMDR Hill said he is always looking for ways to make the training more challenging.

“I don’t necessarily mean harder but as challenging as I can in ways that allow recruits to draw upon the skills and experiences they’ve acquired over the course of the 11 weeks they are with us.”

Recruits complete an exercise, or Operational Readiness Exercise, on their final Tuesday at the school, which begins in the wee hours of the morning.

It involves a series of activities designed to test the knowledge and skills of the recruits. The trainees are tested on combat survivability (NBCD), survival at sea and first aid.

A smoke walk, escape and evasion exercise and wet obstacle course run are all integrated into the day which is unapologetically demanding.

CMDR Hill said he would like to see the introduction of some more waterborne exercises into the ORE to make it even more challenging, following on from the sea familiarisation experience.

“I’d also like to introduce some more training aids and pyrotechnics to make it more exciting and induce the adrenalin.”

Sea Eagle IV has been in place for 18 months and CMDR Hill, although happy with the progress to date, admits there is still work to be done.

“The re-introduction of NBCD and survival-at-sea and the introduction of the sea phase have been positive. I think we are producing recruits with a better idea of what lies ahead in their career.

“I think we are on the right track, but now we must continually assess what we’re doing and how we’re delivering the training as well as assessing how we can make training challenging for the recruits.

“'That way we can have recruits better prepared for life in the fleet.”