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Defence Indigenous Development Program (DIDP Navy) Training

wendy — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:51:14 +0000

Between the 27th of June and the 3rd of July, twenty five candidates from the Navy led DIDP project embarked on a trip to HMAS Cerberus, just south of Melbourne in Victoria. This is a facility used by the Australian Navy to train every recruit wishing to join their ranks and a special welcome was given by the commanding officer at Cerberus, Mark Hill who had a special affirmation for both the far north and in particular the Torres Straight where he had taken charge of a small Naval vessel some 20 years prior.�
Two Chief Petty Officers, a leading hand and another two civilian ITEC Employment Mentors were on hand to assist with an action packed week at Cerberus. As part of a 32 week pre-recruitment training regime, the DIDP aims to give young indigenous people the skills, determination and security to pursue a career in the Australian Defence forces on an equal or greater footing than all recruits who aim to join. Skills acquired during the course include life skills, maths and English , high levels of fitness, seamanship (Coxwanes Certificate) and a range of challenging task-work aimed at promoting self esteem and teamwork.
This component of the course involved an in depth look at Navy recruitment and required active participation at levels expected of all recruits which was rather challenging given the cold, rainy and windy conditions. The candidates found themselves up before 6am every morning, doing a range of physical training which included gym work, swimming and physical testing, a mud run, hours of marching and drill as well as a cold water plunge during the survival at sea component. Visits to the gunnery range, small-arms target range, simulated target shooting, museum, a game of AFL at the MCG and a trip to snow also formed part of this hectic week of activity.
The recruits who are predominately from the NPA and Torres Straight (plus a few others from Cairns, Townsville and Rockhampton) did themselves proud with the way they conducted themselves in a disciplined yet fun-loving way throughout their visit to HMAS Cerberus. The trip served its purpose of giving these young men and woman a positive expectation of a career in the Royal Australian Navy and also helped take a little of their own culture to the cold south!