Monday, 26 January 2015

Life in a Blue Suit - the Royal Navy (1)

LIFE IN A BLUE SUIT

It is not what you do that makes you who you are.    But who you are that makes you do what you do.

They say who we are is determined by a mixture of genes and culture.    The genes come from a unique mix of our biological parents genes which are implanted at conception.     They are added to and moulded into a unique person in our mother’s womb.     Who we are is then shaped by our culture and experiences,  first in childhood and then adulthood.      Our basic nature is fixed by our genes and early childhood.     The skeleton as it were is fleshed out as we grow,  moulded and shaped by the culture we are brought up in and the experiences we go through.      Culture can though change, awareness of early experiences help correct the harm done earlier on.   Or reinforced and made worse by subsequence experiences. 

And so in 1965 I joined the Royal Navy,   the introduction to which was at HMS Raleigh where the adventure began.   From the basic training and square bashing I went off to HMS Pembroke in Chatham to do my professional training as a Store keeper.    I had started my working life as a trainee electrician for the Coal Board and wanted to continue in that profession.   Little did I realise at the time by running away to sea God had set His face against my calling as a Salvation Army officer and was to make me a watchman over the house of Israel  (Ezekiel 3:17  "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.”   This I was not to know until 20 years later when I had come out of the Navy and become a Management Accountant.    A Management Accountant is different from a Financial Accountant in that he is employed by a firm or company to keep watch over the affairs of the organisation.   To give account on a daily basis to the Board for the financial well being of the firm.   To advise it on the best use of its resources.    A financial accountant in the main someone outside the organisation,  to represent the finances in the best possible light to the outside world.   But as I said I knew nothing about all that,  my plans were clear.    I would serve for 9 years in the Navy,   gain the experience and the confidence  which comes with experience.    Save up and go into the Salvation Army Training College on my 27th birthday.   So much for the plans of mice and men.

Life in the Royal Navy was great,  full of life and adventure.   First posting after my training was to RNAS Culdrose in Helston Cornwall and my real first taste of girls,  wine and roses.   I went into the Navy fully determined to maintain my witness as a Salvation Army Christian.    No drinking,  no smoking and definitely no women until I was married.    Well the no smoking part I have kept to this day.   No sex with my girl also made it but not for the lack of trying.    The problem there was all the “nice” girls that love a sailor didn’t go to church and I did.    The trouble was I tried running with the hare and the hounds.    Jolly Jack tar on a Saturday and the Salvation Army on Sunday.    After 18 months of that jolly jape I was posted to my first ship HMS Jaguar based in Chatham, Kent.  The Jaguar was a small Anti-submarine frigate with a crew of just under 200.    Shortly after joining the ship God confronted me and said “Choose.    You can run with the hounds or with the hare.   You either enjoy being a jolly Jack Tar and all that the men in blue suits get up to or follow me.    You cannot do both”   I chose Him


The ship left shortly after that encounter for a cruise around the world or at least half way round then back taking just under two years before returning to the UK..   First Gibraltar and then down the African coast to South Africa to make our base in Simonstown,  the South African Naval base 10 miles or so from Cape Town.  At each port of call I found a local Salvation Army or if there wasn't one,  a local church.    In Cape Town I had the strange experience of going around the streets and market place playing “carols” in shorts and short sleeved shirts.     Until then I had only played wrapped up in heavy coats, scarves and thick woollen mittens,   Deep snow crisp and even one year hot blazing sunshine the next.     I still not sure which one I prefer.    As for Christmas day.    After the Army in the morning, a bar-be-que on the beach in the afternoon.    

From Cape Town we sailed into the Indian Ocean,  calling first at Port Elizabeth then Durban South Africa.    There I met and fell in love with a beautiful young girl called Brenda and from that moment on, started scheming of ways to leave the Navy,  return to South Africa and marry her. But in the meantime Jaguar continued showing the flag and reached the Seychelles before turning round and heading back to Cape Town via Durban.   Yippee.     In Cape Town Brenda came down and spent a week with me before we sailed off to South America and  Rio de Janerio.   From there the Antarctic  round the Cape and up the other side to the Panama canal,  calling on all ports on the way.  Once through the canal,   Bermuda and then home.      I may have chosen to follow God and no more wine, women and song but the trip around the world was great and I had the best time of my life

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