Trog
Ex training recruit of HMS Ganges, hence TROG.
Naval training establishment Shotley gate,Suffolk, England.
Last recuits passed through there in the early seventies.
Join at fifteen years old and commence a years training ,ready for service on a Royal Naval ship.
Drill practice every day, P.E. every day, bar Sunday, when you had a choice of going up the mast or a cross country run, the mast was always favourite with me, take a book and chill out for a couple of hours.
Mandatory church service on Sundays for C of E, Catholic,and Methodist, any other religion could choose which church they wanted to go to that Sunday,I usually went to each one in turn to make sure I was not missing out on anything.
Combined with all this was the basic training for firearms and your own particular branch training.
My branch was engineering and my rank was JME (Junior Mechanical Engineer) or baby stoker to the rest of the navy.
I joined at 15 in 1966 straight from school. First four weeks are spent in what was called the Annexe, this is where you got your uniform issue, spend all waking hours sewing name tags on each piece of kit, including socks and underpants. The underpants appeared to be styled on the 1850's and were commonly known as 'pussers passion killers', 'pussers' being a naval term for anything naval.
Endless hours spent trying to 'bull' your boots so you could see your face in them. Loads of drill, endless marching so that when you joined the main establishment you did not look like complete morons, or so you thought.
Once the annexe was completed you were assigned to a division ,mine was Grenville division where I was to spend the rest of the year.
Probably about thirty in my class at the start ,not many lost through being discharged, was not a choice you usually had anyway.
Discipline was strict and punishment called No.9's was meted out for the smallest infringement, dirty boots etc. This consisted of getting up earlier than the rest of the mess, extra work and in the evenings one hours doubling round the parade ground with a rifle and an insane drill instuctor shouting at you.
I think you had to be certifiable to be considered as a drill instructor, or that was the rumour.
For more stronger offences such as Theft of kit etc., they had 'cuts'. This was a stout rod, held by a Chief Petty Officer normally. Punishment was the number of 'cuts' awarded. ten cuts, meant ten whacks across the butt while bent double, each one would severely bruise and sometimes cut the skin , giving the punishment it's name. A doctor and an Officer were present and no one who got cuts went back for seconds. An excellent deterrent
to any would be wrongdoers. I only knew of one person who was administered cuts. The deterrent effect certainly worked. 'Cuts' were stopped shortly before I left Ganges in 1967, not suitable for the modern era, but they worked.
The swimming pool is were you struggled not to drown whilst doing the compulsory swimming and lifesaving tests.
The picture on the left is of me receiving a sailing cup from the Captain of HMS Ganges, I think it was Captain Dunlop. As it was winter time we were wearing the black sea jumpers under the jacket ,in the summer this was changed to the square neck a white T shirt type garment with blue piping, the neck was squared hence the name. The jumper for winter on bare skin was itchy as hell.
Stand by for the next thrilling instalment.
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