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My name's [? Stephen Coates. ?]
I'm a Marine Technician in the Navy.
I've been here for nearly three years now, and I
absolutely love it.
I'm Claire Ross.
I'm a *** MT, and I've been here for almost a year, and
I'm about halfway through my course.
My dad's in the Navy as well as marine technician as well,
and I've always been interested in cars and engines
and getting my hands dirty.
It was either be a beautician or a mechanic, so obviously,
the mechanic came first.
I'm loving it, really.
This is such a big difference, but it's really good.
The Navy pretty much chose me, actually, when I went through
my recruiting in that they pretty much shuffled me into
being in the Navy.
Pretty much, the best thing about the training for me is
just all hands on stuff I've learned, and the way the
course has been set out is really good.
And just a lifestyle change, really.
It's good to have a proper routine involved.
The mates you make are unreal.
They really are.
Yeah, absolutely unreal.
I've got friends that I went through high school and that
with, but I've got better mates that I've known here for
the last two years than I've known my whole life.
You just know everyone, and everyone knows you.
I've noticed when I went back home that I've changed a lot.
See, I joined up when I was 17.
I'm now 18, and a lot of my friends don't
even recognise me.
Well, they do recognise me, but the way I hold myself and
everything is just so different.
And even my parents and stuff, because I went away as a
little girl and came back as an adult.
You definitely notice the change, even amongst your
mates in that they seem to be doing the same thing you were
doing when you left, and that was what?
For me, three years ago.
It's good to go back there and see them all, but on the other
hand, it's completely different.
It really is.
You're not the same person you were.
Well, I'm not from when I left.
It's really good.
I was probably going down a really bad path if I hadn't
got out of there.
I don't know what I'd be doing if I wasn't in here.
Also, big bonus is the Navy pays you to do it.
You get accommodation, food, everything.
It's a big bonus to do this with the Navy than it is in
the outside world.
You get a guaranteed job, guaranteed paycheck every two
weeks, good money.
It's a good lifestyle.
It's probably one of the best [INAUDIBLE]
in the defence force, I reckon.
It's a really, really good opportunity to learn.
I've learned so much over the last 18 months when I've been
doing this course [INAUDIBLE].
This is my last three weeks now, and it's just
unbelievable compared to what I knew before I started now,
just it's unreal.
I can pull apart a diesel engine and do the [INAUDIBLE]
on a ship, or work on hydraulics, or
anything like that.
Now, it's just unbelievable.
I'm really looking forward to putting all the stuff that
we've learned over the last 18 months to practise.
Yeah, finally getting out there into the fleet, doing
what we've been training to do, being in the real Navy,
not just training.