{dartmouth}

Hello everyone

Warning: I have found that this piece I've been writing happens to be quite long and has no pictures, so if you want a summary, here it is:

"I spent the weekend at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth and had a great time."

So here's the non-summarised version:

I've just got back from Dartmouth in Devon, and so I thought I'd blog this out while everything's still fresh on my mind. Now, what was I doing in this small town on the south coast of England, situated between Exeter and Plymouth?

I spent 2 nights at the Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC) for the URNU New Entry BRNC Acquaint Course. BRNC is where people who want to become officers in the Royal Navy train, functioning much like the Royal Military Academy (RMA) Sandhurst does in training Army officers.

I joined London URNU (which stands for University Royal Naval Unit) out of a desire to do something a bit 'extra' from what others at university do - like I said during the interview (yes, there is competition for places and an interview serves to sort of filter candidates in), I wanted to "stop being such a foreign student" in that we tend to huddle up in our own communities whilst in the UK and missing out on fun things we gave a second thought to just because they were a tad out of our comfort zones.

Being a citizen of a Commonwealth country we were as welcome to join the URNU as anyone from the UK, and there is even an American with us in the Unit in London. He's here for a term, and he's in the NROTC (Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps) and the URNU is probably the closest to that here.

Anyway, what we do in the URNU in London is that we have Drill Nights on Thursdays at the Unit in Knightsbridge, which is about 20 minutes or so from home here at Marble Arch. At Drill Nights you have, of course, drill and there's 2 sessions after that which can be lectures or something from an array of activities, some hands-on.

There's also the sea weekends. I haven't been on a proper sea weekend although I got to spend a day on our Unit's ship HMS Puncher last month, but the idea of a sea weekend is you get on board on the Saturday, sail to a nearby port and stay there the night before sailing back to Portsmouth on the Sunday. You get to progressively do all sorts of things on the ship, and for the few hours that I was on HMS Puncher last month I did get to steer her and wash the screens near the bow afterwards.

And there's Easter/Summer deployment, where you go for I think 2 weeks to places in Europe. And of course social events, what organisation's activities would be complete without them? Dinners, etc.

Right, back to Dartmouth: the aim of our trip down there was basically to get a 'snapshot' of what life is training to become a Royal Navy officer. We left the Unit on Friday afternoon (which was Hari Raya Aidiladha), taking about 4 1/2 hours, out of the city into the countryside and down to where the sea is. We were given our 'foulies' (foul weather gear), and there was a safety briefing and welcome of sorts before we left for bed. Not bed right away really, as we worked on our kit (polishing, ironing) for a good portion of time in preparation for the next day.

Speaking of kit, I've got a uniform as well which I received about 3 weeks ago: No. 1s, which are the smartest, most ceremonial ones - tie and jacket, that sort of thing and a cap. No. 3s, the everyday one with the cap as well, and No. 4s - a nice blue shirt with drawstring trousers and 'steaming bats' (boots) and a beret. A 'woolly pulley' (jumper) over the top as well.

We had an inspection early the next morning before breakfast and the College Task Presentation, which was basically giving us an overview of what the guys in training do for the time they're there. Mentioning that, there are people from about 20 countries who train at Dartmouth, not the least from Brunei, although I only met a couple of guys, from Kuwait and Oman respectively. As such, there is a mosque for worship and all the non-pork meat served is Halal.

After that we had a tour of the college. To be honest it's a very nice place in a very nice place (get me?) and I was glad to be there. I mean, you have to be top of the class basically in officer training in Brunei to have a chance to be sent to Dartmouth for training, but me just being in the URNU here and having got a chance to spend the weekend at BRNC is just amazing. We were shown around by one of the students there, who told us the reason why we have to salute upon entering the Quarterdeck at BRNC and on any RN ship is because Nelson got shot on the Quarterdeck and died afterwards.

The plan next was to get on the River Dart on the 'motor whalers' but apparently the weather was against it (another explanation was that they were out of order) so we did some team-based exercises indoors instead. Basically it was a you're-stranded-in-the-Sahara-what-do-you-do thing and then we compared the results of the discussions between the groups present, pros and cons.

Parade training after lunch on the Quarterdeck - brilliant to say the least. There's commands for taking your caps on whilst in divisions and putting them back on! College Shop was open afterwards; bought a few souvenirs least including a mug (typical) and a Royal Marines Band CD. Royal Navy Presentation Team (RNPT) presentation afterwards (sort of a video about the RN thing).

Went to the Pavilion for (non-alcoholic) drinks after dinner and after 2 hours went back to my cabin, polished my shoes then went to bed. Almost went 'ashore' to the town of Dartmouth but went against it ... "probably wise" as the Lieutenant-Commander said to me during inspection the next day.

Went to get on the Dart (finally) the next morning, and I steered the picket boat 80% of the time; everyone else was chatting behind. Had a good time doing it and finally let the wheel go coming back into Sandquay; one of the students then took over to park the boat. Did PLTs (don't know what it stands for exactly) after that - basically practical tasks where you have a leader who you listen to but essentially you need to work as a team. The first one was to cross this chasm with a plank shorter than the gap; second was crossing a 'minefield', again with a plank shorter than the minefield's length but we had 'bomb-proof' tankards to use; lastly, which I was team leader of, constructing an antenna. We did that one brilliantly and were well within time.

Had a course wash-up after lunch - basically what was good, what could be improved on before departing back to London! That was my weekend gone, and I missed out on paintball in Leeds and meeting up with Fadhlan in London, but more importantly couldn't be there for Amalina's birthday. However, this coming weekend I'll make that up for her. All in all, had great fun at BRNC, got to meet people and see a bit of how the training process is - phew!

http://www.londonurnu.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_Royal_Naval_Unit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia_Royal_Naval_College

"Great Minds think alike"

What do you see?

WE WERE WEARING WHITE ON THE DAY OF DEPARTURE!

conclusion?

"Great minds think alike"......

:)

Re-Connected

RECONNECTED

A month of no Internet is just a LIVING NIGHTMARE. So what was the story?

Once upon a time, there was a group of 3 men settling in a cozy house which could comfortably support 3 people. One thing is missing from the house. A 4th basic need of a human being called "The Internet". So out of the many possible provider they decided to go with Sky. But the catch is Sky uses the BT line. So they were guaranteed of Internet connection within 28 days. Installation of BT line and setting up the Internet Modem. Plus a satellite TV is part of the package.

After 28 days later, guess what??? THERE WAS STILL NO INTERNET. So the 3 men did a little search and found out that the house was already having a line which is provided by TISCALI. Dat's why the BT line cudnt get thru. N the TISCALI could only be cancelled by the previous owner. The boys contacted the landlord and the previous owner cancelled the line. N then they were told to wait another 28 days.
but one of the guy has a little skill and with a little magic he casted on an iPhone.... *POOM*


They were connected to the world again..................



*THE END*

{ }

I woke up in the morning
This thing was in my bed
Didn't find no Scottish woman
Just Callister instead

Made me a mug of coffee
What! Tap water won't heat
Eggs & beans for breakfast
Maths today indeed

Rizla paper, slim Swan tips
Making me & Mechanics click
Fruits & fish are healthy food
Ibuprofen for when you're sick

Across the Park to College
Nah, there's no waterfall
Just a bridge & a shallow river
Fluid Mechanics explain it all

Take a break & 60p
Get out & buy some minestrone soup
When will the chaps behind shut up?
Mechatronics - feedback loops

Already dark but only 5
Oh no I missed the bus again
Will have to wait a couple minutes
Stress Analysis: my friend!

"Up for a swim tomorrow?"
"No, Design tutorial"
Good thing no ERS this week?
Oh, 9-to-5 appeal

Mechanics sheet has not been done
Thermodynamics has not been read
I woke up in the morning
This thing was in my bed