Navy People: I promised my grandfather I'd join
16 November 2010
Former Sanctuary Point resident Kevin West has been cruising the South China Sea on board the Navy’s landing ship HMAS Tobruk.
Now a Leading Seaman, Kevin has specialised as a Boatswains Mate, which means on-deck seamanship. Aboard Tobruk, Kevin is the ship’s damage control instructor, small arms instructor, and survival equipment maintainer.
“I became interested in the Navy years ago playing football against Navy teams from HMAS Albatross.
“The blokes I used to play against told me how good the Navy was, so when I was old enough I joined up,” he said.
“I also promised my grandfather I’d join the Navy – he spent 20 years in the Royal Navy and 15 years in the Royal Australian Navy.”
With 20 years in uniform, Kevin has now had plenty of chances to see the world for himself.
“I’ve been to Russia, Japan, South-East Asia, China, Turkey, New Zealand and Singapore,” he said.
“I’ve also done deployments to the Persian Gulf and Bougainville.
“In 2000 I was very privileged to represent the Navy at the 85th anniversary of the Anzac Landing at Gallipoli, and I was selected to take part in an honour guard for the Governor-General.”
Kevin is very conscious of making his family, and especially his two children, proud of what he does.
“I get a great amount of job satisfaction because every day in ‘The Grey’ is a great day,” he said.
“My aim is to get promoted to Petty Officer and eventually become Buffer [senior specialist seaman] of a ship.”
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