Publication:Sea Talk Spring 2008/Fleet supports Gap Year experiences
By LEUT Justin Bray
The ADF Gap Year for Navy (ADFGY-N), strongly supported by the Australian Fleet, has provided exciting work experience for young Australians who have joined the scheme.
And applications to join the Permanent Navy to date, suggest that the scheme is capable of contributing to the Service’s recruiting effort.
The program has been running since Jan 08. It’s aim is to offer young Australians, aged 17 to 24 years, the opportunity to experience military training and lifestyle for up to 12 months, prior to embarking on full-time study or employment.
During their year Navy aims to provide a worthwhile and meaningful work experience phase at sea or ashore.
ADFGY-N sailors have been posted to most classes of ship in the Fleet. This means participants have taken part in Exercise RIMPAC 08, Operation Resolute, Exercise Kakadu and surveying the North West Shelf
During their first sea posting the ADFGY-N sailors complete a departmental familiarisation task book, ensuring they experience life at sea from various perspectives and providing them an opportunity to identify vocational interests that may attract them to the RAN. The second posting allows the ADFGY-N sailors an opportunity to further experience their vocational interest more specifically.
The Fleet Training Liaison Agency (FTLA) at Fleet HQ in Sydney posts ADFGY-N sailors. The FTLA team has the challenge of balancing positions for ADFGY-N sailors with positions for regular sailors and progressing competency logs and other training at sea.
The Fleet Training Liaison Agency is constantly on the phone or email communicating with ships staff, particularly the ship’s warrant officers, to organise postings for ADFGY-N sailors. The challenge to provide sufficient sea and shore places to provide worthwhile experiences will become increasingly important as the program expands from its initial 100.
The Fleet’s significant support has helped provide young Gap Year sailors with worthwhile and memorable experiences.
Their impressions have many benefits - not only do they motivate them to join the RAN but narration of their GY experiences of life and work with friends and family it simultaneously spreads the good word about the Navy and can also improve recruitment. Clearly, this is particularly important for critical categories which are given the opportunity to show the skills required and satisfaction to be derived from their work while the ADFGY-N sailors are on board.
Ships keen to have ADFGY-N sailors posted to them should contact the FTLA or ADFGY-N cell.
The response from units with ADFGY-N sailors has been very positive and the sailors themselves have certainly enjoyed the experience and hospitality of the officers and crew in each unit.
Examples of comments to date include:
...just rang to say having a ball up in Darwin with the patrol boats…..thinking of joining up as a CIS sailor.
I have learned and done so many things that I would not have been given the chance to do in civilian life. At times it was very challenging but the teamwork that is involved pushed me to succeed past my normal boundaries. You get fit, learn a lot of skills, meet a lot of people and have heaps of fun along the way.
I am having a great time and my Ships company has done a really good job of incorporating me into things such as doing bowman in the RHIBS every now and then, and also I love the level of responsibility I get given during DC exercises, really I don’t even get treated like a gap year, I think people would have started to forget probably…When we go into fleet concentration period in a few days I will be doing some cool stuff with the OOW manoeuvres and other stuff.
I am absolutely loving it out here, it is fantastic what we have been doing, especially in relation to the experience for the gap years. Everyone seems to get along with us pretty well…( with only a few being really annoyed about having gap years).
Tobruk is fantastic. Today we set up lines for a light jackstay. Everyone on the ship is very nice and willing to help us out.
… loving every minute of his time with HMAS Armidale and is extremely grateful for the way in which he has been made to feel one of the team since joining the ship earlier this month. He hasn’t looked back since starting Gap Year on 14 Jan this year. I have a feeling we’ll have to prise him away from the ship to get him to NEOC in July!
At present there are 10 Gap Year sailors that have, or are in the process of transfer to Permanent Navy. Clearly there is great potential for us to recruit permanent members from the Gap Year participants. Thanks to Fleet and the FTLA we seem to be making an excellent impression with exciting work experience placements.
