THE NAVY RESERVIST - Royal Australian Navy

NAVY RESERVIST 9
I was made to feel very welcome and many
of the officers helped me to settle in to
shipboard life, although there were times
when I missed my family and friends.
The great thing about life aboard was that
there was always someone around to make
me laugh and another port to look forward
to. Many of the ship’s company had family
and partners meet them in various ports, and
when my sister and her partner met the ship
in Pearl Harbour, it was fantastic.
My duties were extremely busy and at
times exhausting as ship routine and the
deliverables expected for such a high profile
trip often left me with very little time to see
the sights in each port.
Much of my time was taken up with writing
stories for the Northern Trident 09 website
and Navy News, and media releases for
port visits, as well as liaising with Defence
Attaches and High Commission and
Australian Embassy staff to ensure that
media coverage of our visit was maximised.
The hard work paid off, especially when I
saw footage from every television station in
Australia of Sydney sailing past the Statue of
Liberty on her way to berth in New York for a
four-day visit.
Life at sea is an interesting experience with
new terminology, the food and the culture;
however I was not expecting to be sent to
Action Stations. That happened when Sydney
came to the rescue of a merchant vessel
under attack from Somali pirates while we
were while transiting the Gulf of Aden. I was
in the Operations Room to prepare a brief
that could be sent to Canberra as soon as
the situation was resolved. At the time I was
running on pure adrenalin and it was not
until later, once the threat had subsided, that
the enormity of the situation sank in and I
realised how dangerous events could have
become. It was certainly one of the stand-out
experiences of the trip.
The deployment gave me the opportunity
to really increase my exposure to the RAN,
learn about its culture and get to know some
incredible men and women who work at a job
that is very different from my desk job.
It changed many things for me. It gave me an
experience that took me out of my comfort
zone and enabled me to grow both personally
and professionally.
Northern Trident 09 really was the “trip of a
lifetime”.
LEUT Anna Glover with LEUT Joshua
Watkin and LCDR Jon Goulder taking
the scene from Sydney’s gun direction
platform after departing Cochin, India.
The Navy Reservist - ISSUE #2