A group of potential Navy recruits visited HMAS Stuart during NAIDOC week last week as part of the Australian Defence Force Indigenous Recruiting Initiative.
Sergeant Shane Cox from Defence Force Recruiting, who organised the visit to Garden Island, said how much the potential recruits had been looking forward to touring the ship.
“The group is really excited to be here and look around a ship; they haven’t been on a Navy ship before so it’s a unique experience,” Sergeant Cox said.
Stuart’s Officer of the Day, Lieutenant Dee Khanna, greeted the group once they had made their way up the gangway and onto the flight deck.
“We don’t get many opportunities to show people around the ship, so it’s great when we are able to do visits,” Lieutenant Khanna said.
During the tour of Stuart, the visiting group met a number of the ship’s company who discussed their roles in the ship and in the Royal Australian Navy.
The enthusiastic group had many questions regarding the different types of jobs the crew do, wearing uniforms and what it was like to live on a ship.
The tour included the flight deck, operations room and bridge, where the group got to see the equipment used to navigate the ship.
This was an opportunity for a group of future recruits to see the type of environment they might be working and living in if they join the Navy and serve at sea.
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