30 Years At Sea

‘During my career I’ve had jobs specialising in training, support to operations and operational logistics. It’s been a really diverse portfolio filled with variety and challenges meaning that every day as a logistics officer has been rewarding. I wouldn’t change my profession for anything. In my current role I’m responsible for the safety and welfare of everyone at HMS Raleigh and the delivery of up to 3060 new recruits per year into the Royal Navy. As you can imagine it is an extremely busy job. I have had some fantastic experiences in the Royal Navy so far. As a Logistics Officer I’d expect to go to sea twice, but I’ve been lucky enough to go three times as a Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander and a Commander. I was the Deputy Logistics Officer in HMS Chatham when we were tasked to provide disaster relief to Sri Lanka after the Tsunami in 2004, which as a junior officer was quite overwhelming but very rewarding. I certainly learnt a lot! The pinnacle of my appointments at sea was being the Group Logistics Commander for the Amphibious Task Group (now Littoral Strike Group). Working alongside the Americans in the Arabian Gulf, I was responsible for the sustainment of multiple platforms in an operational context, which was really rewarding. I’ve been lucky enough to visit the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Sri Lanka and India and spent three months in Curacao supporting the multi-national relief effort after hurricane Irma. I’ve also visited Kenya, Somalia and Pakistan as well as Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. I was very honoured to be the final Commandant of the Defence Maritime Logistics School, which moved to its new Tri-Service location at Worthy Down. I am very proud to be part of such a professional, ambitious and inclusive organisation that is growing at pace. I have been lucky enough to have worked with the most fantastic people and have had some amazing adventures along the way.’

Source: Royal Navy