Whats the Canadian Navy realy like?

About 1/4 of our deck department had re-mustered from the infantry(grunt to deck ape wasn't a big evolutionary change). When I did my TSQAB at Windsor Park most of the firefighters on our course were former chicken fuckers and picklies. They were all LS and MS.

I have over 16 years in the Navy as a Marine Engineer (ships propulsion) and I love it! The Navy is not as strict as the army but not as soft as the Airforce. If you want to be a Marine Electrician, there is no current subsidized education program available. However if you would like to get involved in electronics we have numerous arrangements with collges across Canada where you can attend on the governments dime and get paid to go there.

All you need to qualify is to meet the academic entry standards for your chosen trade, for a technician you will need Grade 12 physics, academic math, and english with at least a 70% average. If you want to attend one of the collges we have an agreement with, you will need a letter of unconditional acceptance prior to being enrolled.

The life in the Navy, especially for technicians is not easy, we work a lot more in tough conditions and we are always fighting for spares and assistance from fleet maintenance. Electricians for the most part when they start out spend a lot of time changing light bulbs, and doing basic electrical isolation. As you get qualified more your responsibilities will increase.

We dont spend as much time away as we used to, but we do a lot more operational sailing. I have seen most of Asia and the middle east as I have sailed on the West Coast, those on the East Coast will see more of Europe, Caribean and the mediteranian.

Do they still have that 2 yr. Marine Engineering Technician course? I think it was offered at St. Lawrence College. I tried to get my bother in law to apply after he graduated from high school, but he decided to give that a miss and dropped out of engineering at university. He went on to get his master tradesman as a mechanic....in hindsight it was better that he did this as he puked on the crossing between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay.

Shep, they do still have the course, it is held at the Marine Institute at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. They do both Mar Eng and Naval Electronic Techs.

When I first joined, we would spend 200 days plus away every year, now most ships will spend about 100 days and those deploying overseas will spend over 200 away, we just dont have the money any more.

Being an engineer is not that different from being an electrician, you will be very busy regardless. Being busy is a good thing as you are not always bored when you are at sea. As an engineer you will do rounds on running machinery at sea, and while alongside you will do maintenance in one of 3 sections,Auxiliary Machinery, Main Propulsion or Outside Machinery. You will learn what your responsibilities are and it isnt that tough....trust me...just ensure you have a good ubderstanding of math and physics.