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So Matt would like to know, what jobs do you undertake as
a maritime officer?
Well, it's a wide range of jobs as an MWO.
I think we'll break this into a Maritime
Warfare Officer Corps.
So while you're doing your initial job as an officer of
the watch at sea--
that's your first.
You're an officer of the watch.
So the captain's representative on the bridge,
responsible for the safety of the ship, and getting it from
point A to point B on time.
And as well as that, you get a whole bunch
of ancillary duties.
I think I've already mentioned I was a boarding party officer
as part of that.
We've mentioned once before the division that you'd
be in charge of.
Even as a junior guy, I was 21 years old, and put out, and
was in charge and responsible for the careers and managing a
whole bunch of guys-- about 15 or so guys-- some of whom were
much more experienced and older than I was.
After you've done that officer of the watch time, then you
can really split up into those different specialties that MWO
offers you.
And that's the great thing about maritime warfare
officer, as opposed to the other branches of the Navy, is
that you have that wide variety of opportunities.
James has asked, do you think that you have to be a natural
leader to become a Maritime Officer, Nick?
Well, that's an interesting question, because being an
officer obviously entails being a leader.
It's been my experience that lots of different people have
different leadership styles.
So the way the Navy does its training is it'll allow you to
pick up on what skills you have in yourself which enable
you to be a good leader, and you can build on that.
I think everyone's got leadership potential in them
and the Navy training brings that out of them.
It does.
Dave has asked, why did you choose the Navy in particular,
and not the Army or Air Force?
Well for me, Dave, I didn't really know that when
I joined the Navy.
I wasn't sure.
But I think I've figured out now what's drawn me, and
what's kept me in the Navy.
If you think about an infantry section--
so the guys out there doing the infantry thing-- there are
about 13 guys.
If one of them goes down, then they've only lost about 8% or
9% of their efficiency.
They've still got the rest of their guys.
But for my team in the ops room, if there's one person
that's not doing their job, if there's one person that's not
monitoring their sensor or ready to use their weapon
system, then the whole team falls down.
And it's that much closer reliance on your teamwork that
drew me to the Navy.
And I recently alluded to the fact that I was in the Army
first, though.
For me, I chose the Navy after being in the Army because it
did present me with a lot more opportunities, I felt.
And maritime warfare officer's certainly not disappointed.
So Chav has asked Nick if you could let him know a bit about
the differences in the job of a warfare officer on a patrol
boat as opposed to a maritime warfare officer on a frigate.
Sure.
Well, the great thing about your maritime warfare officer
training is you'll get to experience both.
Because as part of your navigation training in the
early stages, you'll go to most likely a patrol boat--
certainly one of the minor war vessels-- to get your
navigation watch keeping ticket.
And so you'll get an exposure to that.
And then in the later stages, you'll go to a frigate or a
destroyer as they come online to get your full warfare
qualification.
After that, as a warfare officer, you won't spend much
time on a patrol boat because the Navy's trained you to
conduct those higher end warfare roles.
And so we do that on our frigates and in the future on
our destroyers.
However there's certainly option, if you are driven, and
motivated, and successful enough,
you can get to command.
The base job of an MWO--
so before you classify as a principle warfare officer--
is essentially the same on both ships-- on any ship for
that matter, the auxiliaries as well, or any of the
minehunting vessels.
You're responsible for the safe navigation and the
execution of the ship's programme.
So from the base perspective, I suppose, it
doesn't really change.
Alec has asked, what does daily life at sea include by
means of daily duties?
Well, I suppose you've already spoken about submarines a
little bit?
A little bit.
Just quickly, on board of one of the Major Fleet Units, as a
maritime warfare officer you can expect to be keeping
duties probably one and three.
So you'll spend four hours on, eight hours off.
And in one of those eight hours off periods you're
expected to do your other duties on board.
So there'll be some administration to do.
You'll be responsible for your division, or for the sailors
that you're accountable for, as well as your eight hours a
day that you'll spend as an MWO up on the bridge--
safe navigation of the ship, executing the ship's
programme, all those sorts of things as well.
The only major difference there on a submarine is, daily
life at sea, when you're on watch--
and again, depending on whether you're keeping
periscope watches or whether you're at deep--
your routine generally revolves around being in the
control room, which is a combination of, for those of
you who've been on a ship already, a
control room and a bridge.
In the control room you'll be doing things like navigation.
You'll be manning the diving and safety console.
And you'll also be looking at the sonar screens to get a
picture of what's going on outside.
So Jeff has asked what experiences can we share with
him that represent what being a part of the Navy is about.
Jeff, I think I had one of those sort of Navy moments
very early on my career.
As phase two midshipmen I was posted to the Manoora.
We were part of the response to the refugees on the Tampa
and various other illegal immigrant vessels-- or
suspected illegal immigrant vessels--
that were coming in at the time.
And so as a young 17-year-old guy I got to take part in
saving people from the middle of the ocean, literally
helping people on board who had been stuck on broken
boats, and those sort of things.
And that, to me, ties into a whole lot of
what the Navy does.
It's working for the government and representing
Australia's interests.
And it's part of the whole life at sea, seamanship
character--
that real humanity, I think--
of helping a people.
That was probably my experience, I think.
Another component of what the Navy is about is
international relations.
I was lucky enough quite early in my Naval career to have a
diplomatic stop, so to speak, in Vietnam.
This was the 30th anniversary of our
relationship with Vietnam.
So we sent a ship and I was lucky enough to be on board.
That's another part of what being in the Navy is about.
We had a great time, and I believe that we really
assisted the relations there.
So Chav wants to know, why did you choose to
specialise as a PWO?
For me, I joined the Navy because I
wanted to drive ships.
That's why I became a maritime warfare officer.
And as a maritime warfare officer, if you want to
proceed and if you want to be successful--
certainly on the surface fleet--
you want to be a PWO.
There are other jobs out there.
And certainly not to make light of those-- they're an
important contribution to the fighting
strength of the Navy--
but the guys who lead that fight are the PWOs.
So this one's for me from Mattie.
Hi, Mattie.
What attracted you to the submarine service as opposed
to surface ships?
Well, Mattie, for me, I came from the Army before I joined
the Navy, and that is quite a lot more
focused on smaller teams.
So when I went and did my training on
board surface ships--
which you'll all do--
I missed that tighter knit teamwork.
And also as a lady in the Navy, I wanted to do something
operational.
And for me, I felt that would be best suited to submarines.
So Mattie has asked, does an MWO have the opportunity to
serve on all the types of vessels in the Navy, and do
you get a say in where you serve?
Well, you absolutely do, because every single vessel in
the Navy needs someone to drive it.
And the people who drive it are the MWOs.
As well as that, do you get a say in where you serve?
You certainly do.
I mean, there's the Navy's need that we need to fill.
But you also get a say in that as well
because it's your career.
And I think Mattie's pointed that out a
couple of times as well.
You take responsibility for where you want to go, what you
want to do, and the Navy will help you do it.
Definitely.
And in your training as an MWO, you'll get a broad range
of experience on different vessels there.
That's an aim of the training.
Chav would like to know, have you had any opportunities
working with Navy personnel from other countries?
I certainly have.
Mattie alluded to it earlier in the diplomatic role that
Navies play, but we're certainly one of the tools in
the government's toolbox when it comes to interacting with
other countries.
And we do that a lot.
I've worked with personnel from Vietnam, Japan, United
States, even Russia.
We did an exercise with some of the Russian destroyers out
of Vladivostok.
We've worked with Indian ships, Pakistani ships, most
of the Gulf Arab states.
So, yeah, absolutely.
It's one of the more exciting opportunities of being an MWO.
Definitely.
Training--
there's foreign personnel we have memorandums of
understanding with that we actually can either train in
their country or they come and train here in Australia.
So training, exercising--
as Nick's already spoken about-- we exercise a lot with
other countries and personnel from other countries.
And also in working, certainly in submarines, we have some US
personnel on board.
So you do get to work with
personnel from other countries.
And I've worked with some personnel in Canada, as well,
doing my pressurised submarine escape training over there.
No shortage of working with
personnel from other countries.
And Mark would like to know, how do you keep in contact
with family and friends while you're away?
Well, Mark, I keep in contact with my family and friends
predominantly via email.
However, most of the major fleet units have now kicked in
a system where you can have unrestricted internet access.
So you can keep online with Facebook, and Twitter, and
various other social media networks as well.
And certainly for the prolonged deployments--
while we were, for example, up in the north Arabian Gulf--
you're entitled to a phone call a week.
The ship actually supported through its satellite
communications giving you a five minute
phone call back home.
And certainly as soon as you're alongside, I mean,
everyone's got mobile phones these days, so it's fine.
I suppose a submarine's a bit different.
It is a little bit different.
When we're alongside, we have email also.
So that's a good option.
While you are at sea, we have a thing called a familygram.
Your family has a booklet.
And in this booklet is a system of writing letters
using numbers to represent phrases, so that when these
are transmitted to us at sea, it doesn't take up a lot of
bandwidth--
or a lot of our broadcasts.
You do still get communication at sea, it's just a different
way of doing it, as opposed to email.
Emily would like to know your proudest moment, Nick.
My proudest moment in the Navy.
We were in a major exercise.
I was a young phase four maritime warfare officer--
now JWAC, or junior warfare officer
application course training.
So I was just about to get my bridge warfare certificate.
And the pressure sort of ramps up to you as
you get to that point.
To achieve that, and to stand out on the bridge wing with
the captain of the ship, and for him to say, yep.
Congratulations, Nick.
I'm happy for you to take charge of my ship.
Take it wherever it is that it needs to go.
And I'm confident that you'll be able to do that safely and
efficiently, and lead my people--
that was a pretty proud moment.
I have to concur with Nick on that one, Emily.
The proudest moment for me is when I
got awarded my dolphins.
It is what you train for.
It's what we spend all the time working towards.
So when you do achieve that, it is a great moment.
Simon would like to know how important
teamwork is in the Navy.
Well, teamwork's everything.
And I don't know if you were listening earlier, Simon, when
I mentioned that one of the differences between the team
in the army and the team in the Navy is, if one the guys
in my team isn't doing his job, or if one of the guys in
my team goes down, then the whole team crumbles.
You rely on everyone else to do their bit because there's
no one to replace them, because you're in that
enclosed environment.
It's absolutely essential.
Certainly for safety on board a submarine, teamwork is
essential as well.
Everyone needs to know the safety issues and
how to fix a problem.
So teamwork is your life.
And Heather would like to know what are some of the benefits
that you get in the Navy.
Well, there are lots of different types of benefits
that you get from being in the Navy, I think.
Personally, the leadership training and the management
training that we get really is first class.
So that sets you up to go on.
But some of the other sort of financial or benefits I
suppose we could talk about are you get your sea going
allowance, and your service allowance, and
various other things.
You also get rental allowance, which is subsidising my rent
within Sydney, and certainly medical coverage or support
and psychiatry, whatever else that you need.
A number of financial benefits do exist--
probably too numerous for us to answer on the
one question, Heather.
But there's also the personal benefits that you get.
The mates that you make along the way and the people that
you meet, and the opportunities that you get
that you just simply wouldn't get anywhere else.