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Hi Nick, seems I am a bit late on this thread but for my two pennyworth...
I. w_as effectively thrown out of the Pusser for refusing to bear arms. I was not a pacifist & wanted to continue serving for the previous 11 1/2yrs , during which time I had never been requied to kill anybody. I wasn't worried about it when I joined up & even got my shooting flat Raliegh but my experience in the Falklands left me certian that whhilest I accepted there where those on the ship who"s job it was to fire missles or the Mk 8 guns, my job as a medic was to save lives.
Dduring training we were taught in action, most likely as a beach party, medics could carry a pistol or sten gun to derend ourselves & our patients or carry ect equipment eg ivi bags ect. Then they changed the rules & decided all QMs wouldvbe armed with SLRs on the gangway of RN ships, due to a perceived threat from the IRA. There had never been an attack by the IRA against the RN but as a shore based medic this wouldn't have involved me, as my next sea drat was due to be as a PO, who wouldn't have done this duty.
Unfortunatly I had just volunteered, out of turn to be the LMA on HMS Roebuck, where my main job was Quarter master! Before I joined the ship, I visited & explained my situation to the captain. He wasn't worried & said he wouldn't spare for the shooting course so I couldnT be asked to carry weapons. Reassured I joined thevship a few months later. The captians changed a month later & I was put on the course.
I had several options: attend the course & keep failing it, with a shooting flash that would have stopped my promotion for sure. Pass the course but in the event of a balaclaved man climbing upbthe gangway shoot to miss (my mother's idear!) Or take it further down the offical route.
I tried the ' wear the Red Cross & threrfore can't carry an SLR' arguement, only applies during a war when Fidents 106 issued (like the Falklands). Their solution, you'll be wearing a cami jacket over your Red cross so no one will know your a medic. Hmm no one but me!
So there sent me tocsee a trickcyclist as it's not normal not to want to kill people. Then to the Sky Pilot (chaplin) & he said ' it"s ok , Jesus didn'didn't tell the Centurion to stop killing his enemies.
They sent the top RN lawers down from London & the best they could suggest was spending the rest of my 22 yrs in Haslar, & make other married sod with children do my sea time. I was single & with 6/12 to go to my POs, I would haveen sent from ship to ship as the navy finally got back all the traing they had given me.
So I said Cassis Clay was only given 5yrs for refusing to fight in Vietnam, they couldn't sentence me to 10yrs in Haslar!
By now I was only 6/12 from my 12yrs so I said if they let me complete my 12yrs, give me my 5k gratuity & the half pension I would be entitled too & an honorable discharge, I would go quietly & not fight it further. So that's what happened. What I didn't for was the re- training package that everyone gets after just 4yrs training, as I thought this was an automatic right but it"s only if you can be spared & I wasn't. Guess they thought I had tried their Lordships patience far enough.
So alough several other medics & a doctor voiced similar concerns about bearing arms, when it came down tobthevcrunch of losing their job, they all caved in.
I went outside August 1990, with no qualifications & no job prospects; I had a 400quid mortgage to pay & my lodger gave me notice. I had just met my wife to be on my last forien port of call & no means to keep seeing her. Times looked grimm.
I heard of an ex POMA that was recuiting medics to go offshore but I would have to pay 2,000quid for the offshore medic's course, 500 more for the offshore survival & the cost of travel & accom for the 5 wks training. Basically all my gratuity, with no guantee ofva job after it.
It took me 6/12 to get everything done, suppiorting myself inbetween course by agency nursing as an axuiarlly nurse on less than minimum wage. After my first couple of trips offshore, I knew everything was going to work out. I loved the job, had a big pay rise from 14 to 18k, with in a yr 21k & within a couple of yrs, more pay than the Lt Cdr on the Roebuck! Of course my main worry was staying in work but despite some tough ecomonic times in the industry, I have only been out of work for one two week trip in 24yrs & as luck would have it, that was when my daughter was born.
I did miss the navy life & the foriegn ports of call but it turned out to be the best career move for me & with 6 months off a year I was able to marry & live in Belgium, which wouldn't have happened with the navy's. 6/52 leave.
So Nick, save up the money & go for it. You have the added advantage of not having a wife & kids to support, as long as the mortgage is paid (guess your pension should cover it? What have you to loose? As a final point, I have never met anyone more like a butler than you, just make sure your future bosses don't find out your clothes cost more than theirs!
I. w_as effectively thrown out of the Pusser for refusing to bear arms. I was not a pacifist & wanted to continue serving for the previous 11 1/2yrs , during which time I had never been requied to kill anybody. I wasn't worried about it when I joined up & even got my shooting flat Raliegh but my experience in the Falklands left me certian that whhilest I accepted there where those on the ship who"s job it was to fire missles or the Mk 8 guns, my job as a medic was to save lives.
Dduring training we were taught in action, most likely as a beach party, medics could carry a pistol or sten gun to derend ourselves & our patients or carry ect equipment eg ivi bags ect. Then they changed the rules & decided all QMs wouldvbe armed with SLRs on the gangway of RN ships, due to a perceived threat from the IRA. There had never been an attack by the IRA against the RN but as a shore based medic this wouldn't have involved me, as my next sea drat was due to be as a PO, who wouldn't have done this duty.
Unfortunatly I had just volunteered, out of turn to be the LMA on HMS Roebuck, where my main job was Quarter master! Before I joined the ship, I visited & explained my situation to the captain. He wasn't worried & said he wouldn't spare for the shooting course so I couldnT be asked to carry weapons. Reassured I joined thevship a few months later. The captians changed a month later & I was put on the course.
I had several options: attend the course & keep failing it, with a shooting flash that would have stopped my promotion for sure. Pass the course but in the event of a balaclaved man climbing upbthe gangway shoot to miss (my mother's idear!) Or take it further down the offical route.
I tried the ' wear the Red Cross & threrfore can't carry an SLR' arguement, only applies during a war when Fidents 106 issued (like the Falklands). Their solution, you'll be wearing a cami jacket over your Red cross so no one will know your a medic. Hmm no one but me!
So there sent me tocsee a trickcyclist as it's not normal not to want to kill people. Then to the Sky Pilot (chaplin) & he said ' it"s ok , Jesus didn'didn't tell the Centurion to stop killing his enemies.
They sent the top RN lawers down from London & the best they could suggest was spending the rest of my 22 yrs in Haslar, & make other married sod with children do my sea time. I was single & with 6/12 to go to my POs, I would haveen sent from ship to ship as the navy finally got back all the traing they had given me.
So I said Cassis Clay was only given 5yrs for refusing to fight in Vietnam, they couldn't sentence me to 10yrs in Haslar!
By now I was only 6/12 from my 12yrs so I said if they let me complete my 12yrs, give me my 5k gratuity & the half pension I would be entitled too & an honorable discharge, I would go quietly & not fight it further. So that's what happened. What I didn't for was the re- training package that everyone gets after just 4yrs training, as I thought this was an automatic right but it"s only if you can be spared & I wasn't. Guess they thought I had tried their Lordships patience far enough.
So alough several other medics & a doctor voiced similar concerns about bearing arms, when it came down tobthevcrunch of losing their job, they all caved in.
I went outside August 1990, with no qualifications & no job prospects; I had a 400quid mortgage to pay & my lodger gave me notice. I had just met my wife to be on my last forien port of call & no means to keep seeing her. Times looked grimm.
I heard of an ex POMA that was recuiting medics to go offshore but I would have to pay 2,000quid for the offshore medic's course, 500 more for the offshore survival & the cost of travel & accom for the 5 wks training. Basically all my gratuity, with no guantee ofva job after it.
It took me 6/12 to get everything done, suppiorting myself inbetween course by agency nursing as an axuiarlly nurse on less than minimum wage. After my first couple of trips offshore, I knew everything was going to work out. I loved the job, had a big pay rise from 14 to 18k, with in a yr 21k & within a couple of yrs, more pay than the Lt Cdr on the Roebuck! Of course my main worry was staying in work but despite some tough ecomonic times in the industry, I have only been out of work for one two week trip in 24yrs & as luck would have it, that was when my daughter was born.
I did miss the navy life & the foriegn ports of call but it turned out to be the best career move for me & with 6 months off a year I was able to marry & live in Belgium, which wouldn't have happened with the navy's. 6/52 leave.
So Nick, save up the money & go for it. You have the added advantage of not having a wife & kids to support, as long as the mortgage is paid (guess your pension should cover it? What have you to loose? As a final point, I have never met anyone more like a butler than you, just make sure your future bosses don't find out your clothes cost more than theirs!
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