ENGINE - Royal Australian Navy

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BY CMDR GLENN GREEN WHAT, ME AN ENGINEER OFFICER??! ! Thirty something years ago when I entered the Royal Australian Navy's Apprentice Training Establishment HMAS Nirimba, had you asked me this question then the answer you'd have received would have been along the lines of "you're surely joking!" My how times change", After almost twenty years service and doing what I considered to be all the best engineering jobs at sea (CPO Tiff, WO Tiff etc) I believed that I still had plenty left to offer. In fact I looked back over my career, figured I'd worked for some exceptional Engineers and thought maybe I could perhaps emulate some of the good ones so I threw my hat into the ring and commenced the Officer selection process, Afterthree Officerselection boards I hit gold and was commissioned with two other Senior Sailors in 1995, After a nine week stint at HMAS CRESWELL, followed by a couple of months at HMAS CERBERUS, I then headed to Launceston , Tasmania with my family to study at the Australian Maritime College (AMC), This was experience all by itself, No uniforms, no duties, ciwies to school every day, it just doesn't get any better! The purpose of the first year at AMC was to complete an Associate Diploma of Technology (Marine Engineering) , This course provides the commercial seafaring Marine Engineers with the academic component to sit their Second and Chief Engineer Certificates of Competence, In parallel I also comp leted the first year engineering degree maths at the University of Tasmania (Launceston Campus) situated right next door to AMC, The ADT(ME) year was an exceptional experience; sitting in a classroom with a bunch of Engineers from diverse backgrounds and experience was a learning experience by itself. On comp letion of this year I was successful in sitting my Second Engineer Certificate of Competence (Steam), an internationally recognised , STCW95 accredited engineering qualification, I (and my two fellow Navy students) subsequently spent the next three years completing a Bachelor of Engineering (Naval Architecture), The study was academically challenging to say the least but it was, in parallel , an incredibly satisfying experience, From a family perspective it was magnificent. University holidays were a big attraction (about 3 months, the equivalent of long service leave , every Christmas (with a mid-year break too) but living in a laid back environment like Launceston and being home with the family was a welcome break after many years at sea . The Army has a great stash of adventurous training gear in Hobart which we also put to good use with some hiking in Tasmania 's beautiful National Parks, All in all , the four years at AMC were unforgettable, Al l good things must come to an end they say and end they surely did, On the completion of studies at the end of 1999 I was posted back to sea, After gaining my MEOCQ and a very short stint ashore, I was then back at sea in a charge position, the ultimate goal that I had when originally considering to apply for a commission, This was a demanding and difficult, but very enjoyable, two years, Having completed DMEO jobs as both a Warrant Officer and a Lieutenant I thought I was well prepared for the position, In hindsight I guess I was but there were certainly aspects of the job that I'd not previously been exposed to, The job was everything I'd hoped for and probably a bit more tool Did I get to emulate some of those great Engineers I worked for in my past, even only partially? That's another question you'd have to ask the hard working engineering Senior and Junior Sailors I had the privilege of sailing with for those two years, The fol lowing 12 months was spent in Canberra completing the Australian Command & Staff Course, With about 180 students from the ARA, RAAF, RAN, Defence civilians and foreign military students, it was a very different environment from any I'd ever worked in, It was a year consisting of four separate semesters, with the third semester being the Navy single service component which focussed heavily on law of the sea type issues, For an Engineer this may sound irrelevant but that is far from the case and I have to say that it was very interesting, On completion of ACSC I was fortunate enough to be selected to go to the UK for an exchange position at HMS SULTAN , the Royal Navy School of Marine Engineering, at Gosport on the south coast of England, This exchange position was originally at the Royal Naval Engineering
College Manadon, Plymouth ; however it was moved to SULTAN when Manadon closed in the mid-nineties. HMS SULTAN is now the establishment that teaches all RN marine engineering; initial technical training for sa ilors, career courses for Junior Sailors and Senior Sailors and training for Officers. Professionally this was a very sati sfying posting in many ways. Of note was that I participated in moulding much of how the new technician training would be delivered in the RN. Rich in 'ha nds on' resources such as diesel engines, gas turbines etc, the implementation team I was part of was able to ensure a mix of traditional 'chalk and talk' classroom time, computer based training and practical hands on training in order to provide an optimised, blended training solution. The end result was something that I consider to be an exceptional training delivery programme. It was certainly not all work though! Sailing in Ireland , rugby in France plus loads of family travelling through the UK and the continent, well over 20 countries, rounded off an outstanding posting. I could bore you to tears with travel stories but maybe over a beer or two would be more appropriate! My return to Australia was back to some familiar territory - sea time. Although away from it for nearly four years some things never change, well not too much anyway. A nine week stint as an operational relief in TOBRUK was followed by a posting to KANIMBLA. It is from this posting that I have decided to jot down my thoughts. That in a nutshell has been my career since commissioning. It has brought together a host of wonderfully enriching experiences for both myself and my family. As a young apprentice I simply could never have imagined where my career would take me. So I implore you to ask yourself at some stage during your career 'would a career as an Engineer Officer be something I'd be interested in pursuing?' Please don't dismiss the idea without dwelling on it for at least a moment. It opens a host of doors that are both challenging and reward ing for you professionally. And even if you have only ha lf as much fun as my fami ly and I have had, you'll still have a great time! CMDR Glenn Green joined the RAN as an Apprentice MTP in 1975 and was commissioned in 1995. Sea service has been in the aircraft ca rrier HMAS MELBOURNE (twice), destroyer escort HMAS STUART (twice), HMAS ADELAIDE. HMAS DARWIN , HMAS ARUNTA , HMAS TOBRUK (op relien and HMAS KANIMBLA. He is currently part of a MT Category Restructure Team looking at the MT training continuum. This is now an Advanced Diploma of Marine Engineering - see the flowing link for more information. http;j/ www.amc.edu.auj ports.shippinW. courses/ ?cou rse-chief.eng. advd ip
Page 1: ENGINE ISSUE 16 OCTOBER 2009 NAVY
Page 4 and 5: BY CDRE JOHN BRYSON INTRODUCTION BY
Page 6 and 7: BY LEUT CALDERAZZO FROM THE EDITOR'
Page 8 and 9: BY CMDR GREG SWINDEN REAR ADMIRAL P
Page 12 and 13: BY CMDR KATH RICHARDS AND CMDR DAVE
Page 14 and 15: 6 Future Environmental Policy Trend
Page 16 and 17: work is funda mentally about how be
Page 18: BY SBlT JOHNSON HOW DO WE KNOW THAT
Page 22 and 23: asins) and is 3200ft long'. The dee
Page 24 and 25: covered in earlier In modules but i
Page 26 and 27: Step 4 - Attend study groups Implem
Page 28: WHEN SHOULD A RADHAZ SURVEY BE COND
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Page 36: CPO "HERBY"TANNOCK DISCUSSES DAMAGE
Page 40 and 41: of this internal cooling has not ye
Page 43 and 44: How does the Register work? • Red
Page 46 and 47: BY MR JOHN COLQUHOUN THE SHIP/HELIC
Page 49 and 50: RSO GSO RGURE 4: SHIP HElICOPTER WI
Page 51 and 52: Authority. This creates a somewhat
Page 54 and 55: invokes a number of short courses i
Page 56 and 57: BY DAN CU RTlS, M PLG SECRETARY MAR
Page 59: OF301E MSC 1 CAUTIAOV PNl V/UHF OF
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BY LSMT CAMERON WILLIAMS MTUDDAIOP
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Course Name Advanced Project Manage
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Organisational Resilience .........
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ENGINE - Royal Australian Navy

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